Strategic partnership forms to accelerate new oncology drug development

A subsidiary of WuXi AppTec, STA Pharmaceutical, has announced a strategic partnership with biopharmaceutical company, Antengene, for the CMC development and manufacturing of innovative oncology drugs.

As per the terms of the agreement, WuXi STA will provide Antengene an integrated solution in process R&D and manufacturing, using the MAH scheme to accelerate new drug development.

This collaboration will start with Phase II/III candidate ATG-008 and will expand into three dominant areas such as solid tumour, haematological tumour and viral infection. Process R&D and manufacturing from APIs to drug products will be provided by WuXi STA.

Further to this, the companies are looking at expanding their collaboration to cover commercial stage assets as Antengene prepares for the commercialisation of its late-stage pipeline agents.

The candidate, ATG-008, is currently being assessed in a multi-regional clinical trial (MRCT) for the treatment of hepatitis B virus positive (HBV+) advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients, which started enrolment in July 2018.

“We’re delighted to partner with such a well-respected, world-class CDMO as WuXi STA,” said Dr Jay Mei, founder and chief executive officer of Antengene. “WuXi STA’s end-to-end CMC platform enables us to focus on our research and development, and to move our drug candidates from clinical-stage to commercialization more efficiently. We look forward to a much broader collaboration in the near future.”

Dr Minzhang Chen, CEO of WuXi STA, added: “Our mission is to empower and accelerate customers to develop innovative drugs from clinical to commercial — faster and more efficiently. We are delighted to become the strategic partner of Antengene and look forward to helping them advance their drug candidates towards the clinic, bringing innovative medicines for the benefit of patients around the world.”