CStone Pharmaceuticals: From Biotech to Biopharma, run out of the “cornerstone speed” of China's innovative drugs

According to the report of the International Agency for Research on Cancer of the World Health Organization, 19.

In recent years, domestic innovative drugs have developed rapidly, and CStone Pharmaceuticals (02616.

Recently, Dr.

From "quick follow" to the world's first Chinese innovative drug is developing rapidly

As a core competition track, biomedicine has become one of the areas that China's policy and capital are most concerned about

Reporter: We are now very concerned about the level of China's innovative drugs in the world?

Jiang Ningjun: 10 years ago, we started "quick follow".

Generally speaking, the most basic driving factor is to meet medical needs.

Reporter: Cornerstone chose a path that might be more difficult to make.

Jiang Ningjun: The positioning of CStone Pharmaceuticals is to provide the most advanced drugs for patients all over the world, so as to extend their lives and improve their quality of life

We now have 15 products, 8 of which are self-developed and have global rights and interests.

Reporter: In the process of catching up and advancing with innovation, China has already seen important cases of local innovation going overseas, including the overseas authorization of EQRx by CStone Pharmaceuticals.

Jiang Ningjun: Although it is just the beginning, a huge wave has already risen

Breakthrough in four products from biotechnology company to biopharmaceutical company in the first year of commercialization

In terms of development model, Chinese innovative drug companies are also taking a unique path in recent years.

Reporter: I know that this year is the first year of our commercialization.

Jiang Ningjun: These four drugs can be divided into two categories.

At the same time, the other three are precision-targeted drugs, one is pratinib for the treatment of lung cancer, the other is avatinib for the treatment of gastrointestinal stromal tumors, and the other is avonib for the treatment of leukemia.

You may also know that there is a pilot program in Boao, Hainan Province.

Reporter: In other words, Chinese patients may no longer need to spend expensive time and money to go to the United States for treatment
.
There is a new problem here.
We often say that core R&D and core innovation are exclusive.
In this process, how do you ensure that what is the original core of Cornerstone itself? Which ones can be put outside for cooperation?

Jiang Ningjun: Lung cancer is one of the largest tumors in the world, and it is also a battleground.
There are two shapes, one is called adenocarcinoma and the other is called squamous cell carcinoma
.
Most companies start with adenocarcinoma to make some innovations, but we put adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma together in one step and completed it.
The final result is very good
.
So here comes back to the question you just asked, where is our innovation? This is our ability to innovate
.
All of a sudden, the savings in funding, the savings in time, and the speed at which the drug can be brought to patients have also been accelerated
.

In the R&D chain, we have already seen that there is still a difference between doing research and development by ourselves and cooperating with others
.
For example, our clinical research and development basically cooperate with CRO, because if it is included in all hospitals from the design of the plan to the implementation, it may not be the most effective to do it yourself
.
So the most core technology stays here, and the others are through cooperation
.

Reporter: CStone Pharmaceuticals announced on June 15 that it will jointly develop a new drug loratinib for ROS1-positive lung cancer patients in Greater China with Pfizer.
This will be the key to loratinib's first global crown at this target.
Sexual research
.
What are the considerations for this cooperation with Cornerstone Pharmaceuticals?

Jiang Ningjun: We have made a very cautious consideration.
On the one hand, the cooperation with Pfizer is at the pipeline level.
Loratinib is a new generation of ALK/ROS1 targeted drug in Pfizer's global pipeline.
The two parties jointly developed and started clinical research in China.
, Which has further expanded the R&D pipeline of CStone Pharmaceuticals
.
We expect both parties to further accelerate the safety and effectiveness of loratinib in Chinese patients with ROS1-positive advanced NSCLC, and help loratinib benefit Chinese patients as soon as possible; on the other hand, to authorize PD-1 and sugarizumab Pfizer, in terms of channels, Pfizer has more than 1,000 sales in China's oncology field, covering more than 300 cities and 2,600 hospitals
.
Therefore, we hope to join forces with Pfizer to bring more innovative tumor treatment products to patients with high quality and efficiency
.

As a technology-intensive enterprise, capital assistance is an important support for enterprise development
.
In the past five years, biomedicine has become a hot spot for global investment, and capital has also shown great patience and expectations
.
After obtaining two rounds of investment, CStone Pharmaceuticals listed on the Hong Kong stock market in 2019.
Like most innovative drug companies that went to Hong Kong for IPO, CStone Pharmaceuticals was a clinical biotechnology company at the time, and it was only two years of research and development of CStone.
And commercialization have made great breakthroughs
.
Data show that CStone's share price has risen 110% in 68 trading days since March this year
.
Many brokerages including Morgan Stanley and China Merchants Securities recommend buy ratings.
With the implementation of various business event nodes, follow-up performance can be expected
.