Pharma firm's R&D efforts bear fruit

Through the upgraded AstraZeneca's Global R&D China Center, which was unveiled in Shanghai in October 2021, a rising number of biotech innovations are being promoted to contribute to global development, said a senior executive of the United Kingdom-based pharmaceutical company.

The company will continue to increase its research and development capability and expand its collaboration with the ecosystem that is developing in China, said Susan Galbraith, executive vice-president and head of oncology R&D at AstraZeneca during her trip to China last week.

"R&D efforts will address not only the cancers prevalent in Asia but those that are prevalent globally, such as breast, lung, prostate and colorectal cancers," she said.

She raised the example of Savolitinib, a drug co-developed with leading Chinese company Hutchmed. The drug achieved approval in China in 2021 and AstraZeneca is developing its global approvals for both lung and gastric cancer drugs.

Another example is that the company has recently entered into cooperation with local biotech enterprise Harbour BioMed on the development and commercialization of an innovative immune cell engager that may benefit gastric cancer patients, she said.

The company's collaborations with its Chinese partners are beginning to bear fruit. Opportunities for results derived from China are rising, especially due to the country's accelerated developing ecosystem in biopharmaceutical development, allowing the market to become an important source of innovation, said Galbraith, who was scheduled to meet with biotech enterprises and academic and medical institutions during her visit.

"We are starting to see that the medicines developed in China are parallel with the speed of global R&D. In some areas, China's innovation is potentially leading. With evolution, that will continue to happen," she said.

China's ecosystem of biotech and entrepreneurs is growing and so is its capability and experience, said Galbraith.

"A partnership with a company like AstraZeneca can help advance science and build capability. I hope we can help bring capability further in China through our partnerships," she said.

He Jing, senior vice-president and head of AstraZeneca R&D China, said that the cancer types afflicting a large number of patients in China will continue to be a focus of the company's R&D efforts.

"We'll continue to explore immunotherapy, especially regarding ones with higher prevalence in China, for example, gastric, liver and cellular cancers," she said.

Meanwhile, the company is building clinical programs at different stages, targeting gastric and liver cancers, He said.

"We forecast that AstraZeneca's R&D investment in China will triple that in 2020 by the end of this year and the R&D team will be expanded to 900," said Galbraith.

She also mentioned that artificial intelligence has been used throughout new drug discoveries and the development process.

"In the future, I can see the new generative AI technology with a large language model, like ChatGPT for example, can also be used to help speed up many different aspects of how we work," she said.