Page 18 - Sphere No.20 (Nov 2007)

16 SPHERE It is inspirational work and we are very excited.
hold name but the groundbreaking work done at
Chi-Med may, ultimately, lead to a pharmaceutical
product that is recognised around the world. As
and when the drug passes final FDA tests, its
usage will be licensed to the major drug com-
panies, with all their formidable marketing
and sales skills.
Already there are provisional tie-ups.
A deal has been signed with Merck of
Germany to collaborate on cancer drug
discoveries and Chi-Med has a similar
arrangement with Procter & Gamble
to work on possible skincare prod-
ucts. In August, Hutchison Medi-
Pharma also entered a drug discovery
and development agreement with Eli
Lilly. “This is a landmark deal for both
Hutchison MediPharma and Chi-
Med,” says Dr Du. “We aim to discover
and develop innovative medicines to
meet global market needs with big phar-
ma quality. We have built a strong drug
discovery and development platform fo-
cused on oncology and auto-immune indi-
cations in the past few years.”
The process of doing the research, creating a
product, testing it and finally putting it on sale, is a
slow one. The clinical trials are by nature extremely
complex but, put in simple terms, the onus is on the
researchers to prove that the drugs are not danger-
ous, and really do help cure people. The tests are
in three different phases, and the closer the trials
move successfully towards the end of the third
stage, the more likely it is that permission will be
given by influential bodies such as the US FDA
for the drug to go on the open market.
“You can get to the end of phase two of tests
and still be five years away from market,” ex-
plains Mr Hogg. “While the ultimate objec-
tive is to get new drugs to market, the day-
to-day focus is about progressing candidates
through the pre-clinical and clinical phases
where great intellectual property-driven
value can be created in the short term.”
It is the research though, that is generat-
ing the real buzz, particularly as the words
cancer and cure have been linked to-
gether. The testing procedure was given
an extra fillip when the FDA ruled that
existing evidence of a compound’s