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Exclusive Interview With Yasheng Pharmaceutical Yang Dajun: Innovation And Internationalization Are The Foundation Of Biomedicine To Become Bigger And Stronger

2020/8/27 13:07:00 0

Special Interview On MedicineMedicineInnovationInnovation

"We have two milestones this year." In August, Yang Dajun, chairman and CEO of AXA pharmaceutical, was interviewed by the 21st century economic reporter at the company's Suzhou headquarters. His body is a 3D model of the company's global headquarters, R & D center and industrial base.

One of the milestones mentioned by Yang Dajun is that the company's core product hqp1351, the third generation of Gleevec, has submitted an application for new drug marketing, and the other is the rapid recovery of the global headquarters, R & D center and production base in Suzhou after the epidemic.

The first new drug marketing application and production base construction is equivalent to the "adult ceremony" of Yasheng pharmaceutical, marking that the company will grow from an original new drug R & D enterprise to a new drug R & D manufacturing enterprise.

Yang Dajun was a lucky child of the times. After resuming the college entrance examination in the 1970s, he was admitted to Zhongshan Medical University (now Zhongshan University). In the 1980s, after studying in the United States and obtaining a doctor's degree, he successively worked in the Lombard cancer research center of Georgetown University and the Oncology Department of University of Michigan.

The U.S. biomedical industry started in the 1980s. During this period, many Chinese students who went to the United States to study in the United States, whether doing research or entering enterprises, entered the forefront of the industry, and many became the leaders in various subdivision fields.

Chinese pharmaceutical industry has similar growth experience, such as Li Ge, founder of YaoMing Kant, Du Ying, founder of zaiding medicine, etc. In spite of the different choices they made to start their own business in the first ten years of their return to China, they joined the pharmaceutical industry in the first decade.

"So we got the first-hand experience in the core of the biological industry. This is the opportunity of the times. " Talking about the future, Yang said, "it's important to let China go to the world."

15 years since returning home

Yasheng medicine is Yang Dajun's second venture.

As early as 2003, he co founded Ascenta therapeutics with Wang shaomeng and other companies, and obtained investment from American first-line VC companies such as domain associates, sofinnova ventures and enterprise partners.

Asiatic is mainly engaged in the research and development of new target anticancer drugs. Soon after starting his own business, Yang Dajun, who has been studying in the United States for nearly 20 years, gave up his teaching post and devoted himself to entrepreneurship. He and Wang shaomeng and Guo Ming set up a research and development center in Shanghai and returned to China to start a business.

When the board of directors decided to close the Shanghai R & D center, Yang Dajun, Wang shaomeng and Guo Ming jointly decided to "stay". They want to make innovative drugs not only take root in China, but also flourish in China.

The founding team of Yasheng pharmaceutical has participated in the development of American biomedical industry, and has firmly embarked on the road of "being an original new drug and becoming a global market" after independent entrepreneurship in China.

Such a decision will not be easy at this point in 2009. At that time, the impact of the global financial crisis had not subsided, and no one could have foreseen when the approval of innovative drugs in China would accelerate. Investors and peers are cautious because of the high risk. Generic drugs and me too are the choices of most Chinese pharmaceutical companies.

Yang Dajun recalled the original intention of starting a business. Returning to China is to build a team that can win gold medals in the international and biomedical Olympic Games. "Here, we only have international standards, and we want to get the best medals in the world."

Global R & D + global market

New drug applications for chronic myeloid leukemia patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) phase 15 were submitted to the National Drug Administration for accelerated drug resistance (MDR) on March 1.

Gleevec is the star anticancer drug in the movie "I am not the God of medicine". The new drug application of hqp1351 is expected to achieve a breakthrough of three generations of domestic Glivec in China.

Behind the new drug application of the third generation of 1351 Glivec, we can not do without the high R & D investment of Yasheng pharmaceutical for many years. According to Yasheng medical semiannual report, in the first half of 2020 alone, the expenditure on R & D reached 251 million yuan, an increase of 26.37% year-on-year. This scale of investment is carried out under the current situation of China's new crown pneumonia epidemic.

Yang Dajun expects not only that the government can support new drugs to enter the medical insurance system as soon as possible, but also that the state can support competent enterprises to enter the international market.

ASEN has been preparing for 11 years. As can be seen from the company's prospectus, this pharmaceutical enterprise is positioned as a global integrated biotechnology company, adhering to the "global R & D + global market" from its first day of establishment; now, as expected at that time, it has established a Chinese manufacturing plant that meets global standards to serve the global market.

It is understood that AXA's global headquarters covers an area of 100000 square meters, including clinical or future commercial drug production bases. It is expected to include two production lines for oral solid agents and two production lines for injection / lyophilized powder injection.

In terms of R & D and marketing, taking hqp1351, the third-generation bcr-abl inhibitor, as an example, its clinical trials have been launched in many places in China, and have been approved by the food and Drug Administration (FDA) for orphan drug qualification and evaluation fast track qualification. In addition, clinical trials of several products in the pipeline were conducted in China, Australia and the United States.

China's opportunities

In October 2019, AXA pharmaceutical took the first bus to go to Hong Kong through "chapter 18a" and was once the "king of oversold" in the Hong Kong stock market in 2019. According to the IPO documents, institutional shareholders of Yasheng include SDIC innovation, Sansheng pharmaceutical, Yuanhe holding, Yuanhe origin, Yuanming capital, CCB international, etc.

Talking about the future development of the industry, Yang Dajun analyzed the development of Japan's biomedical industry as an example, saying that innovation and internationalization are the two fundamental factors for the industry to become bigger and stronger.

In 2017, China's State Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) officially joined the International Coordinating Council (ICH) on technical requirements for human drugs, marking the international community's recognition of China's government drug review and approval reform and China's pharmaceutical industry. It also indicates that the pace of China's drug review and approval reform will be further accelerated and the internationalization process of China's local pharmaceutical enterprises is starting.

For pharmaceutical R & D enterprises, they not only hope that the government will further support the development of the medical and health industry after the outbreak, but also hope to take this opportunity to promote the real entry of China's original new drugs into the international market.

According to the semi annual report recently released by AXA pharmaceutical, the company has more than 40 phase I or II clinical trials in China, the United States and Australia, and has successively established global cooperation with multinational pharmaceutical enterprises and academic institutions such as AstraZeneca, MSD and the National Clinical Center for hematological diseases to promote product development.

"The epidemic has shown the world the strength of China's biomedical industry." Yang Dajun believes that the new crown pneumonia epidemic in 2020 is undoubtedly a challenge that the whole world needs to face together. At the same time, it is also a historical opportunity for the development of China's biomedical industry. "If we grasp it well, it will become a turning point for China's pharmaceutical innovation to move towards the world in an all-round way."

 

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