Sphere No.46 (Mar 2019)

>> Sphere #46 2019 13 The future: Just a little science To understand the future of fruquintinib, a little bit of science is needed. There are two ways to expand the use of fruquintinib. One is to bring it to new markets. The other is to apply it to other cancers. But to understand how one drug can attack multiple tumours, one has to understand some thinking around how cancer drugs work. Indeed, in speaking to Mr Hogg about the business, Sphere discovered his real passion, both for the ins and outs of the deep science of cancer, and for bringing cancer to heel. Cancer is not just one, but is, in fact, many ailments, all connected through unregulated cell growth that manifests as tumours. The mechanisms by which a cancerous cell circumvents the natural brake on cell growth are legion. Faulty biochemical processes that drive cancer research, approval procedures could be fast-tracked for priority review to potentially put life-saving drugs in the hands of patients as quickly as possible. Attracting the heavyweights The pharma heavyweights weren’t sitting on their hands, however. They noticed the success of the pharma upstart and wanted to collaborate. Over a five-year period, Chi-Med signed agreements with companies including Merck, Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca. Eli Lilly was the partner that invested in Chi-Med’s efforts to bring fruquintinib to manufacturing and the market under the brand name Elunate®. As fruquintinib progressed through different stages of testing and development, it hit milestones that triggered multiple rounds of investment from Eli Lilly totalling more than US$100 million to support future clinical trials in Mainland China. Collaboration with Eli Lilly lent to Chi-Med’s development of its own manufacturing plant which meets the global good manufacturing practices (GMP) standards. While Chi-Med has its own formidable sales force, Eli Lilly will use its similarly powerful sales network to sell the drug. This arose as part of an agreement in 2013, which, at the time, was a solid validation of the potential of fruquintinib and Chi-Med in the eyes of the capital markets.