On November 14, Everest Medicines (01952)'s Velsipity® (etrasimod arginine tablets) and Xerava® (eravacycline hydrochloride for injection) passed the national medical insurance negotiation and were included in the National Basic Medical Insurance, Work Injury Insurance, and Maternity Insurance Drug Catalog (2026 edition) for the first time. The new catalog will officially take effect on January 1, 2027. At the same time, its IgA nephropathy causal treatment drug Nefecon® (budesonide enteric-coated capsules) was successfully renewed and remains in the catalog. So far, Everest Medicines has three products in the national medical insurance catalog, covering areas such as ulcerative colitis, complicated intra-abdominal infections, and IgA nephropathy, with Velsipity® achieving medical insurance inclusion in its first year on the market. Industry observers note that two innovative drugs being included in medical insurance for the first time and one product being successfully renewed further enriches Everest Medicines's commercialized product portfolio. With the implementation of the new catalog and the continued advancement of localized production of innovative drugs, the company's multi-product commercialization system is expected to enter a new stage of development.

Two innovative drugs enter medical insurance for the first time, filling medication gaps in two major areas. The two drugs newly included in medical insurance this time target two major clinical pain points: ulcerative colitis and drug-resistant bacterial infections. Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a chronic intestinal inflammatory disease with an unclear etiology and a tendency to relapse, and its disease burden continues to increase. Velsipity® is China's first and only approved sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) receptor modulator for the treatment of UC, administered as a once-daily oral dose, providing a new treatment option for adult patients with moderately to severely active UC who have had an inadequate response, lost response, or are intolerant to conventional therapy or biologics. In the largest Asian multicenter Phase III clinical study of moderately to severely active UC patients completed to date (ENLIGHT UC), Velsipity® achieved a 52-week mucosal healing rate of 51.9%, with long-term follow-up showing a favorable safety profile. Professor Wu Kaichun, lead investigator of the Asia-Pacific clinical trial for Velsipity®, executive committee member and treasurer of the World Gastroenterology Organisation, vice president of the Asian Pacific Association of Gastroenterology, former vice chairman of the 10th and 11th Chinese Society of Gastroenterology, and of the Xijing Hospital of Digestive Diseases at Air Force Medical University, stated that China's UC disease burden continues to increase, traditional therapies have limitations such as limited efficacy and high relapse rates, and approved biologics and small molecule treatments also face issues of an "efficacy ceiling" and "loss of response." As a new-generation highly selective S1P receptor modulator, Velsipity® can achieve rapid onset and deep mucosal healing, balancing efficacy, safety, and convenience. He looks forward to its inclusion in medical insurance effectively reducing the long-term treatment burden for patients. The other new drug, Xerava®, is the world's first and only fully synthetic fluorocycline antibacterial agent, used for the treatment of complicated intra-abdominal infections (cIAI) in adults. It has been recommended by multiple domestic and international guidelines and consensus for empirical treatment of complicated intra-abdominal infections and serves as a clinical option for treating multidrug-resistant bacterial infections; the World Health Organization (WHO) has included it in its "list of antibiotics of medical importance." Professor Yu Yunsong, Qiushi Distinguished Professor at Zhejiang University, leading talent of the Zhejiang Provincial Health Commission, and head of the infectious diseases discipline at Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital affiliated with Zhejiang University School of Medicine, pointed out that current clinical treatment of complicated intra-abdominal infections and drug-resistant bacterial infections still faces significant challenges. The inclusion of eravacycline in medical insurance "fills the clinical need for treating carbapenem-resistant Gram-negative bacteria (CRAB and CRE) intra-abdominal infections, especially mixed infections." He looks forward to Xerava® benefiting more patients after its inclusion in medical insurance. He noted that CRAB and CRE are classified by WHO as the highest-level "critical priority" pathogens, with infection mortality rates reaching over 40%; Xerava® demonstrates strong antibacterial activity against these common multidrug-resistant bacteria, with good overall safety and tolerability, and a high clinical cure rate for complicated intra-abdominal infections caused by CRAB and CRE.

Localized production capacity advancement supports multi-product development. It is worth noting that just before announcing the innovative drugs' passage through national medical insurance negotiation, a new 100mg specification of Xerava® was approved by the National Medical Products Administration. This approval is seen as an important milestone for the company in improving its product layout and expanding commercialization potential, providing more flexible specification options for clinical use, reducing drug preparation operations and liquid waste, and further enhancing supply guarantee capabilities. While accelerating commercialization, Everest Medicines is simultaneously advancing localization of its production. It is reported that the company's global production base in Jiashan has obtained a production license and is actively promoting localized production of Xerava® to ensure stable supply, with the 50mg dosage form of Xerava® having completed process validation. Relying on the Jiashan production base, the company continues to advance production capacity construction and upgrading, accelerating the localized production process of commercialized innovative products around its core therapeutic area product portfolio, and simultaneously laying out API production, continuously improving the production system from API to finished drug. In the future, the Jiashan production base will further enhance the synergy between capacity allocation and production supply, strengthen the stability and resilience of the supply chain, and provide support for the company's long-term development. Luo Yongqing, CEO of Everest Medicines, stated that the inclusion of these two products in medical insurance is an important milestone in the company's commercialization process, reflecting the national medical insurance's recognition of the clinical value of innovative drugs, and will significantly improve patient medication accessibility and reduce medication burden. Next, the company will actively cooperate with the implementation of medical insurance policies in various regions, accelerate the localized production process of innovative products relying on the Jiashan production base, and enable world-leading therapies to better meet the clinical needs of Chinese patients.