Sphere
#36
2014
23
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company through an investment. One of
the best in the business had taken a long
hard look at Chi-Med – and liked what they
saw. “We were able to convince Mitsui –
they are very experienced biotech investors
and great people to work with, and they
knew [that Chi-Med was on the right track].
They put money in here into the drug R&D
and it was about USD20 million then. That
got us through to 2011,” says Mr Hogg.
A crucial step in taking drugs into the
final stages of development and hopefully
preparation for global development is
partnering with a major pharmaceutical
company. Commitment to support
expensive global trials – and later marketing
and sales muscle – tells the market that
the industry leaders with decades of global
experience have done their due diligence
and believe in the product’s potential.
Having a pipeline of promising new drugs
demands access to a steady supply of
funds and expertise to make sure that
drugs get through final testing and into the
hands of doctors and patients to save lives.
Big plans, big partners
Chi-Med has the solid support of global
leaders, such as Swiss giant Nestlé
Health Science who are supporting
the development of its gastrointestinal
drug. They have joined forces in the
joint venture Nutrition Science Partners.
Nestlé, as a global leader in food
production as well as drugs, is the best
of partners for producing the botanicals
necessary to support drug production,
and will also bring the resources of
Prometheus Labs to support research, as
well as its global sales and distribution
network. Nestlé has the rights to work
with Chi-Med and their vast library of
1,500 purified natural products and
50,000 extracts from traditional plants.
A partner on the ‘known target’ approach
is America’s Eli Lilly & Company. The global
giant is keen on Fruquintinib, a drug that
promises to help a range of cancer patients
with solid tumours. Lung, colorectal,
gastrointestinal and renal cancer all show
promise as being likely targets for the drug,
making it a potential blockbuster.
AstraZeneca is another partner interested
in Chi-Med’s Volitinib – an anti-cancer
molecule that could be paired with
AstraZeneca’s powerful AZD9291 for a
tumour-busting cocktail effective against
resistant lung cancer tumours.
Promise for the future
With cancer drugs in particular, the upside
can be tremendous. A drug approved to
treat one condition, which may be rare by
itself, often holds promise for treating other
cancers. The health benefits and financial
upside can be immense, with both millions
of people experiencing life improvement
and the company reaping significant profits
that can fund research into more drugs.
This investment will see its first novel
drugs ideally come to market some time
in 2016 if all goes well – 16 years after the
venture began. It has taken a long-term
commitment by HWL and the people
at Chi-Med, who have been there from
the start, to see the results begin to
come in. New promising molecules and
botanicals will need to be found and put
into the pipeline to bring more cures and
treatments to an eager world.
Chi-Med and Hutchison’s commitment, hard
work, and innovative thinking have brought
them to this point and will carry them
beyond. This is how Hutchison heals.
With top-notch technical equipment at hand, Chi-Med is able to develop precise formulation processes
for the manufacturing of new drugs and ensure stability and consistency in every dose.
