Sphere
#36
2014
21
>>
was hit or miss – educated guesswork
at best. But now, our understanding
of biochemistry has given us tools to
dramatically focus our efforts.
Chi-Med looks at existing therapies
that might affect many pathways relevant
to the cancer under attack and focuses on
them. Mark Lee, Vice President, Corporate
Finance and Development of Chi-Med,
explains how improving this process
benefits patients, saying, “You can ramp up
the dose and hit the target hard.” This allows
doctors to increase dosage, killing tumours
faster, and more importantly, completely.
In cancer treatment, the newest drugs
developed by large pharmaceutical firms
are often too expensive for many patients
around the world. Some of those patients
are in China, which now has the highest
number of new cancer patients in the
world. As a China-focused company,
Chi-Med is well placed to deliver more
affordable, targeted therapies suitable for
the huge and growing Chinese market.
One such drug is Fruquintinib. This anti-
cancer molecule has been developed using
Chi-Med’s model of refining existing, less
specific medicines to find a more effective
treatment with fewer side effects. More
are to come.
Novel Targets: Disease under fire
The third approach, targeting small
molecules against novel targets, means
taking on a disease in a completely new
way with a new molecular formulation.
In recent years, rules in the US concerning
drug testing for patients with terminal
illnesses have been changed. Now, where
a prognosis is fatal, promising new drugs
are allowed to be tested on those for whom
other drugs have failed already. From these
treatments, researchers know immediately
whether a drug has any impact and side
effects. This reduces uncertainty, time and
cost and enables drugs to come to market
faster. This means more people have their
lives, and time with loved ones, extended.
In some cases, formerly fatal diseases can
be beaten back and lives saved.
The new designation of ‘Breakthrough
Therapy’ means that promising drugs
can be approved and delivered to suffering
patients faster – in 60 days or less if
approved. As the US is still the biggest
market in the world by expenditure,
this can cut half a decade or more
off testing and allows researchers to
understand how their drugs work much
faster so that they can improve them and
help even more people.
Focused: “You can ramp up the
dose and hit the target hard.”
Mark Lee, Vice President, Corporate
Finance and Development, Chi-Med
