Innovent Biologics Inc. sold 19,000 units of its PD-1 class checkpoint inhibitor Tyvyt, or sintilimab, in the first three weeks following the product's launch in the first quarter of 2019, CFO Ronnie Ede told S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Ede said the Suzhou, China-based company is selling the blood cancer drug via Eli Lilly and Co. and Innovent's own direct channel. Sales through Eli Lilly totaled $9.9 million for the period, according to a regulatory filing from the Indianapolis-based drugmaker. Lilly's sales accounted for the majority of Tyvyt's revenue, Ede added.

Innovent is selling the medicine to more than 1,000 hospitals in China, covering 30 Chinese provinces and 103 cities with more than 300 sales representatives, according to a report posted on local healthcare research and information platform Pharmcube that cites Innovent Chief Commercial Officer Liu Min.

Ede said the company is satisfied with the sales so far and expects the momentum to continue, though the CFO declined to give any specific sales guidance.

Hong Kong-listed Innovent was the second domestic drugmaker to launch a PD-1 therapy in China in 2018. Shanghai Junshi Biosciences Co. Ltd., the first domestic company to do so, reported revenue of 79.1 million yuan in the first quarter of 2019, most of which came from sales of its PD-1 treatment Tuo Yi, or toripalimab.

Junshi reported the first prescription of Tuo Yi on Feb. 26, 2019. Junshi CEO Li Ning also said in a press event in Hong Kong in April that the company expects Tuo Yi to reach peak sales in three to four years with annual revenue of 10 billion yuan to 15 billion yuan.

Junshi also recently applied to dual list on Shanghai's new trading board, known as the Kechuang board. The Shanghai-based company went public in Hong Kong in December 2018.

Ede said Innovent has no immediate plans to list in China because the listing process Hong Kong unveiled in April 2018 is more specific to biotechnology companies, while the Kechuang board welcomes technology companies in general.

Junshi and Innovent were both listed under the relaxed biotech listing rules Hong Kong rolled out in 2018, which allows pre-revenue biotech companies to go public in the city.

As of May 8, US$1 was equivalent to about 6.78 Chinese yuan.