Aligos Therapeutics sold the Greater China rights to pevifoscorvir sodium to Fujian-based Amoytop for up to $445 million: $25 million upfront and $420 million in milestones, plus tiered high single-digit royalties if the drug reaches market.
What does Amoytop actually get? A phase 2 capsid assembly modulator (CAM-E) for chronic hepatitis B, currently running head-to-head against Gilead’s Viread. Topline data come next year. The dual mechanism blocks HBV DNA integration and reduces the cccDNA reservoir — something current nucleos(t)ide analogs can’t do, leaving the virus to keep replicating in liver cells.
Amoytop is already an established player in China’s hepatology market. Its drug Pegbing became the world’s first approved functional cure for HBV anywhere when Chinese regulators cleared it in October 2025. Pair that with pevifoscorvir sodium and the existing ASO collaboration between the two companies, and Amoytop assembles a full HBV combination pipeline.
For Aligos, the math is blunt. The California biotech entered 2026 with $77.8 million in cash. This deal extends runway from Q3 to Q4 2026. That’s one extra quarter.
The competitive pressure is real: GSK plans to file its own HBV functional cure candidate this year after hitting phase 3 primary endpoints for bepirovirsen, and Arbutus just received FDA fast track designation for imdusiran.
Whether $25 million was enough to sell China rights on a drug competing in the world’s largest HBV market is the question Aligos’s board will be revisiting when Q4 2026 arrives.
Diana Kowalski