RE: 19th Sept Pharma Letter22 Sep 2016 12:51
contd............
These are increasingly late-stage clinical studies, with four Phase III trials enrolling at the moment and another three pivotal studies set to start at around the end of the year.
There is particular excitement that savolitinib could be a global first-in-class inhibitor of the mesenchymal epithelial transition factor, or c-Met, receptor tyrosine kinase, an enzyme which has been shown to function abnormally in many types of solid tumors.
Mr Hogg says: “We feel that we’re getting closer and closer with savolitinib, which we’re partnered with AstraZeneca on – that’s about to start a couple of Phase III pivotal studies, one in kidney cancer and one in lung cancer.”
Chi-Med developed savolitinib as a potent and highly selective oral inhibitor that was designed to address renal toxicity, the primary issue that foiled big pharma’s attempts to develop other selective c-Met inhibitors.
Other synthetic compounds against novel targets with global first-in-class potential are also part of Chi-Med’s broad pipeline, as are candidates against validated targets with clear differentiation to potentially be a global best-in-class, such as fruquintinib, a selective inhibitor of the vascular endothelial growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase.
In partnership with Eli Lilly, Chi-Med is currently studying fruquintinib for the treatment of colorectal cancer, non-small cell lung cancer and gastric cancer in China.
'Ecosystem conducive to innovation'
The fact that the company’s researchers have been able to match and, in cases such as savolitinib, surpass the innovation of established pharma giants, does not come as a surprise to Mr Hogg.
Chi-Med has assembled a research and development team of more than 300 scientists and staff in Shanghai, including some of China’s “best and brightest” who have been attracted back from the USA, he says.
“Chinese talent is among the best in the world,” Mr Hogg adds. “Our talent has been trained in America and has been involved in the pharma industry for the last couple of decades.
“It’s really interesting that you’ve got global innovation coming out of China. The Chinese government and entrepreneurs and the industry – the WuXi PharmaTechs (NYSE: WX) of this world – have created an ecosystem and an environment that is conducive to innovation and it’s the state government policy.
“It’s been an area where a lot of effort has gone in over the last 15 or so years and the ecosystem now exists to allow for drug discovery in China, whereas 20 years ago I would say it was almost impossible.”
If, as Mr Hogg hopes, Chi-Med is the first to bring a novel drug to the global market that was entirely ‘made in China’, he believes it will be the first on a path that many will follow.
“It’s inevitable that it will be done by a Chin
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