Sphere
#36
2014
22
Chi-Med has a number of promising
drugs that could be helping cancer
sufferers soon (see Volitinib below). It also
has an inflammation candidate beginning
pre-clinical trials with partner Janssen
(a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary).
World class brains
Chi-Med hasn’t made this happen alone
and it hasn’t followed a traditional path.
Its internal and external partners are a big
part of the story and Mr Hogg credits many
people and companies for helping Chi-Med
along the way.
Scientists, for example. The company may
not operate in a traditional Western research
locus like New Jersey, Boston or Basel – but
has all their best scientists. They are the
alumni of the world’s best universities and
most advanced pharmaceutical research
centres. They have worked with the world’s
most sophisticated research-intensive
firms like Pfizer, Novartis, Celgene, Roche
and Phenomix.
It’s not just the executive leadership.
The company is unusual in that, for an
early-stage firm, it has a sizeable staff
contingent. Companies doing research in
early stage molecule investigation in the
US or Europe may seize on one molecule
and set up a company that never has
more than 10 people. Mr Hogg explains
that Chi-Med has “almost 250 full-time
scientists and staff in our R&D business
... all in Shanghai.” Traditional firms will
outsource almost all their processes,
testing and production of materials.
Chi-Med does it all on-site. “Everything
is done internally … we want to keep the
expertise and we want to build up our own
team over time.” Having this intellectual
firepower under one roof doesn’t just
make for cost-effectiveness, but also
leads to faster sharing of results and
ideas. It has a huge impact on operational
effectiveness.
Solid support
Mr Hogg is clear about the support the
company has received over the past 14
years. “Over a long period of time, the
company, Hutchison, has been massively
supportive with a long-term view. This is
not a short-term project, this is a long-term
project that requires an enormous amount
of patience and commitment by everybody.”
The Hutchison Whampoa Group is
known and respected for its companies
in a wide range of industries. However, in
2000, pharmaceutical research was not
one of those industries. The Group then
started making acquisitions of firms in
China. While these companies were being
reformed to make them profitable, Chi-
Med launched its research programme, a
serious, investment-intensive undertaking.
The investment required for even one drug
to be developed is in the scores of millions,
not including late-stage development and
global distribution.
While the company did have a listing on
the London Stock Exchange’s AIM market,
it had a real moment of validation when
Mitsui Global Investment’s healthcare
specialist division chose to support the
<<
ON TARGET
Botanicals R&D is looking
at plants with promise to be
developed into drugs.
Chi-Med houses diverse operations under one roof in the Shanghai research centre which allows for a high degree of collaboration among colleagues.
