Novo Nordisk is seeking up to US$830 million in damages from KBP Biosciences, according to a ruling by a Singapore court, as the Danish drugmaker says it was misled when it bought a new hypertension drug from KBP in 2023.
The Singapore International Commercial Court, at the request of Novo Nordisk, ordered the freezing of the worldwide assets of Singapore-based KBP and its founder Huang Zhenhua, according to the ruling last Friday (Feb 14), which was made public on Tuesday.
The court said Novo Nordisk will launch arbitration proceedings against the Shandong-founded KBP in New York.
Novo Nordisk, best known for blockbuster obesity drug Wegovy, and KBP Biosciences did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Huang was not immediately available for comment.
The Danish company announced a deal in October 2023 to buy ocedurenone, a drug for uncontrolled hypertension with potential application in cardiovascular and kidney disease, from KBP Biosciences for up to US$1.3 billion.
However, in June 2024 Novo Nordisk said it was recognising a loss of around 5.7 billion Danish crowns (US$800 million) in relation to the drug after adverse clinical trial results.
“I am satisfied that Novo has shown that it has a good arguable case against KBP for fraud under New York law, which governs the dispute,” Judge Philip Jeyaretnam said in his ruling last Friday.
The judge added that it was arguable “KBP knowingly failed to disclose material information”, including analysis of trial results which showed ocedurenone’s “inefficacy”.
