Boan Grants Shaphar Right to Commercialize BA5101 in China

Boan Biotech today announced a strategic partnership with Shanghai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (Shaphar), granting the latter the exclusive right to market and distribute its Dulaglutide Injection (code-named BA5101) through all channels in the Chinese Mainland. This drug is a biosimilar to Trulicity®, indicated for glycemic control in adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus. The Biologics License Application (BLA) for the drug is currently being reviewed in China. It has already been approved by the FDA for clinical trials in the U.S.

Dulaglutide is a long-acting, once-weekly glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist. Compared with other glucose-lowering medications, dulaglutide improves β-cell functions to stably and effectively lower blood sugar and HbA1c levels. In addition, due to its unique mechanism of action, this drug is less likely to cause hypoglycemia, can reduce body weight, blood lipids, and long-term cardiovascular risks, and also demonstrates kidney benefits.¹ Being injected once a week, the drug helps to reduce patient inconvenience. And its gastrointestinal adverse reactions are relatively mild. Both factors help to improve patient compliance.

BA5101 is developed by Boan Biotech. To the knowledge of the company, it is the world’s first and only biosimilar to Trulicity for which a BLA has been submitted. The development of BA5101 strictly followed relevant guidelines of China, the U.S., and the EU for biosimilars. The drug’s overall similarity to Trulicity has been established by evidence from a series of analytical, non-clinical, human pharmacokinetic, and clinical studies comparing it with the reference product for efficacy, safety, and immunogenicity. BA5101 has been shown to be highly similar to the reference product in terms of quality, efficacy, safety, and immunogenicity. Once launched, BA5101 is expected to improve the accessibility of dulaglutide and offer patients with type 2 diabetes an affordable, high-quality treatment option.

This partnership has demonstrated how Boan Biotech and Shaphar can work together to integrate resources across the pharmaceutical industry’s value chain. As a leading distributor of pharmaceuticals in China, Shaphar has established a nationwide distribution network covering over 70,000 healthcare institutions across 25 provinces. With a sales & marketing team of nearly 1,000 people, the company enjoys a leading edge in promoting new drugs academically and in managing their sales channels. With an extensive marketing experience, it has successfully commercialized blockbusters from several multinational pharmaceutical companies. 

Boan Biotech will take advantage of the strong expertise of Shaphar in doing integrated sales & marketing across channels as well as its extensive sales network to bring BA5101 to patients at the fastest speed possible by distributing it to hospitals, retail pharmacy chains, and Direct-to-Patient (DTP) pharmacies throughout China faster. This will help to increase both the accessibility and the reach of the drug. Meanwhile, Shaphar will leverage this partnership to reinforce its existing portfolio and offer medications for full-cycle diabetes management, so as to further cement its leading position in the therapeutic area of metabolic diseases.

Jiang Hua, Chairlady and Chief Executive Officer of Boan Biotech, said: We are excited to enter into this strategic partnership with Shaphar. Its commercialization capabilities and integrated marketing services across channels will provide strong support for the launch and marketing of our Dulaglutide Injection. We look forward to working closely with each other and leveraging our strengths to drive the drug’s launch for the benefit of patients.

Li Yongzhong, Executive Director and Executive President of Shanghai Pharma, said: At Shaphar, we are always ‘Proud to Serve’. We have extensive experience in commercializing innovative drugs and a strong presence in the therapeutic area of metabolic diseases. We will work closely with Boan Biotech to drive the rapid penetration of BA5101 into core markets and expand its reach to the community level so that this high-quality antidiabetic drug benefits a broader patient population and contributes to improving the standard of diabetes prevention and treatment in China. During this transitional period of China’s pharmaceutical industry, we are optimizing and upgrading our CSO business model, and look forward to deepening our partnership with Boan Biotech.

Diabetes management is becoming increasingly challenging both in China and around the world. According to the latest data from the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), 589 million adults aged 20 to 79 were living with diabetes worldwide in 2024, a number that was projected to rise to 853 million by 2050. China has the largest diabetic population among all countries, with 148 million adults affected by the disease in 2024, accounting for over 25% of the global total, which was expected to grow to 168 million by 2025.² Driven by huge unmet needs, the market looks promising for long-acting GLP-1 drugs. The size of the market for GLP-1 drugs in China was RMB 6.376 billion in 2024, according to data from IQVIA. And the global sales of Trulicity were approximately USD 5.253 billion in 2024, according to publicly available data.³

References：
1.Hertel C Cerstein, Helen M Colhoun, Gilles R Dagenais, et al. Dulaglutide and cardiovascular outcomes in type 2 diabetes (REWIND): a double-blind, randomised placebo-controlled trial [J]. Lancet. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(19)31149-3
2.International Diabetes Federation. https://diabetesatlas.org/.Accessed on June 4, 2025
​3.Eli Lilly and Company 2024 Annual Report. https://investor.lilly.com/static-files/ff06ed54-9f64-4b7f-8529-c0278d635eac. Accessed on June 4, 2025