Chinese biopharmaceutical investors are detailing 'new' drivers of growth

On August 1, China Biopharmaceutical 2023 Investor Day was held in Hong Kong. Xie Qirun, Chairman of the Board of directors of China Biopharmaceutical, attended the event with senior executives and research and development team to explain the layout and development of the company's three major platforms in biologics, respiratory and innovative patches, as well as the frontier pipeline in the fields of cancer, weight reduction, and non-alcoholic-steato-hepatitis. Xie Qirun said that the company will further strengthen its dominant position, focus on innovation and transformation, aim at the global clinical needs that have not been met, and move toward the goal of an international pharmaceutical leader.

Xie Qirun introduced that at present, China's biopharmaceutical focus on cancer, surgery/analgesia, liver disease, respiratory four key disease areas, the establishment of two domestic and foreign innovation and research and development bases - in China, located in Nanjing Zhengda Tianqing is a leading enterprise in the field of liver disease and cancer. Teide, based in Beijing, is a leader in pain relief and respiratory medicine. Overseas, the company acquired three advanced technology platforms through its subsidiary invoX - F-star dual antibody technology platform, pHion mRNA delivery platform and Softhale soft fog inhalation platform, thus realizing the strategic layout of global multi-R&D centers. "In the future, we will also realize overseas authorization of independent innovation assets through invoX, bringing Tianqing and Ted's innovation out of China to benefit patients around the world."

At present, China's biopharmaceuticals continue to increase investment in independent research and development, and innovative drugs have been listed, including anlotinib, a new generation of long-acting G-CSF Ebergestim α. In addition, PD-L1 monoantibody TQB2450, ALK/c-Met/ROS1 inhibitor TQB3101, ALK/c-Met inhibitor TQB3139 and other blockbuster products have been in the middle and late stages of clinical research and development, and are expected to be approved in the future, bringing incremental performance.

Innovative patch platform: Build the largest external preparation pipeline in China

Transdermal is the third largest drug delivery route after oral administration and injection. At present, the patch market in China is huge, but most of it is dominated by traditional Chinese medicine and chemical paste generics. In recent years, with the increasing aging in China, the promotion of the collection policy and the increasing difficulty of new drug research and development, the improvement of high technical barriers and high clinical value of preparations has become the best choice for pharmaceutical companies to innovate and transform.

Zhao Yanping, vice president and head of R&D of Ted Pharmaceutical, introduced at the event that, as a leader in transdermal preparations, Ted has been deeply engaged for more than 30 years, taking the lead in breaking through traditional diseases such as anti-inflammatory and analgesia, and laying out in the disease fields with huge traditional drug delivery pain points and technical difficulties such as central nervous system, cardiovascular system and hormone metabolism. At present, the 15 projects of the platform patch pipeline cover diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, chronic asthma, Parkinson's disease, insomnia, and effectively solve the problems of patients with medication difficulties and cognitive decline. "From the first Flurbiprofen patch on the market, to the independent development of lidocaine gel paste, Ted will build the largest domestic pipeline of topical preparations by 2027."

Breathing platform: Build high technical barriers layout P2X3, ROCK2 huge potential targets

Respiratory preparations have high barriers, especially the domestic inhalation preparations market has been monopolized by foreign pharmaceutical companies for a long time, and the market is dominated by original research products in stock. Through the self-developed +BD dual-wheel drive, China Biopharmaceutical has consolidated and expanded its leading advantage in the respiratory field, leading the layout in asthma, pulmonary fibrosis, COPD, pneumoconiosis and other indications.

Chen Penggen, chief strategy officer of China Biopharmaceutical, introduced that China Biopharmaceutical and Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, China-Japan Friendship Hospital, and West China Hospital jointly built the national Respiratory Key Laboratory to explore first-in-class targets and carry out the first drug discovery. In recent years, ROCK2, P2X3, TSLP super frontier targets that have attracted much attention in the industry have been laid out, and the development progress is leading in China. At the same time, the company will use the soft fog inhalation technology platform to develop high-potential emerging therapies such as inhaled vaccines and inhaled antibiotics.

Biologics platform: The second largest number of NDA applications in the global market

The global biologics market size is huge, 2022? Reaching 480 billion US dollars, China's biopharmaceutical began to lay out biological drugs in 2010, with a total of 16 innovative drugs and 14 biosimilar drugs declared for clinical use, laying a solid development path of high-barrier generic drugs + biosimilar drugs.

On this investor day, Zhao Wei, vice president and head of research and development of Zhengda Tianqing, revealed that at present, the company's layout of the top ten biological drug targets in the world has reached 90%, and 8 biosimilar drugs have completed the first listing declaration, ranking second in the number of applications in China; The nine product progress is the top three in China, all of which are high-potential varieties with sales of more than 1 billion yuan.

At the same time, the company is also actively layout the global market, product sales involve Europe, Southeast Asia, Africa, South America, Central and North America and other regions. And Limoprost, polymyxin B and other heavy generic varieties are expected to be rapidly expanded this year, which will drive the overall steady growth of performance.