BioSpectrum Asia February 2019

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4 BIO EDIT

BIOSPECTRUM | FEBRUARY 2019 | www.biospectrumasia.com

Milind Kokje THAILAND NEEDS
HEALTH CHECK
Chief Editor
Just about three months back Thailand had a good news. Its 41st position among
[email protected] 56 countries ranked on the Bloomberg Healthcare Efficiency Index improved to
27th place in just one year. Still, question is being raised whether all is well on the
healthcare front in Thailand especially on the financial aspect.

All Thai citizens are covered under one of the three schemes currently operational in
Thailand. Nearly 48.8 million are covered by the universal healthcare scheme followed by
14.8 million under social security scheme, for which the beneficiaries have to contribute
some money each month to avail the benefits. The third scheme which is exclusively for
civil servants and their families covers nearly 5 million people. The universal scheme
provides almost free healthcare to the people. For the social security scheme the cost
coverage can be up to 99 per cent.

The previous year nearly 331 billion Baht were spent together on the three schemes.
Of this the highest amount of 126 billion Baht were spent for Universal scheme, followed
by 73 billion Baht for civil servants and 50 billion Baht for social security scheme.
Interestingly, 73 billion Baht was spent on only 5 million civil servants and their families
against 50 billion Baht on much larger number of 14.8 million people. Hence, per capita
expense is much higher for civil servants than beneficiaries under universal and social
security scheme.

The government will have to first look into this comparably very high per capita
expenditure on healthcare of the civil servants and initiate action to bring it down. The
burden on the state’s resources will increase in two ways. The cost will rise and with
the country of half the population over 50 years by 2025 even demand is expected to
accelerate due to demographic transition. Together, the total burden is expected to grow
to 394 billion Baht by 2022. As per the Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI)
estimate it will further grow to 480 billion Baht by 2032.

The public health expenditure percentage of the total budget has increased on an
average by 12 per cent a year for the last 12 years, according to Thai Health Promotion
Foundation. From 10.14 per cent in 2002 it has reached to 13 per cent of the budget in
2014.

Healthcare and public finance experts feel that the rising costs may lead to the
sustainability issue of the scheme with further rising pressure on the state’s resources.
Fiscal policy research institute has shown how all the three schemes were struggling with
budget constraints and how they are consuming more than the allocated funds. So much
so that a Thai rock star undertook a charity run in 2017 to raise funds for buying medical
equipment in 11 state hospitals. It highlighted the need for money for the health care.

One more challenge adding to this situation is the patients’ demand for high-tech
healthcare without willing to shell out more money. This is a problematic area as the
hospitals won’t be able to invest in new technologies without patients’ willingness to
spend more. The issue may aggravate as the government has just recently taken an
important decision of adding medicines, medical supplies and services to its lists of price
control commodities. The further details are yet to be known as a committee has been
appointed to go into the nitty-gritties of the decision. The minister has provided a relief
to the private hospitals saying that it is being done to ensure fairness to both patients
and private hospitals. But making a fine balance to please both at the same time will
surely be a difficult task to achieve. The private hospitals have already been compelled
by a policy to take care of emergency cases.

In view of the challenges, the government will have to consider reforming the schemes
and also promote prevention more than cure. This may be possible to do using knowledge
of the local traditional natural and herbal medicines and foods. Like Ayurveda in India,
Thailand too is known for its traditional herbal and natural products.

BIO MAIL 5

BIOSPECTRUM | FEBRUARY 2019 | www.biospectrumasia.com

Volume 14 | Issue 01 | January 2019 Innovation Hub Health IT reigns

Health 4.0 boosts Asia MedTech, Asia-pacific is the strongest market in terms The first edition of the New Year looks great.
Bio-Pharma in 2019 of growth, with more than 30 per cent of the It is amazing to see how AI and machine
global late-stage trials for cell therapy alone. learning are further evolving human and
“Public-private partnerships could Moreover in the coming years, Asia-Pacific machine interaction. More specifically, AI is
have greatest impact on NCDs care” will witness the genomics revolution in the beginning to see fruition, particularly in the
- Dr Harald Nusser, Head of Novartis next few years and particularly, China will imaging diagnostic, drug discovery, and risk
Social Business, Holzkirchen, Bavaria, take a leading role in Asia’s genomics space. analytics applications.
Germany – 37
- Reenita Das, Singapore - Dr Tushar Rai, India

Incorporating Tech Flip side

From IoT to data management, healthtech is Previously, a majority of medical innovation
quickly becoming prevalent. This growth is pipeline has flowed from West to East.
evident in Asia, where investments in Asian But now a string of global drug and device
health startups have jumped considerably in manufacturers are attempting to upend that
the past few years. Looking forward to more trend with new products tailored to Asian
on this in your upcoming editions. bodies and lifestyles.

- Jerene Ann, Singapore - Crystal Gillian, Shanghai

Vol 14; Issue 2; February 2019 MM Activ Singapore Pte. Ltd. India
Alok Srivastava
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Reprinted in India for private Circulation

6 BIO CONTENT

BIOSPECTRUM | FEBRUARY 2019 | www.biospectrumasia.com

COVERStory 20

INNOVATION TAKING
ROOT IN CANCER CARE

Technological advancements are revolutionizing the healthcare industry all around the globe. China,
South Korea and India with their huge population and healthcare challenges are emerging as biotech
clusters with many notable startups in the region. New entrepreneurship communities have also emerged
in Malaysia and Indonesia. Not far behind, Singapore and Taiwan have been investing heavily to carve
their niche in this industry by encouraging entrepreneurs and developing their local talent pool. In the
recent times, a large number of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) relying startups have
emerged in these countries and cancer is one condition few startups are putting their bets on.

18 ANALYSIS 27 REGENERATIVE MEDICINE

Big pharma “We have a
kicks off bold vision for
2019 with a regenerative medicine”
mega merger
Dr Dan Grant,
26 REGENERATIVE MEDICINE CEO of MTPConnect, Australia

Australia - potential 29 COUNTRY REPORT
to become global
hub for regenerative Philippines
medicine pharma: All set
for continuous
growth

BIO CONTENT 7

BIOSPECTRUM | FEBRUARY 2019 | www.biospectrumasia.com

32 Q&A

“Our approach leads to shortened CONNECT
timelines for drug development” ENGAGE
SHARE
Harish Dave,
CMO & Executive Director, AUM Biosciences, Singapore

34 HEALTHCARE

Driving Asian workplaces towards
better mental health support

Kevin Jones,
Chief Executive Officer, Aetna (Hong Kong)

36 Q&A

“AD is the largest
unmet clinical need”

Dr Charles Stacey,
President and CEO, Cerecin, Singapore

38

“India, China will soon have largest
populations of people with dementia”

Dr Maria C. Carrillo,
Chief Science Officer, Alzheimer’s Association, Greater Chicago, the USA

40

“Today customer see us as ‘Scientific Connect with us
Experts’ and a ‘Preferred Solution Provider’”
twitter.com/
Rakesh Aggarwal, BioSpectrumMag
Manging Director, Asia Pacific, Cole-Parmer, India
facebook.com/
REGULARS BioSpectrumMagazine

BioEdit.......................................... 04 World News................................ 16 https://goo.gl/QY4nUp
BioMail......................................... 05 Science News............................. 42 /BS-LinkedIn
Regulatory News....................... 08 Academics News....................... 44
Company News......................... 10 Supplier News............................ 45 www.biospectrumasia.com
Finance News............................. 12 People News............................... 47
Start-Up News............................ 13 Event Report............................... 49

8 REGULATORY NEWS

BIOSPECTRUM | FEBRUARY 2019 | www.biospectrumasia.com

IHiS to pay AWAK receives Breakthrough
Device Designation by USFDA
$750,000
AWAK Technologies (AWAK), a safety trial of AWAK PD device which
for data Singapore based pioneering medical was successfully completed in October
technology company focused on 2018 at the Singapore General
breach dialysis using regeneration technology Hospital, Singapore’s largest acute
for end-stage renal disease, recently tertiary hospital. The trial results
Singapore’s privacy announced that the US Food and Drug showed that AWAK PD was able to
watchdog has meted Administration (FDA) has granted efficiently remove the accumulation
out its largest fine Breakthrough Device designation to of toxins from the body and patients
of $750,000 to its AWAK Peritoneal Dialysis (AWAK in the trial did not experience any
Integrated Health PD) device, a wearable and ultra- serious adverse events during dialysis
Information portable PD system that incorporates with AWAK PD.
Systems (IHiS) and AWAK’s patented sorbent technology.
the second largest A world-first, the AWAK PD device
to SingHealth as disrupts the mode of delivery in
$250,000 for lapses which peritoneal dialysis is currently
in securing patient administered. The device allows
data which resulted dialysis to be performed “on-the-go”,
in the nation’s worst overcoming the challenge of long hours
data breach. IHiS of therapy and connection to large-
and SingHealth size dialysis machines, currently faced
are wholly owned by renal patients. End-Stage Renal
subsidiaries of MOH Disease affects 650,000 patients per
Holdings, the holding year in the US. This designation was
company through granted by the FDA after reviewing
which the Singapore the results from the First-In-Human
Government owns
the corporatised South Korea to provide flu
institutions in the treatment supplies to North Korea
public healthcare
sector. The cyber According to a recent announcement by Seoul’s Ministry of Unification, the
attack on SingHealth South Korean government will be providing medical supplies for the treatment
in June 2018
compromised the of influenza worth around
personal information $3.2 million to North Korea.
of 1.5 million patients, A bill approving the decision
including Prime was passed at the 301st
Minister Lee Hsien session of the Inter-Korean
Loong. Even though Exchange and Cooperation
IHiS is the technology Promotion Council,
vendor for Singapore’s finalizing a decision made by
healthcare sector, South Korean government
SingHealth also has officials and health
to take responsibility professionals recently. The
as the owner of the South Korean government
patient database will pay a total of $ 3.17
system - a point million to fund the provision
that the Personal of Tamiflu doses to around 200,000 North Koreans and related transportation
Data Protection costs. This move represents the first delivery of medical supplies between the
Commission (PDPC) two Koreas in almost a decade.
stressed in dishing out
penalties.

REGULATORY NEWS 9

BIOSPECTRUM | FEBRUARY 2019 | www.biospectrumasia.com

Indian organisations team up for phytopharmaceutical products

The Gazette of India ministerial cooperation. The focus modern scientific testing and
notification of guidelines is on boosting innovative research development of standard
for phytopharmaceutical on phytopharmaceuticals. The products to maintain global
drug development offers MoU between CSIR, DBT and competitiveness.
an opportunity to leverage ICMR is for mutual collaboration
traditional knowledge for drug to develop phytopharmaceutical
development based on modern products for therapeutic use
science and modern medicine following international standards
principles. In order to leverage and norms for establishing
the effort, the Council of Scientific safety, quality, standardization
& Industrial Research (CSIR), and efficacy. The effort would
Department of Biotechnology be to take forward the leads
(DBT) and Indian Council of already existing with CSIR,
Medical Research (ICMR) have DBT and ICMR and develop
entered into Memorandum of specific collaborative projects in
Understanding (MoU) for inter- the domain aiming at rigorous

Iran, Cuba to share vaccine USFDA approves
production knowledge Samsung Bioepis’
first oncology drug
Iran and Cuba have recently are vaccines against the
agreed on exchanging bacteria Streptococcus Samsung Bioepis has announced that
the technical know-how pneumoniae. Their use the US Food and Drug Administration
of vaccine production. can prevent some cases of has approved ONTRUZANT, a
The two sides have pneumonia, meningitis, and biosimilar referencing HERCEPTIN
signed memorandums sepsis. Mohsen Asadi Lari, (trastuzumab), across all eligible
of understanding within deputy health minister for indications, namely adjuvant treatment
the framework of the 17th international affairs, headed of HER2-overexpressing breast cancer,
session of Cuban-Iranian the Iranian delegation in the metastatic breast cancer and metastatic
Inter-Governmental two-day event. Asadi Lari gastric cancer or gastroesophageal
Commission, which opened also met with high ranking junction adenocarcinoma in patients
recently. Exchanging Cuban officials including who have not received prior treatment
the technical knowledge Minister of Public Health for metastatic disease. ONTRUZANT
of manufacturing José Ángel Portal. Other is Samsung Bioepis’ first oncology
pneumococcal vaccine was agreements in the fields of biosimilar to receive FDA approval,
among the other agreements public health, investment, and will be marketed and distributed
signed in the field of health. energy, agriculture and in the United States (US) by Merck,
Pneumococcal vaccines sports were signed as well. which is known as MSD outside of the
US and Canada. ONTRUZANT was also
approved by the European Commission
(EC) in November 2017, and has since
been launched in a growing number of
European countries. Samsung Bioepis
continues to advance a broad pipeline
of biosimilar candidates that cover a
spectrum of therapeutic areas, including
immunology, oncology, ophthalmology
and hematology. Samsung Bioepis
is a joint venture between Samsung
BioLogics and Biogen.

10 COMPANY NEWS

BIOSPECTRUM | FEBRUARY 2019 | www.biospectrumasia.com

Glenmark signs Aurobindo to acquire
products from Spectrum Pharma
commercialization
Indian pharmaceutical
agreement with
company Aurobindo Pharma
Yuhan Corp
has announced the signing of a
Glenmark Pharmaceuticals
Ltd., a research-led global definitive agreement to acquire
integrated pharmaceutical
company, has announced a portfolio of seven branded
that its Suisse subsidiary,
Glenmark Specialty S.A., has oncology injectable products from
entered into an exclusive
licensing agreement with Spectrum pharmaceuticals Inc.
Yuhan Corporation for
commercializing its novel The acquisition also brings-in an
nasal spray Ryaltris in
South Korea. The agreement experienced branded commercial
with Yuhan is Glenmark’s
second regional licensing infrastructure in the US.
deal for Ryaltris. In July
2018, Glenmark entered Acrotech Biopharma, a wholly-
into an exclusive licensing
agreement with Seqirus owned subsidiary of Aurobindo will help Aurobindo Group to
Pty. Ltd. to commercialize enter the branded oncology
Ryaltris in Australia and Pharma USA Inc., which in turn market with a range of products
New Zealand. Ryaltris which are well recognized
[olopatadine hydrochloride a wholly-owned subsidiary of by the oncology community.
(665 mcg) and mometasone Aurobindo Group will also
furoate (25 mcg)], developed Aurobindo Pharma Limited, will acquire a well-established and
by Glenmark, is a novel, experienced branded commercial
investigational, fixed-dose be acquiring the portfolio on a infrastructure to continue
combination nasal spray commercializing these brands.
of an anti-histamine and debt free and cash free basis.
a steroid, indicated for
treatment of symptoms This acquisition is in line with
associated with seasonal
allergic rhinitis (SAR) in our strategy to commercialize
patients over 12 years of
age. Under the terms of innovative proprietary
the agreement, Glenmark
will be responsible for medications. The acquisition
manufacturing and supply of
the product, while Yuhan will Takeda undertakes multiple
be responsible for regulatory cell therapy collaborations
filing and commercialization
of Ryaltrisin South Korea. Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited recently announced new
Glenmark will receive an research collaborations in immuno-oncology (I-O), an area of key
upfront payment, regulatory strategic focus for the company. Through these collaborations, Takeda
and commercial milestone
payments as well as royalties seeks to accelerate the discovery
from Yuhan. of next-generation cancer
immunotherapies, including novel
cell therapy approaches that may
provide important opportunities
for addressing the needs of patients
with hard-to-treat cancers. Takeda
will collaborate with Memorial
Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
(MSK) to discover and develop
novel chimeric antigen receptor
T-cell (CAR-T) products for the
treatment of multiple myeloma,
acute myeloid leukemia and additional solid tumor indications. Takeda
has exclusively licensed NIB-102 and NIB-103 for the treatment of
various solid tumor indications, and will co-develop these CAR-T
cell therapies with Noile utilizing the company’s proprietary “Prime”
(proliferation inducing and migration enhancing) CAR-T platform. The
company plans to gain regulatory approval for human testing of NIB-
102 by the end of this year.

COMPANY NEWS 11

BIOSPECTRUM | FEBRUARY 2019 | www.biospectrumasia.com

Luye Pharma strengthens commitment
to cardiovascular therapeutic field

Luye Pharma has entered an China, while Luye Pharma will lipid-regulating drug with proven
agreement with AstraZeneca retain asset rights, commercial benefits in clinical endpoints, and
China, the terms of which grant sales rights, the registration permit, has completed phase II clinical
AstraZeneca China exclusive all intellectual property rights trials in compliance with U.S.
rights to promote Luye Pharma’s and other product-related rights FDA regulations. Large-scale and
Xuezhikang Capsules in mainland aside from product promotion. evidence-based clinical studies,
China. This is the first time that Xuezhikang is the only natural including the China Coronary
a multinational pharmaceutical Secondary Prevention Study
company has gained exclusive (CCSPS) have confirmed that
authorization in China to Xuezhikang, with comparatively
promote an innovative drug few adverse reactions, can
independently developed by a inhibit cholesterol synthesis
Chinese pharmaceutical company. and significantly reduce total
According to the agreement, mortality, coronary heart disease
AstraZeneca will be responsible mortality and the incidence of
for the exclusive promotion of cardiovascular events in patients
Xuezhikang Capsules in mainland with coronary heart disease.

Sandoz inks biosimilars Innovent, Eli Lilly
commercialization announce
deal with Gan & Lee co-development of Tyvyt

Sandoz, recently announced that it has entered into Innovent Biologics and Eli Lilly and Company have
an agreement with Gan & Lee Pharmaceutical to jointly announced that the co-developed Tyvyt
commercialize biosimilar versions of insulins used (fully human anti-PD-1 therapeutic monoclonal
in patients with type 1 and type 2 diabetes. These antibody, generic name: sintilimab injection) has
medicines are currently in early and clinical stages of been granted approval for market authorization
development for the by the National Medical Products Administration
European Union of China for the treatment of patients with
(EU), United States classical Hodgkin’s lymphoma that has relapsed or
(US) and other key refractory (r/r) after two or more lines of systemic
territories. The chemotherapy (r/r cHL). The approval of Tyvyt
commercialization (sintilimab injection) highlights the emergence of
and supply China in the field of Immuno-Oncology. Currently,
agreement with Tyvyt (sintilimab injection) is being studied in
Gan & Lee aims at more than twenty clinical trials, including studies
bringing to market in first line non-squamous non-small cell lung
biosimilar versions cancer (NSCLC), first line squamous NSCLC,
of glargine, lispro and aspart, the three top insulin second line squamous NSCLC, EGFR mutant
medicines by sales. Under the terms of the agreement, NSCLC after EGFR TKI treatment failure, first
Sandoz will be fully responsible for commercializing line gastric cancer, first line liver cancer, first line
these medicines in the EU, US, Switzerland, Japan, esophageal cancer, and second line esophageal
South Korea, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. cancer. According to Cancer Today from the
Gan & Lee will be responsible for manufacturing and WHO’s International Agency for Research for
development, with support from Sandoz, and shall Cancer, China will have about 4.28 million newly
adhere to the stringent manufacturing requirements diagnosed cancer patients and 2.86 million deaths
established for Sandoz biosimilars. Other specific from cancer in 2018. Thus China faces massive
terms of the agreement are confidential. challenges from its growing burden of cancer.

12 FINANCE NEWS

BIOSPECTRUM | FEBRUARY 2019 | www.biospectrumasia.com

Fujifilm to invest 10B Yen in Bio CDMO biz

FUJIFILM Corporation demands. This new round of
investments will include the
announced plans to invest addition of 2000L single use cell
culture manufacturing trains, cell
approximately JPY 10 billion in culture purification suites and
new microbial recovery suites
order to expand its Bio Contract to its existing facilities in North
Carolina. These additions will
Development and Manufacturing increase cell culture manufacturing
capacity by approximately 25
Organization (CDMO) Business. per cent and microbial capacity
by approximately 50 per cent
This investment will include the at its North Carolina location.
The company expects that the
expansion of existing production increased production capacity will
be ready for cGMP manufacture
facilities at its North Carolina by early 2020.

location to support the growing

needs of its customer portfolio. demonstrated leadership in the
development and manufacture of
Further investments are planned recombinant biopharmaceuticals
and gene therapies. Fujifilm is
at the company’s other locations; investing in FDB’s facilities to
increase production capacity
details shall be announced in to meet its growing customer

first quarter of 2019. FUJIFILM

Diosynth Biotechnologies

(FDB), is a leading CDMO with

Ping An Voyager Brightgene raises pre-IPO round
Fund invests in
AI health tech firm BrightGene Bio-Medical Technology Co. Ltd, recently
raised $80.3 million in a venture round. The company has
Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of described the funding as a pre-IPO round. Sequoia Capital
China Ltd, has announced that the Ping China and HighLight Capital led the round, with additional
An Global Voyager Fund, has invested participation by GF Qianhe. BrightGene’s pipeline
in AI medical solution company Airdoc includes oral glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor (GLP1R)
in its B+ round of funding (Ping An has agonist peptides for Type II diabetes, immuno-oncology
led the round along with CITIC). This agents, antibody-drug conjugates for solid tumors and
other tumor-targeting drug conjugates for brain cancer.
investment aims to The company also manufactures APIs and finished dosage
boost application of AI forms of specialty generic drugs. In addition to R&D
healthtech and bring spending, BrightGene intends to increase the capacity of
the benefits of quality its raw materials plant and construct a production plant for
healthcare services to complex injections. BrightGene expects the manufacture
all. Airdoc is a high-tech of complex injections for the global market to be a main
company dedicated to source of future profits.
improving the efficiency
of medical services
through artificial
intelligence. It develops
deep learning techniques
based on massive data labeled by medical
experts and provides intelligent services
to assist doctors and benefit patients.
The Ping An Global Voyager Fund, Ping
An’s $1billion global corporate venture
capital fund, was launched in May 2017
with a mandate to invest in fintech and
healthtech businesses to accelerate Ping
An’s technology transformation.

START-UP NEWS 13

BIOSPECTRUM | FEBRUARY 2019 | www.biospectrumasia.com

Everest Medicines signs
new deal on drug resistance

Spero Therapeutics Inc, a Korea and certain Southeast Apollomics
Asian countries, along with gathers $100M
multi-asset clinical-stage an exclusive option to rights to accelerate
to SPR741 in the Territory. immunotherapy
biopharmaceutical company SPR206 and SPR741, two programmes
intravenous (IV)-administered
focused on identifying, product candidates from Spero’s Apollomics Inc, an innovative
Potentiator Platform, are being biopharmaceutical startup
developing and commercializing developed as innovative options committed to the discovery
to treat MDR Gram-negative and development of oncology
novel treatments for multidrug- bacterial infections. Spero will combination therapies, has
receive an upfront payment raised $100 million in a Series
resistant (MDR) bacterial of $2 million and is eligible to B financing. The financing is led
receive milestone payments by CMB International (CMBI),
infections, and Everest of up to an additional $59.5 a subsidiary of China Merchants
million upon achievement of Bank, with participation from
Medicines have announced specified clinical, regulatory and existing Series A investor
commercial milestones related OrbiMed Asia, and several
that they have entered into to SPR206, of which Spero new investors. The infusion
anticipates receiving at least $2 of capital will accelerate the
a collaboration to develop, million in near-term milestones growth of the Company with
during 2019. a focus on advancing multiple
manufacture and commercialize oncology programs, exploring
new treatment areas, increasing
SPR206 in Greater China, South the pipeline of assets, and
adding the necessary talent and
Two Indian startups make infrastructure to support these
it to Merck’s innovation centre programs. In conjunction with the
financing, Apollomics has added
Merck, a leading science and company’s China Innovation Dr Kexiang Zhou, Managing
technology company, has Hub in Shanghai, which will Director, CMBI to its Board of
recently announced the 10 give them the opportunity to Directors. To accommodate its
startups that will be joining the access the Chinese market. expansion in the US, Apollomics
seventh intake of its Accelerator Out of the 10 startups, 2 will relocate its headquarters
program at the Merck Innovation come from India- Next Big to Foster City, CA. In 2018, the
Centre in Darmstadt. The Innovation Labs (NBIL) and company established its presence
teams come from nine different MicroX Labs (Pratimesh Labs). in Hangzhou, China to build a
countries, making 2019 the NBIL has developed a global state-of-the-art research and
most international intake in 3D Bioprinting platform that development facility as well as
the Merck Accelerator’s history. enhances the applications of this manufacturing capabilities to
They were chosen from a total technology across industries. advance its pipeline programs in
of 565 applications, coming China and the rest of the world.
from startups based in 68
countries across the world.
The 10 selected startups will
join the Merck Accelerator for
the program’s three-month
duration. For the first time since
the launch of the program, some
of the participating startups will
also have the opportunity to
extend their stay by joining the

14 START-UP NEWS BIOSPECTRUM | FEBRUARY 2019 | www.biospectrumasia.com

Antengene Biond Biologics closes
Corp raises $17M Series B financing
$120M in Series
B financing Biond Biologics Ltd, a privately-held Israeli biotechnology company,
developing novel immunotherapies for cancer and autoimmune
Antengene, a Shanghai based diseases, has announced the closing of a $17 million Series B financing.
clinical stage therapeutics Biond was founded in 2016 by the former scientific team of cCam
startup focused on oncology Biotherapeutics, an immuno-oncology company which was fully
has announced that it has acquired by Merck in July 2015. The former cCAM Biotherapeutics
completed a $120 million team was joined by additional veterans of the Israeli biotech industry,
Series B financing. The Series with the aim to build a strong, sustainable and innovative science-driven
B financing was jointly led by biotechnology company. Biond intends to use the proceeds to move
Boyu Capital and FountainVest, its lead drug candidate, BION-202, into clinical trials and to advance
with participation from Celgene the preclinical development of BION-206 and its proprietary antibody
Corporation, WuXi Corporate cell-internalization technology. The financing and due diligence were
Venture Fund, and Taikang. led by Israel Biotech Fund and Harel Insurance & Finance Group, with
Previous investors, Qiming participation of Celgene Corporation, the Japanese-Israeli fund, SBI JI
Venture Partners and TF Innovation Fund and existing investors.
Capital, also participated in this
round. This new round follows Tyto Care adds $9M to series C
a $21 million Series A financing
in 2017, led by Qiming Venture Tyto Care, a telehealth company C, bringing the round’s total to
Partners. Proceeds from the that enables physicians to $33.5 million. The new funding
financing will be primarily conduct on-demand remote comes from strategic investors
used to fund the continuing exams, announced that it has Sanford Health, Itochu, and
development of the company’s added $9 million to its Series Shenzhen Capital Group.
lead programs ATG-008 and First announced last year, the
ATG-010 (selinexor) and oversubscribed Series C was
other clinical-stage assets, to led by Ping An Global Voyager
expand the company’s pipeline Fund, run by the Chinese
through internal R&D and financial conglomerate. Itochu,
external partnerships, and Shenzhen Capital Group, and
to prepare the commercial Sanford Health, the largest
launch of late-stage drug rural not-for-profit health care
candidates. A 169,984 system in the United States, will
square feet manufacturing serve as Tyto’s new strategic
and research facility in partners as it expands in Japan,
Shaoxing, China, currently China, and the US, its largest
undergoing construction for market. The New York, Israel
GMP manufacturing, will based company has now raised
provide both the clinical and $54 million to date.
commercial drug supply for the
company’s pipeline products.
ATG-010 (selinexor) is a first-
in-class Selective Inhibitor
of Nuclear Export (SINE)
compound in late clinical
development for the treatment
of multiple hematological
malignancies and solid tumors,
including multiple myeloma,
diffuse large B-cell lymphoma,
liposarcoma, etc.

WHO NEWS 15

BIOSPECTRUM | FEBRUARY 2019 | www.biospectrumasia.com

World Health Organisation WHO Barcelona
launches 5-yr strategic plan course on health
financing for UHC
To protect 3 billion people worldwide in 2019, the World Health
Organisation (WHO) has launched a new five-year-strategic plan. WHO-Europe is pleased to announce
The plan will ensure 1 billion more people benefit from access the next offering of the annual WHO
to universal health coverage, 1 billion more people are protected Barcelona Course on Health Financing
from health emergencies and 1 billion more people enjoy better for Universal Health Coverage (UHC),
health and well-being. The 10 health issues that will need urgent a week-long intensive course offered
attention from WHO and other healthcare providers in 2019 through its WHO Barcelona Office
include air pollution and climate change, non-communicable for Health Systems Strengthening
diseases, global influenza pandemic, health crisis in vulnerable of the Division of Health Systems
places, antibiotic resistance, high risk pathogens like ebola, weak and Public Health. Addressing the
primary health care, dengue, HIV and vaccine hesitancy. As part overarching theme of universal health
of the plan, WHO aims to work with governments to help them coverage, the Course will review
meet the global target of reducing physical inactivity by 15 per policy instruments to improve health
cent by 2030. WHO has also set up a unique partnership with systems’ performance through better
all the major players to ensure effective and equitable access to health-financing policy. The Course is
diagnostics, vaccines and antivirals (treatments), especially in built around 5 modules: coordinating
developing countries. reform, raising revenues, pooling health
revenues, purchasing, and designing
a benefit package. Each module will
include interactive discussions between
participants and trainers, throughout
which many examples of practical
experience from the WHO European
Region will be shared.

WHO to conduct second Africa Health Forum

The Government of Cabo due to rises in government
Verde and the World Health expenditure on health and
Organization Regional Office Development Assistance for
for Africa will jointly host Health (DAH). However,
The Second WHO Africa investment in health falls
Health Forum on the theme: short of the Abuja Declaration
Achieving Universal Health and the Addis Ababa
Coverage and Health Security Declaration on Sustainable
in Africa: The Africa we Financing, and out-of-
want to see. The Forum is pocket expenditure remains
scheduled to take place in high, raising concerns for
Praia, Cabo Verde in March equitable financing for
2019. Sustainable health health. Each year, the WHO
financing has long been African Region is challenged
recognized as an essential by over 100 outbreaks and
part of Universal Health other health emergencies,
Coverage (UHC). On the resulting in unacceptably
whole, the African Region has high morbidity, mortality,
enjoyed an increase in Total disability and socioeconomic
Health Expenditure (THE), disruptions.

16 WORLD NEWS

BIOSPECTRUM | FEBRUARY 2019 | www.biospectrumasia.com

Nigeria to Egypt to treat African Hepatitis C patients

renovate Minister of Health Hala Zayed recently unveiled an Egyptian initiative to treat
African people from Hepatitis C, starting with the Nile Basin countries who have
25 health an estimated 3.7 million hepatitis C patients, representing 30 per cent of the total

centres number of infected people in
Africa. The ministry currently
As part of measures works to help the Nile Basin
to ensure quality countries cure the cases that
healthcare test positive for Hepatitis C and
delivery through will send medical personnel
the contributory even from the private sector to
health insurance these states. This initiative will
scheme, the Delta help spread Egyptian medicine
State Government, and open markets for it. It
Nigeria has signed offers an opportunity to export
a Memorandum medicine to Africa and an
of Understanding opportunity to treat 1 million people infected with the blood-borne disease in the
(MoU) and a Nile Basin countries. Also, recently Egypt has been elected as chair of the African
Renovate, Operate Union Assembly of Heads of State and Government for a one-year term in 2019.
and Transfer (ROT)
agreement with Ethiopia introduces
a consortium of digital health database
medical service
providers under The Ministry of Health of Ethiopia cent of the health institutions across
the aegis of has launched a digital health database the nation are using the new digital
Pharmaccess. system, which enables to share health health database. To make the coverage
According information of individuals among nationwide digitalizing all medical
to Governor health institutions across the country. records in health centres is currently
Ifeanyi Okowa, The digital database solves the hassle underway parallel to bolstering the
the agreements of searching for hardcopy cards of capacity of health workers with the
will check the patients in health institutions. The new system. Creating modern and
movement of people new digital health database is expected accessible information for all cases
from rural to urban to make patients information reliable is under consideration. The federal
areas in search of and easily accessible. The Ministry will ministry of health along with Ethio
medical care. With take multiple tasks to fully apply the Telecom are working together to
the agreements, digital database in all health centers interconnect health centers across the
medical facilities across the nation. Currently 60 per country through the Internet.
of international
standards would be
available at different
rural localities of
the state. With
the agreements,
the private sector
would have access
to funds at a single
digit interest loan
from the Bank of
Industry to fix and
run the abandoned
health centres.

WORLD NEWS 17

BIOSPECTRUM | FEBRUARY 2019 | www.biospectrumasia.com

UK researchers design CytoReason, Pfizer
AI tool for aggressive sign drug discovery
ovarian cancer screening collaboration agreement

A team at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, CytoReason, a leader in machine learning
has created an artificial intelligence (AI) tool that for drug discovery and development,
looks for clusters of cells within tumours with has announced that it has entered into a
misshapen nuclei, the control centres within each cell. collaboration agreement with Pfizer Inc.
The researchers found that having misshapen nuclei that will leverage CytoReason’s cell-centered
was an indication that the DNA of cancer cells had models of the immune system. CytoReason
become unstable, and believe it could in future help will receive from Pfizer payments potentially
doctors to select the best treatment for each patient. equaling up to low double digit millions of
The researchers also found that immune cells were not dollars for technology access fees, research
able to move into the clusters of cells with misshapen support and certain success-based payments.
nuclei, which suggests that cancers with these clusters CytoReason’s proprietary platform helps
are better at evading the immune system. rebuild lost cellular information from
gene expression data and associates genes
to specific cells. This information is then
integrated with additional omics and literature
data to create a cell-based model of the trial-
specific immune response. Integration with
the CytoReason disease model empowers
the study analytics and allows the model to
learn and improve, leading to robust target
discovery, drug response biomarkers and
indication selection.

Biomunex, Sanofi to develop bi- & multi-specific antibodies

Biomunex Pharmaceuticals, a
biopharmaceutical company focused on
providing immuno-therapeutics through the
discovery and development of bi- and multi-
specific antibodies, has announced that it has
entered into a licensing agreement with Sanofi.
Under the terms of the agreement, Sanofi will
have access to Biomunex’ proprietary technology
to generate and optimize bi- and multi-specific
antibody therapeutics. Sanofi will be solely
responsible for the research, development,
manufacturing and global commercialization
activities. This agreement, the first of its kind
for Biomunex, is in line with the company’s
business model, which is to establish licensing
or collaboration agreements and to become a
clinical-stage company in the short term.
Biomunex will receive an initial upfront
payment and will be eligible to receive further
clinical, regulatory and commercial milestone
payments. Further financial details were not
disclosed.

18 ANALYSIS BIOSPECTRUM | FEBRUARY 2019 | www.biospectrumasia.com

BIG Big pharma begins 2019 with a bang and
PHARMA how! The early days of 2019 saw one of the
biggest pharma mergers- the union of two
KICKS leading cancer drug makers- Bristol Myers Squibb
OFF 2019 (BMS) and Celgene in a mammoth deal, bigger in
value than Takeda-Shire and Bayer- Monsanto. The
WITH A mega merger deal, worth $74 billion, would create
MEGA a leading oncology powerhouse in the $128 billion
cancer care market with blockbuster drugs in its kitty.
MERGER
Two large pharma big-wigs combine in The announced merger is the third largest deal in
a massive $74 billion deal. The merged the history of pharma deal-making preceded only by
entity will have- nearly $40 billion in sales Pfizer-Warner/lambert and Glaxo-Smithkline. The
annually; nine drugs with over $1 billion in merged company will have nine products with more
annual sales; six drug candidates expected than $1 billion each in annual sales— led by $8.2
to launch in the next two years; the potential billion in sales for Revlimid, the Celgene drug used
to extract $2.5 billion in cost savings from to treat multiple myeloma and Bristol’s lung-cancer
treatment Opdivo. The deal is expected to close in the
the combination; and a lucrative early- to third quarter of 2019 and when the cash-and-stock
mid-stage drug pipeline. Undoubtedly, this deal is done, Bristol-Myers shareholders would own
deal sets the stage for another big year of about 69 per cent of the combined company, while
Celgene shareholders would own about 31 per cent.
pharma-dealmaking. The pairing, analysts estimate, will be the fourth
largest pharma company in the US with annual sales
of nearly $40 billion.

Strategic benefits of the deal

● Leading oncology franchises in both solid
tumors and hematologic malignancies led by
Opdivo and Yervoy as well as Revlimid and
Pomalyst

● A top five immunology and inflammation
franchise led by Orencia and Otezla

● The #1 cardiovascular franchise led by Eliquis.
● Nine products with more than $1 billion

in annual sales and significant potential
for growth in the core disease areas of
oncology, immunology and inflammation and
cardiovascular disease.
● Significantly expands phase III assets with
six expected near-term product launches,
representing greater than $15 billion in
revenue potential
● Strong combined cash flows, enhanced
margins and EPS accretion of greater than 40
per cent in first full year
● More than $45 billion of expected free cash
flow generation over the first three full years
post-closing to enable significant investment
in innovation.
● Bristol-Myers Squibb expects to realize run-
rate cost synergies of approximately $2.5
billion by 2022.

ANALYSIS 19

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With its pipeline candidates gaining approval, “TOGETHER WITH CELGENE, WE ARE CREATING AN
the deal could become more lucrative for Celgene INNOVATIVE BIOPHARMA LEADER, WITH LEADING
shareholders. For each of their shares, Celgene FRANCHISES AND A DEEP AND BROAD PIPELINE THAT
investors will get $50 in cash, one share of BMS WILL DRIVE SUSTAINABLE GROWTH AND DELIVER
stock, and a “contingent value right” worth $9 per NEW OPTIONS FOR PATIENTS ACROSS A RANGE OF
share if three Celgene drug candidates are approved SERIOUS DISEASES. AS A COMBINED ENTITY, WE WILL
in a timely fashion. The three products are the ENHANCE OUR LEADERSHIP POSITIONS ACROSS OUR
immunomodulatory pill ozanimod and the cellular PORTFOLIO, INCLUDING IN CANCER AND IMMUNOLOGY
therapies JCAR017 and bb 2121. AND INFLAMMATION. WE WILL ALSO BENEFIT
FROM AN EXPANDED EARLY- AND LATE-STAGE
This transaction is New York-based Bristol’s PIPELINE THAT INCLUDES SIX EXPECTED NEAR-TERM
largest under Chief Executive Officer Dr Giovanni PRODUCT LAUNCHES. TOGETHER, OUR PIPELINE HOLDS
Caforio. The tie-up will create a leading focused
specialty biopharma company which will have SIGNIFICANT PROMISE FOR PATIENTS,
expanded innovation capabilities in small molecule ALLOWING US TO ACCELERATE
design, biologics/synthetic biologics, protein NEW OPTIONS THROUGH A
homeostasis, antibody engineering and cell therapy. BROADER RANGE OF CUTTING-
The deal gives BMS deep and diverse early-stage EDGE TECHNOLOGIES AND
pipeline across solid tumors and hematologic DISCOVERY PLATFORMS.”
malignancies, immunology and inflammation, - DR GIOVANNI CAFORIO,
cardiovascular disease and fibrotic disease leveraging CHAIRMAN AND CHIEF
combined strengths in innovation. EXECUTIVE OFFICER,
BRISTOL-MYERS
The combined entity’s early-stage pipeline SQUIBB
includes 50 high potential assets with six expected
near-term product launches-two in immunology and position itself as a market leader in oncology and
inflammation, and four in hematology. With a strong immunology. Will the combined company be able
pipeline, Bristol-Myers Squibb, analysts say will be to withstand the headwinds associated with patent
well positioned for long-term growth and significant expirations and uncertainties in FDA approvals of
value creation. the pipeline products? Well, we will have to wait and
watch!
Talking about Celgene, many analysts opine the
deal is a win for the drugmaker. Looming generic Of-late it is seen that immune-oncology dominates
competition for its blockbuster Revlimid and the big pharma’s deal agenda, thanks to rising cancer
multiple acquisitions by Celgene last year, resulted in cases across the globe. As cancer immunotherapy
its stock plunge nearly 40 per cent in 2018. Celgene drugs show promise, big pharma companies are
stuck two major deals in 2018, acquiring Juno leaving no stone unturned to develop their blockbuster
Therapeutics for $9 billion and San Diego-based combination and grab a slice of the market share.
Impact Biomedicines for $7 billion. Result- A flurry of deals in this space is being
announced. Eli Lilly too has announced that it will
The multiple myeloma drug Revlimid accounts acquire Loxo Oncology for about $8 billion. Japan’s
for about two-thirds of Celgene’s product sales, and Takeda also upped its cancer game, announcing three
generic alternatives to it can be launched under new research collaborations in immuno-oncology. In
licensing agreements as soon as 2022. Revlimid December 2018, GSK bought cancer drug firm Tesaro
contributed $8.2 billion of Celgene’s $13 billion in for a hefty $5.1 billion. The number of approved cancer
sales in 2017, and the company has struggled to find therapies also continues to rise, with 63 cancer drugs
new products whose sales would offset those it will being launched in the past five years, says IQVIA.
lose after Revlimid loses patent protection in the US. Thus competition is fierce in the oncology market and
Generic drug launches could cause Revlimid sales analysts estimate that 2019 could be another big year
to decline significantly, increasing the pressure on for oncology deal making.
Celgene’s pipeline to produce blockbusters that can
win approval. Aishwarya Venkatesh
[email protected]
BMS has also had its fair share of patent losses.
Though BMS’s Opdivo’s is going strong and has
demonstrated its ability to rake up billions in sales,
the drugmaker lost exclusivity on two HIV drugs in
2017. This transaction gives the BMS an opportunity
to beef up its pipeline, broaden its presence and

20 COVER STORY

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INNOVATION
TAKING ROOT IN
CANCER CARE
Technological advancements are revolutionizing
the healthcare industry all around the globe. rose to $133 billion globally in 2017, as compared to
China, South Korea and India with their huge $96 billion in 2013. List prices of new cancer drugs
population and healthcare challenges are emerging at launch have risen steadily over the past decade,
as biotech clusters with many notable startups in the and the median annual cost of a new cancer drug
region. New entrepreneurship communities have also launched in 2017 exceeded $150,000, compared to
emerged in Malaysia and Indonesia. Not far behind, $79,000 for the new cancer drugs launched in 2013.
Singapore and Taiwan have been investing heavily
to carve their niche in this industry by encouraging A new generation of cancer immunotherapies and
entrepreneurs and developing their local talent diagnostics are emerging and attracting high-dollar
pool. In the recent times, a large number of artificial investments from leading venture players. Startups
intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) relying have been working on areas like management of
startups have emerged in these countries and cancer the cancer diseases, cancer detection and cancer
is one condition few startups are putting their bets treatment. A few are also developing personalized
on. cancer treatments. This represents small portion but
the ventures are well-funded.
Asia follows most global trends for common types
of cancers, with some key differences. The most BioSpectrum brings to you a brief about some
common cancers in Asian men are lung, stomach, noteworthy startups harnessing next-generation
liver, colon/rectum and oesophagus while in women technologies to fight cancer from Singapore, India,
it is breast, lung, stomach, colon/rectum and liver Australia, Taiwan, China and South Korea in Asia.
cancers. On the other hand, head and neck cancers,
comprising oral, oropharynx and laryngopharynx Dr Manbeena Chawla
cancers, are major contributors to the cancer [email protected]
burden in the Indian subcontinent. According to
the GLOBOCAN 2018 report, the shares of cancer
deaths in Asia (57.3 per cent) and Africa (7.3 per
cent) are higher than the shares of incidence (48.4
per cent and 5.8 per cent, respectively) because of
the different distribution of cancer types and higher
fatality rates in these regions.

These trends have led to an observation of the
Asian phenotype, and gradually a number of startups
are developing new devices and products focusing on
the Asian population rather than going global.

The World Health Organization stresses on the
importance of early stage screening for cancer to limit
the chances of morbidity and mortality. Specifically,
cervical and breast cancer, if caught in early stages,
can lead to long-term survival in patients. According
to a recent IQVIA report, cancer medicine spending

COVER STORY 21

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China on the development of new therapeutics for liver,
lung, stomach and brain cancers. The company has
● Adagene- 2012 launched several First-in-Class CAR-T clinical trials
(Cancer Treatment) to treat the relapsed/refractory tumors, including
It is a clinical stage biotech company with innovative CAR-GPC3-T trial for hHepatocellular carcinoma and
antibody discovery and engineering technologies squamous lung cancer, CAR-EGFR/ EGFRvIII-T trial
focused on cancer. By utilizing its proprietary for GBM, and CAR-Claudin18.2-T trial for gastric and
Dynamic Precision Library Platform (DPL), Adagene pancreatic cancer. CARsgen also has ongoing clinical
is showcasing its exceptional antibody engineering programmes of the humanized CAR-CD19-T trial for
capabilities by building franchises of products that leukemia and the fully human CAR-BCMA-T trial for
are second and third-generation antibodies. Recently, multiple myeloma.
Adagene announced collaboration for discovery of
novel CAR-T with the National Heart, Lung, and ● Nuohui Health- 2015 (Cancer Detection)
Blood Institute at the National Institutes of Health Zhejiang Nuohui Health Technology Co., Ltd
(NIH). The company has raised over $85 million is an innovative biotech company dedicated to the
through its series A to C financing. early screening and testing services for high-risk
● Zai Lab- 2013 (Cancer Treatment) cancer in the Chinese population, which ultimately
Zai Lab is a Shanghai-based innovative helps achieve the goal of completely defeating
biopharmaceutical company focused on bringing cancer. Nuohui Health combines gene detection and
transformative medicines for cancer, autoimmune molecular diagnostic technology to build a home
and infectious diseases to patients in China and health self-management system based on early cancer
around the world. Very recently, the startup had screening with a large sample data platform and
announced the launch of Optune (Tumor Treating deep learning technology for healthy populations
Fields or TTFields) in Hong Kong for the treatment of to achieve early diagnosis of high-risk cancer
glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) with the treatment nationwide. Early treatment effectively reduces
of its first patient. Hong Kong is the fourth market cancer mortality and incidence, thereby rationally
after the United States, Europe and Japan to have improving the structure of medical costs, ultimately
access to this important new medical technology. helping to optimize and save overall medical costs.
Optune is the second product, along with the PARP ● CStone Pharmaceuticals- 2016
inhibitor ZEJULA (niraparib) for the treatment of (Cancer Treatment)
ovarian cancer, commercialized by Zai Lab in an It is a biopharma company focused on developing
Asian market. and commercializing innovative immuno-oncology
● CARsgen Therapeutics- 2015 and molecularly targeted drugs to address significant
(Cancer Treatment) unmet medical needs for cancer patients in China
CARsgen is an immunotherapy company focused and worldwide. Through a dual source of innovation,

22 COVER STORY BIOSPECTRUM | FEBRUARY 2019 | www.biospectrumasia.com

comprised of internal research Singapore
and external partnership, the
company has built a rich oncology ● Tessa Therapeutics- 2011
pipeline of 14 drug candidates (Cancer Treatment)
with significant mono- and Tessa Therapeutics is a clinical stage
combination-therapy potential biopharmaceutical company with the scientific
and synergies, including 4 assets vision of revolutionizing the treatment of cancer
exclusively in-licensed from Agios by redirecting the body’s potent anti-viral immune
and Blueprint Medicine. Among response to recognize and kill cancer cells. Tessa’s
CStone’s portfolio, 4 late-stage virus-specific T cell (VST) platform has shown
drug candidates are at or near compelling results in the treatment of solid tumors,
registrational trial. The company and the company is building a portfolio of therapies
is backed by prestigious VC and addressing a wide range of tumors by combining the
PE funds with record-breaking qualities of its T cell platform with complementary
amounts of equity investment, technologies. Tessa’s lead Phase III trial for
raising a combined total of $412 nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is the world’s
million in two financing rounds largest Phase III T cell immunotherapy trial for any
to date. cancer indication. The company is also conducting
a Phase I trial targeting cervical cancer and
● JW Therapeutics- 2016 oropharyngeal cancer which is expected to move into
(Cancer Treatment) Phase II this year. In addition, Tessa is developing
a broad pipeline of pre-clinical programs targeting
JW Therapeutics is a clinical major cancers such as liver and lung cancer.
stage biopharmaceutical company ● Invitrocue- 2012 (Cancer Treatment)
founded by Juno Therapeutics Invitrocue is a healthcare bio-analytic solutions
and WuXi AppTec Group in 2016 provider including in vitro cell-based testing
to focus on leading cell-based technologies and image analytics software for use
therapy technologies. By combining Juno’s in digital pathology. Invitrocue has developed a
world-class technology and platform with unique 3D cell-based scaffolding technology that
WuXi AppTec Group’s local expertise, R&D mimics human organ samples for using in the field of
and manufacturing platform, and broader
partnerships, JW Therapeutics has successfully
initiated the development of its first CD19-
directed investigational therapy, JWCAR029 (a
CAR-T therapy being studied for the treatment
of B-cell malignancies initially focusing on
relapsed and refractory DCBCL). JWCAR029
has moved into clinical phase, and the IND has
recently been accepted by the China Food and
Drug Administration (CFDA).

● Oncologie- 2018 (Cancer Treatment)
The innovative biopharmaceutical
company recently launched operations in both
Boston and Shanghai with $16.5 million seed
financing led by Pivotal bioVenture Partners
China. Oncologie is committed to developing
impactful cancer therapies to improve long-
term survival of cancer patients worldwide.
Building a pipeline of First and Best-in-Class
clinical stage drug candidates through licensing
and partnering, Oncologie is leveraging the
recent regulatory changes in China to conduct
parallel clinical development in China and the
US to bring the next wave of Immuno-Oncology
products to the two most important markets
simultaneously.

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Taiwan

● Acepodia- 2010 (Cancer Treatment)
Acepodia is working towards developing safe, effective and affordable
immunotherapeutic medicines targeting diseases with significant unmet medical
needs, with the current primary focus in oncology. The startup is developing antibody
cell conjugation, a method of attaching antibodies directly to immune cells as a way of
creating anti-cancer T-cell therapies. The patented immunotherapy technology is not yet
clinically proven.
● Winnoz- 2014 (Cancer Detection)
Winnoz has developed a unique risk-assessment platform for cancer. The platform is
composed of two medical devices, Haiim and eGGi, supported by artificial intelligence,
Winnoz AI. Haiim is an automated blood micro-sampling device designed to facilitate
blood collection especially from neonates, infants, geriatric and chronic patients. eGGi is
the only DNA-purification- free qPCR device able to analyze on-site whole blood samples
and detect nucleic acid biomarkers associated with major diseases in 1 hour.
● GUZIP- 2018 (Cancer Detection)
GUZIP Biomarkers Corporation is a spin-out company from Taipei Medical
University. The startup is developing a diagnostic tool for endometrial cancer. GUZIP
is working on novel DNA methylation epigenetic biomarkers to help in the diagnosis of
endometrial cancer. Moreover, to meet clinical needs, in vitro diagnostic (IVD) is the
main axis of the product development, which provides a smart and painless diagnosis
plan for current and future needs. The startup’s first product is referred to as MPap DNA
Methylation Detection Kit.

infectious diseases. In 2016, the company expanded The startup specialises in mapping immune
its work in liver disease to the field of oncology. system responses against tumour cells and
Invitrocue’s Onco-PDO technology enables patient- pathogens, and measures changes in immune cells for
derived cancer cells (organoids) to be cultured in biomarker and target identification. A spin-off from
laboratories for testing against a panel of drugs the lab of Dr Evan Newell at Singapore Immunology
to support clinical decision making for individual Network, A*STAR, immunoSCAPE employs cutting-
patients (personalised medicine). Invitrocue’s edge technologies and mass cytometry to measure
technology originated in Singapore’s Agency for alterations of immune cells, and in particular T cell
Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR). specificity, for biomarker and target identification.
Invitrocue has developed and validated its technology In collaboration with the National Cancer Centre
in partnerships with leading biopharmaceutical Singapore, the startup is working on the immune
companies and scientific collaborators. response induced by various cancer treatments such
as chemotherapy, radiotherapy and immunotherapy.
● MiRXES- 2014 (Cancer Detection) Currently, immunoSCAPE is in the process of raising
Biotech company, MiRXES has developed $3 million in a Series A round of funding.
technology kits that can detect early-stage gastric
cancer, breast cancer and lung cancer from blood ● Lucence Diagnostics- 2016
samples. The early-stage cancer detection test was (Cancer Detection)
spun off from Agency for Science, Technology and It is a genomic medicine company founded to
Research (A*STAR) in 2014. Recently, Singapore’s achieve the vision of a world without avoidable cancer
Venturecraft merged with Mirxes to form Ark, deaths. The company is headquartered in Singapore
with a $40 million Series A investment. Ark’s first with offices in Hong Kong and San Francisco. Lucence
product will be a stomach cancer blood test which invents genome-based diagnostic tests that enable
detects early-stage stomach cancer before clinical innovative early cancer detection and treatment
symptoms appear. It was developed and validated selection. Lucence targets the most common cancers
in collaboration with the Singapore Gastric Cancer in Asia using its proprietary technology and AI-driven
Consortium, A*STAR’s Diagnostics Development genome intelligence. Its key operations are serviced
Hub (DxD Hub), the National University Hospital worldwide through an accredited central laboratory.
and Tan Tock Seng Hospital. Recently, it partnered with iGenetic Diagnostics to
● immunoSCAPE- 2016 (Cancer Treatment) deliver cancer blood tests in India.

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South Korea three to six months. For now, MarkB can check for
five most common cancers -- colorectal cancer, liver
● Lunit- 2013 (Cancer Detection) cancer, prostate cancer, uterine and ovarian cancer
The startup has raised $20.5 million to as well as cancer affecting digestive organs such as
develop a medical imaging algorithm detecting chest the pancreas and gallbladder. Currently, the Korean
and lung abnormalities based on artificial intelligence health-tech startup is working on clinical trials for its
(AI). The application can screen for lung nodules device in partnership with Seoul University Bundang
including lung cancer, breast cancer, and other major
lung diseases like tuberculosis. Since 2017, Lunit
has raised an additional $15 million from investors
including Softbank and has launched Lunit Insight, a
wholly cloud-based real-time x-ray analysis solution
that has been used to analyze 1 million images
across 80 countries since its launch. Very recently,
the startup has signed an agreement with We Want
Healthcare, one of the largest local health screenings
centres in Korea, to supply its AI solutions.
● BBB- 2014 (Cancer Detection)
Seoul-based BBB has developed a sensor-
equipped portable device that examines a droplet of
blood to detect cancer signals. The product, named
MarkB, is slated to hit the Korean market this year.
The firm has positioned the product as a prognosis
device. It is intended for use by post-surgery cancer
patients required to undergo routine checkups every

India banks on the PAP smear test, a method of cervical
screening to detect potentially cancerous cells. The
● OncoStem Diagnostics- 2011 AI powered cervical detection system, CervAstra, is a
(Cancer Detection) powerful system that reduces cancer screening time
OncoStem is focused on personalized cancer considerably.
treatment planning through the development of tests
that try to effectively predict the chance of cancer ● SigTuple- 2015 (Cancer Detection)
recurrence in patients. The startup uses a machine In the oncology space, SigTuple’s product
learning method to predict risk of cancer recurrence. Shonit can detect blasts and atypical cells,
CanAssist-Breast, a test developed by OncoStem, enabling pathologists to diagnose acute and
identifies the risk of breast cancer recurrence at an chronic leukaemias. Shonit also provides critical
early stage. details on Red Blood Cells (RBCs) and platelet
● UE LifeSciences- 2012 (Cancer Detection) morphology, empowering the pathologist to obtain a
UE LifeSciences has commercially designed and comprehensive diagnostic profile.
developed the iBreastExam (iBE) device specifically ● CyCa OncoSolutions- 2015
for large scale use in the developing world. Being a (Cancer Treatment)
radiation-free and painless test further makes iBE The startup has developed two drug delivery
suitable to women at primary care locations such as devices - CyPlatin and CyGIo for delivery of
a doctor’s clinic, community health centers, health anticancer drug cisplatin, most widely used drug for
camps or a hospital’s out-patient department. GE human malignant cancers. While CyPlatin is a novel
Healthcare has partnered with UE Lifesciences formulation having the molecular drilling machine
as part of GE Healthcare’s accelerator five.eight and anticancer drug cisplatin, CyGlo is another
to commercialize iBreastExam in more than 25 unique formulation of molecular drilling machine
countries across South Asia, Southeast Asia and and fluorescent dyes.
Africa. ● Niramai- 2016 (Cancer Detection)
● AIndra Systems- 2012 (Cancer Detection) Niramai has developed a new patented technique
AIndra Systems is an artificial intelligence-based called Thermalytix, a novel computer-aided diagnosis
startup which has set its sights on tackling the low solution to automate detection of early stage breast
screening rates of cervical cancer. The AIndra device malignancies. The core of Niramai software consists

COVER STORY 25

BIOSPECTRUM | FEBRUARY 2019 | www.biospectrumasia.com Australia

Hospital, with aims to score approval by the ● Opus Medical- 2014
Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. So far, (Cancer Management)
BBB has secured around 5.5 billion won in Series Opus Medical has developed its Breathe Well
A funding from various venture capital firms. technology which coaches cancer patients to self-
regulate their breathing to assist in the accurate
● MDimune- 2015 (Cancer Treatment) targeting of tumours and sparing of healthy
MDimune is developing a new cancer tissues during radiation treatment. The Breathe
treatment based on BioDrone Technology that Well technology was pioneered by Paul Keall
is a drug delivery platform technology. Bio who is a Professor in the School of Medicine at
drones can easily put drugs in a drone called the University of Sydney and a director at Opus
exosome. The technology has been transferred Medical, and developed with company co-founder
from POSTECH. The core technology of MDI Dr Sean Pollock as part of his PhD project. A
is the artificial production of exosome from the technology prototype was developed with the
cells, which dramatically improves the clinical assistance of a Building Partnerships grant from
applicability by increasing the production yield the NSW (New South Wales) Government-backed
and the diversity of the cells to be extracted. Jobs for NSW. The technology has also been
Established in Korea for the first time as an assisted with a $1.3 million grant from the NSW
exosome company, the startup is developing Health Medical Devices Fund.
innovative exosome treatment for intractable ● CancerAid- 2016 (Cancer Management)
diseases such as cancer and lung diseases. It is an Australian cancer support app which has
In addition, it is the only exosome research recently been integrated into hospital electronic
company in Korea, and has been selected as a medical records, providing patient symptom and
company to be supported by R & D consultant activity data for clinicians to view remotely and
for clinical development from Korea Food and in real time. CancerAid allows patients to access
Drug Administration. medically reliable cancer information, log their
symptoms, medications, treatments and activity,
of novel computer algorithms based on Artificial and join a community of more than 20,000 users
Intelligence and Machine Learning that analyse worldwide using the app. It is ranked in the top
thermal images and generate quantitative 200 medical apps in the Apple App and Google
interpretation. Play stores, out of 96,000 currently on the market.
At the Talent Unleashed Awards 2017, CancerAid
● Predible Health- 2016 was awarded Best Start-up and Best Start-up
(Cancer treatment) Creating Social Impact in the APAC Global region.
Predible has built an AI-enabled cancer ● Maxwell Plus- 2016 (Cancer Detection)
radiology platform that aids radiologists and This Brisbane based startup combines artificial
surgeons to accurately and quickly diagnose and intelligence with medical imaging and patient
size the cancerous tissue to help plan personalised data to improve cancer diagnoses and support.
treatment. The company’s proprietary algorithms Prostate, Breast and Lung imaging gets enhanced
unlock deep and hidden insights that aid with the automatic detection, measurement and
physicians to characterise diseases, plan and calculation of risk malignancy of lesions. Maxwell
deliver personalised treatment. Cloud allows radiologists to produce and share
● Onward Health- 2016 automated standardised patient reports. Recently,
(Cancer Detection) the startup has collaborated with Beijing Genomics
The startup provides tools in computational Institute (BGI) to develop a risk model to predict
pathology and mammography, leveraging the likelihood a prostate cancer patient will develop
computer vision techniques and Machine advanced or metastatic disease. The partners are
Learning algorithms for cancer screening. aiming to better understand the genetic makeup
Onward Health is also building tools in the space of prostate cancer patients and to investigate the
of virtual staining which will evaluate an initial association between prostate, breast, ovarian,
stain (H&E) to decide on the type of follow-up and colorectal cancers in the families of patients.
special stain to be done. Through the strong They will then combine genetic risk and family
clinical partnerships, the startup is looking history into a risk model for predicting advanced or
forward to tapping into clinical expertise and at metastatic prostate cancer.
the same time build relevant solutions based on
real-time clinical workflow.

26 REGENERATIVE MEDICINE

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AUSTRALIA - POTENTIAL TO
BECOME GLOBAL HUB FOR RM

Australia is considered one of the first movers in the Regenerative medicine (RM) space, with more than 70
institutes and companies in the continent working in this sector. A new report published by MTPConnect
highlighted Australia’s potential to become a global hub for Regenerative Medicine. It is observed that
there is a funding gap when clinically validated RM products have exited the R&D phase and are ready for
commercialization. The report pointed out that funding and regulatory harmonization are essential for
Australia’s success in RM therapies.

“Regenerative Medicine (RM)” is an emerging new infrastructure to push towards a profitable
area of science that promises to completely commercialization of regenerative medicine products.
cure ailments by regaining and/or Some of the fast-growing regenerative medicine markets
restoring structure and function of damaged organs, in the continent include Australia, India, Japan, China
tissues and cells. Rising demand for healthcare, ageing and Korea. The vast potential of this sector has also
society and increasing chronic diseases have coaxed attracted the venture capital (VCs) who are pouring in
researchers to look for newer, more effective methods millions of dollars annually to uncover the potential of
of treating them. Regenerative medicine, experts RM. In 2010, the field attracted about $200 million in
believe, holds the promise to unlock the potential venture capital and in 2016, that figure had quadrupled
for new treatments for many of our unmet health (as per a report from Quartz). Stem cell technology
challenges like rare diseases, diabetes, cardiovascular attracts the vast majority of investment; $700 million
disease and neurodegenerative disorders. Recent of the $800 million dedicated to regenerative medicine
developments in tissue engineering and stem cell in 2016 went to stem cell projects.
therapy are further fueling the growth of this field.
Australia is considered one of the first movers in the
For the past few years, global investment in RM RM space, with more than 70 institutes and companies
is rising exponentially and so far nearly, 37 therapies in the continent working in this sector. A new report
have been approved and marketed for clinical use. published by MTPConnect highlighted Australia’s
Reports state that the National Institutes of Health potential to become a global hub for Regenerative
(NIH) spent $1.5 billion on stem cell research in Medicine. The report articulated that the global RM
2016 alone. Analysts estimate that the global market market is expected to reach AUD $120 billion ($86.4
for regenerative medicine generated $17.03 billion billion) by 2035, and if Australia could capture 5 per
revenue in 2016 and analysts expect its value to exceed cent of that market it could create 6,000 new jobs and
$50 billion within the next few years. A wave of new bring in AUD $6 billion in annual revenue. Over the
therapies is expected in the next five years, particularly last 15 years, Australia has invested in building a local
in immunotherapy and cell therapy. RM sector. Over AUD $1billion has been invested in
the sector through Australian government grants and
Asia’s current regenerative medicine market private capital raisings to progress RM research and
size is $600 million, with an average annual growth development.
rate of about 20 per cent. Going forward, the Asia-
Pacific region is predicted to be the fastest growing In Australia, RM now accounts for approximately
region for regenerative medicine. Many governments 10 per cent of medical researchers and there are more
in the region are drafting policies to advocate the than 30 companies in Australia developing products
establishment of centres of excellence and are building with a RM focus. The field receives strong Australian
government support through the Australian Research
Council and National Health and Medical Research
Council and other sector-specific grants. With
healthcare costs in Australia expected to increase to
almost 16 per cent of GDP by 2040, from the current
level of less than 10 per cent, RM, the report explains,
offers the chance to reduce the burden of disease and
associated costs as well as improve quality of life.

No one will argue the immense potential offered by

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“We have a bold vision
for regenerative medicine”

« better health and wellbeing outcomes that will flow
from these new therapies, will be felt by people across
Dr Dan Grant, Asia and around the world.
CEO of
MTPConnect, What are the risks associated with regenerative
Australia medicine development?
While regenerative medicine is a branch of medical
Anew report by MTPConnect lifts the therapy, it is distinct from most pharmaceuticals
veil on Australia’s growing regenerative and devices. It’s more complex relative to other
medicine sector. Speaking to BioSpectrum pharmaceuticals and health interventions, in terms of
Asia Magazine, Dr Dan Grant, CEO of research, pathways to market, therapy production and
MTPConnect highlights Australia’s strengths and insertion into the supply chain, and administration
weaknesses in the global regenerative medicine of the therapy. MTPConnect’s new “Regenerative
sector. Edited excerpts; Medicine – Opportunities for Australia” examines
Australia’s strengths and weaknesses in the global
What, in your opinion, are some of the major regenerative medicine sector. With its focus on
trends driving the regenerative medicine (RM) customization or personalization for each patient, it’s
market in Australia? Any further thoughts on clear that the clinical development programme for
this one? regenerative medicine therapies can be expensive,
Significant progress has been made over the past 50 while economies of scale are smaller. These factors
years, since the first attempts to treat diseases using give rise to perceptions about being a risky investment
stem cells or regenerative medical approaches, with and can make regenerative medicine less attractive to
blood disorders being the lead disease treated. Each potential investors.
year, more than 150 people with acute leukemia
treated with haemopoietic stem cells in Australia. Our Please highlight some of Australia’s unique
researchers and clinicians are now contemplating strengths that will make the country a hub for
the use of stem cells for other disorders, including global regenerative medicine research.
multiple sclerosis, diabetes, macular degeneration, Australia has a strong platform in regenerative
spinal cord lesions and cancer. But what is most medicine upon which to build. In addition to the
exciting is, despite all the advances we’ve seen in high quality of our overarching health system, we
recent times, the full potential of cell therapies is yet have specific strengths in the depth of talent in
to be fully realised. fundamental research and clinical trials, including:
an ethnically diverse patient population with an
How do you see regenerative medicine interest in supporting medical innovation; financial
revolutionizing healthcare in Asia? incentives that make Australia an attractive
The ability to re-programme and coax stem cells destination for health and medical research; and
into taking one of many specific forms, opens the high quality manufacturing and cell processing
door to new treatments in multiple therapy areas: technologies. Our geographical proximity to Asia
retinal disease, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, – combined with local talent, skills, infrastructure,
neurodegenerative disorders including Alzheimer’s and a reputation for quality – certainly positions
disease and Motor Neurone Disease, as well as Australia well, to be a hub for the Asia-Pacific region.
orthopedic and immune disorders. The benefits in If you look at logistics, Australia has seven major
international airports and dozens of restricted use
international airports, which could serve as transport
bases. With well-established trade links to Asian
markets already in place, Australia can provide
a rapid supply of quality regenerative medicine
components or finished products.

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Despite benefits, it is seen that regenerative medicine. The regenerative medicine groups and labs
medicine does not attract much investments. In at these universities and institutes account for 1,200
your opinion what could be the major reasons for researchers, which is approximately 10 per cent of all
that? medical researchers in Australia. Looking forward,
Investment in Australia’s regenerative medicine sector the sector is optimistic that the AUD $20 billion
has enabled the development of an ecosystem with Medical Research Future Fund, with its renewed
a strong global position. In particular, government emphasis on research to target health and wellbeing
grants have played a significant role in the growth of management, can play a significant role in growing
the sector. However, within the Australian funding regenerative medicine in our country. The AUD $500
landscape, there are limited available resources in the million Biomedical Translation Fund is another
early translation phase of the regenerative medicine significant government investment source.
value chain, to help get therapies into the clinic
and ultimately onto the market. Sources of funding How do you see Australia’s Regenerative
outside government support are only just emerging in Medicine sector five years from now?
regenerative medicine and a challenge for the sector is We have a bold vision for regenerative medicine –
to achieve greater diversification in the pool of funders to create an end-to-end, world-leading value chain
and venture capital. from discovery to delivery, that gives Australian
patients access to world-class therapies, creates jobs
Please outline some of the major efforts put by and exports Australian therapies to the world. Our
the Australian government to nurture the sector. strong competitive position is a product of Australia’s
Over the last 15 years, Australia has invested in excellent research capabilities, significant investment,
building a local regenerative medicine sector. An and the local development of targeted world-class
excess of AUD $1 billion has been invested in the manufacturing and cell processing technologies.
sector through Australian government grants and The opportunity now, is to build on that foundation
private capital raisings, to progress regenerative and elevate the sector to a new level. The global
medicine research and development. Australia regenerative medicine market is expected to grow to
has a sizeable research presence in regenerative AUD $120 billion by 2035. If Australia can carve out
medicine. One quarter of Australia’s 43 universities just 5 per cent share of that market, the sector would
and almost two thirds of our 70 medical research be worth AUD $ 6 billion in annual revenue and
institutes have a strong focus on regenerative could create 6,000 new and high-paying jobs.

regenerative medicine. But just as benefits, RM also can be significant and difficult to obtain given there
has unique challenges. The complex characteristics are limited examples of commercial success in this
of regenerative medicine makes for a limited clinical emerging sector. Also, policymakers and regulators
market. RM faces problems of commercialization need to create clear market-access pathways that
and funding because of its very own novel, cross- are aligned to global markets. The current biological
disciplinary approach and highly disruptive nature. framework in Australia, does not easily align with
Hence despite some funding, skill and government other major jurisdictions where RM is specifically
interest actual delivery of this potential has proven to highlighted in the framework (c.f. FDA, Japan).
be difficult. The short shelf life of many RM treatment
products, which can perish in as little as 24-hours, The report highlights that Australia has all the
puts pressure on traditional logistics infrastructure to elements needed to be a global leader in regenerative
transport them between manufacturers and patients. medicine, develop high-demand products for the global
market and drive economic growth. Not only Australia,
The report points out that funding and regulatory many Asian countries are gaining more prominence in
harmonization are essential for Australia’s success in the field, and developments in regenerative medicine is
RM therapies. It is observed that there is a funding soon expected to change how Asian countries manage
gap when clinically validated RM products have exited the health of their aging populations. Technology has
the R&D phase and are ready for commercialization. played an integral role in the success of regenerative
Government grants have played a significant role in medicines, and recent technological advances as
the growth of the sector. Sources of funding outside well as the Asian population’s needs promise further
government support are only just emerging in growth in the field.
regenerative medicine. The funding required to scale
manufacturing, train clinicians and market products Aishwarya Venkatesh
[email protected]

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Philippines pharma: All
set for continuous growth

The pharmaceutical industry in the Philippines has products are out of geographical and financial reach
been seeing stable growth for the past decade, for many”, says Dr Edward Booty, CEO, Allied World
and it looks set to continue. Though the market Healthcare, the Philippines.
stood at $4.3 billion in 2013, several recent and
incoming changes could enable the sector to The Philippines has a higher utilization rate
reach approximately $8 billion by 2020 (Oxford of lower-cost generics than other Asia-Pacific
Business Group). The increase is linked to various countries with comparable GDPs. Generic medicine
factors, including the government’s intervention in prescriptions by physicians has also increased by 7
price control, growing acceptance of generic drug percentage points since 2011 (from 66 per cent in
variants, increasing population and growth in the June 2011 to 73 per cent in June 2014) enhancing
annual family expenditure for drugs and medicines. patient access to medicines.

The Philippines is the 11th most attractive The government’s bulk procurement of
pharmaceutical market in the Asia-Pacific pharmaceutical products has also helped bring down
region and the third-largest pharmaceutical prices of medicines to Filipino patients.
market in ASEAN, after Indonesia and Thailand. The
country’s pharmaceutical industry is projected to Changing manufacturing scenario
grow by 4.5 per cent annually over the next five years
reaching P164 billion in 2018 from P146 billion in Foreign drug companies account for over 75 per
2014 representing the value output or production of cent of the pharmaceutical market. Some of the
industry, including research based pharmaceutical biggest foreign drug companies in the Philippines
and generic companies, according to IMS Consulting are Sanofi, Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline. It is also
for the Pharmaceutical Healthcare Association of the seen that there has been a huge growth in generic
Philippines (PHAP). The Filipino pharmaceuticals drugs made by domestic and foreign pharmaceutical
is one of the fastest growing industries in the companies in the Philippines. The fastest growing
country and has grown year to year. Of the world’s companies include Novartis’ generic arm Sandoz,
Top 20 pharmaceutical companies, over 14 have Taiwan’s Orient Europharma (OEP) and Getz
manufacturing facilities in the Philippines. Business Pharma of Pakistan. In total, there are more than 500
registration in the pharmaceutical industry in the drug traders, 700 drug importers, and 5,000 drug
Philippines is a growing and expanding financial distributors in the Philippines.
opportunity too. The pharmaceutical manufacturing
sector ranks is listed in the top 22 per cent of the 240 Over the years, the MNCs which had
sectors in the Philippines. manufacturing plants in the country closed down
their facilities, and began to import from corporate
“The Philippines is growing in so many ways; production centres abroad, or turn to local
with one of the youngest populations in Asia, rapidly contract manufacturers. At the moment, only few
increasing income and the ‘middle class’, foreign pharmaceutical multinationals have manufacturing
investment and business investment in outsourcing facilities in the Philippines. However, the ones
and technology operations, and a large amount of with manufacturing plants find it cost-efficient to
overseas Filipino workers paying contributing large produce in the country. GlaxoSmithKline is one
amounts to GDP from across the globe. The shift
has been made from infectious disease to non-
communicable disease; with diet, alcohol and low
exercise causing heart disease and other conditions
to grow rapidly. Healthcare products and medicines
are in demand in the Philippines, but the cost and
availability in an out-of-pocket market means many

30 COUNTRY REPORT

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example which has sustained its manufacturing in the Manufacturing Practices (GMP) compliant and at par
Philippines. with the latest technologies.

“The importation of medicines (and other In the same haste, pharmaceutical companies in
goods) has been traditionally challenging in the the Philippines also undertake various activities in
Philippines, but a number of reforms are underway to the course of their business operations, which require
streamline and improve this process. Manufacturing the use of IPR. As part of their worldwide R&D,
in-country is a request many countries make to originator companies are conducting clinical trials in
improve the number of high quality, local jobs – but the Philippines in an increasing number, such that
a pharma manufacturer cannot fully decentralize the Philippines is now ranked third in South East
their operations as that would remove economies Asia, next to Thailand and Singapore in terms of
of scale, and thus strategic choices will have to be the number of pharmaceutical industry sponsored
made for global pharma as to whether the market clinical trials, according to KPMG Report.
size, improved government relations, and potential
reduction of logistics and taxation costs would make Government Initiatives
economic sense overall”, comments Dr Booty on the
changing Filipino scenario. The Philippines government has doubled its efforts in
improving the pharmaceutical market. This increased
While many multinationals abandoned the intervention under the universal health care initiative
Philippines, the local manufacturing industry and a growing acceptance of generic drugs has caused
became livelier. The number of laboratories declined a shake-up in the sector. Adding up to the complexity,
over the years, as many were not able to cope with optimistic growth forecasts indicate a huge potential
technological advancement and increasingly stringent for the private sector.
requirements, but the ones that survived are Good
Talking about the various initiatives taken by the
“MOST NOTABLY, THE PHILIPPINES GOVERNMENT IS Philippines government in the pharmaceutical sector,
CURRENTLY IN THE PROCESS OF APPROVING THEIR Dr Booty says, “The Philippines government grew
UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE POLICY THAT WILL SEE their ‘Health for All’ programme over the past few
A BASIC LEVEL OF HEALTHCARE AVAILABLE FOR years, with various programmes to improve digital
ALL FILIPINOS IN THE FUTURE, AS WELL AS EFFORTS services, deploy medical workers to rural areas,
TO DIGITIZE PREVIOUS PAPER PHARMACY RECORDS create integrated ‘Service Delivery Networks’ and
TO IMPROVE ABILITY TO DO DATA ANALYSIS. combat a number of other health challenges. The
MANY REGULATIONS ARE BEING REVIEWED AND pharma sector has seen a number of innovations,
ARE EVOLVING OVER TIME. LARGER CORPORATES ranging from ePharmacy ordering, to local health
INTERNATIONALLY ARE BECOMING INVOLVED IN data innovations, to cross-pharma access programs
THE MARKET (SUCH AS FULLERTON HEALTHCARE, in lower-income communities. Novartis and Allied
AND THE WORLD BANK’S INTERNATIONAL FINANCE World Healthcare are pioneering community
healthcare access models and financing schemes,
CORPORATION DEPLOYING CAPITAL helping connect communities to essential healthcare
IN THE PHILIPPINES). LARGE support.”
CONGLOMERATES WITHIN THE
COUNTRY ARE ALSO PIVOTING Some of the initiatives taken by the
TOWARDS HEALTHCARE, SUCH Filipino government are:
AS AYALA GROUP FORMING
AYALA HEALTH; AND GLOBE ● BnB Project: The Philippine government
TELECOM PUSHING KONSULTAMD established Botika ng Barangay with the aim of
(A TELEPHONE-BASED HEALTH increasing the accessibility to health care products
SUPPORT CHANNEL).” to people in rural areas where prices are 50 – 70 per
- DR EDWARD BOOTY, CEO, cent cheaper compared to leading brands. Botika
ng Barangay refers to a drug outlet managed by a
ALLIED WORLD HEALTHCARE, legitimate community organization (CO or non-
THE PHILIPPINES government organization (NGO) and/or the Local
Government unit (LGU), with a trained operator
and a supervising pharmacist. This provides
primary, non-prescription generic drugs listed in the
Philippine National Drug Formulary (PNDF) and
selected prescription drugs are sold/made available.

● Republic Act A 9502: Cheaper Medicine Act-
The Philippine Government in 2007 created RA 9502

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with the intention to achieve better health outcomes Growth drivers in the Philippines
for Filipinos by assuring that quality medicines pharmaceutical industry
are accessible and affordable to as many Filipinos
especially the poor. ● Heavy protection for patents and trademarks
under the Intellectual Property Code of the
The law and its implementing Rules and Philippines
Regulation intend to make medicines more accessible
and affordable to Filipinos by enforcing provision ● Strategic location to invest with business
that improve market competition, availability, ● Focus on generic drugs for better access to all
contain costs, improve health care provider and ● Increase in importation, averaging at 11.34 %
consumers behaviour, and when instances so require,
even regulate prices. from 2005 to 2010
● Increase in population
Demanding Generics ● Growth in the annual family expenditure for

The Philippines is a prescription-driven market, drugs and medicine
where patients put utmost trust in their physicians— ● Total family expenditures for drugs and
the doctors’ non-endorsement of generics, derived
from a limited promotional effort by the generics medicines continue to grow annually
players, hampered the sector’s development. ● Steady increase of government and private

In line with the government decision to amend the hospitals, as well as medical practitioners
National Health Insurance Act, making it mandatory
for all Filipinos to be covered through PhilHealth (the (Source: KPMG Philippines Pharmaceutical Report, December 2018)
national insurance body) reform has also affected
the pharmaceutical industry with a heightened growth, the Philippines market is one of the most
overall demand for drugs. Generic drugs in particular attractive in ASEAN. The competitive dynamics has
received a considerable boost from PhilHealth, as transformed the sector, and further growth will soon
patients and hospitals have become focused on follow as the government seeks to achieve universal
maximising the value of the government allocation healthcare.
of funds for each particular treatment. While doctors
previously shied away from prescribing generic drugs In view of the latest regulatory changes, Dr Booty
in favour of branded drugs, new laws have made it says, “Most notably, the Philippines government is
mandatory to offer generic drugs in public hospitals. currently in the process of approving their Universal
While a preference for the branded drugs remains, Healthcare policy that will see a basic level of
the cost savings of the generic variants and improving healthcare available for all Filipinos in the future, as
quality means that the sector will likely see a shift well as efforts to digitize previous paper pharmacy
towards their usage. records to improve ability to do data analysis. Many
regulations are being reviewed and are evolving over
In addition, a benefit extension in 2014 time. Larger corporates internationally are becoming
under Philippine Health Insurance Corporation involved in the market (such as Fullerton Healthcare,
(PhilHealth) to cover catastrophic diseases has and the World Bank’s International Finance
increased demand for new drugs, both branded Corporation deploying capital in the Philippines).
and genetic. Transparency has improved with drug Large conglomerates within the country are also
reference pricing now available for public viewing on pivoting towards healthcare, such as Ayala Group
the Department of Health website, a result of better forming Ayala Health; and Globe Telecom pushing
coordination between PhilHealth and the National KonsultaMD (a telephone-based health support
Centre for Pharmaceutical Access and Management. channel).”

Through RA 9502 (The Cheaper Medicines Act), In summary, the pharmaceutical sector is a
there has been an increase in drug outlets devoted vibrant fast-growing industry that contributes
in selling generic medicines. This approach has also
helped expand the availability and affordability of significantly to the Philippine economy not only
medicines to all socio-economic groups. in terms of value-added but more importantly in
terms of generating much needed employment. The
Looking forward industry players are diverse; they consist of few giant
establishments and numerous small producers/
The entire pharmaceutical industry in the Philippines traders. Formulating policies therefore must take into
is now waiting to see how the market will further consideration how each player may be affected by
evolve. Because of the economic and population policy issuances.

Priyanka Bajpai
[email protected]

32 Q&A

BIOSPECTRUM | FEBRUARY 2019 | www.biospectrumasia.com

“Our approach leads to shortened
timelines for drug development”

« of what the patient can afford. This is reflected in
two ways – appropriate targeted cancer medication
Harish Dave, may be available and approved but high costs make
CMO & Executive it’s use prohibitive and secondly, the drug is not
Director, AUM even submitted for marketing approval in that
Biosciences, country/geography based on the Pharma company’s
Singapore evaluation of insufficient economic return. Bottom
line – many of the newer and more effective drugs are
AUM Biosciences, a Singapore-based oncology- very costly and so either unavailable in that country
focused biotechnology company, has recently or, if available, beyond the reach of most people
licensed its first novel, highly selective anti- outside the ultra-wealthy.
cancer drug, ETC-206, from A*STAR’s Experimental
Therapeutics Centre (ETC). The Agency for Science, How does AUM Biosciences intend to address
Technology and Research (A*STAR) is Singapore’s the cancer concern in Asia?
lead public sector agency that spearheads economic AUM is focused on addressing unmet medical needs
oriented research to advance scientific discovery and in Asia. We address both the cancer types that are
develop innovative technology. ETC-206’s licensing regarded as Asia-prevalent as well as focus on the
by AUM not only puts Singapore on the map, but more “Western” cancers that are becoming more
also enables the company to be at the forefront of common in Asia due to lifestyle changes, increasing
emerging oncology trends. This is a significant step age of the population, and other factors.
towards its vision of “Asia to global” by accelerating
the development of innovative and affordable What are the key strategies being adopted by
medicines. BioSpectrum Asia connected with Harish the company?
Dave, CMO & Executive Director, to get more A fundamental justification used by Pharma
insights. Edited excerpts: for high prices of products is the huge cost of
development, the need to generate sufficient returns
What are the current challenges facing cancer for their investors and shareholders, and the need
detection and treatment in Asia? to compensate for the high attrition rate in the
Asia encompasses a wide range, quality, and development process. Profit seeking is always a
accessibility of health care systems. Countries like motive but less spoken about. AUM conducts its drug
Japan and S. Korea have well-developed healthcare development studies primarily in the Asia Pacific
with good access and strong programs in place region but always at the highest possible global
for cancer detection and for tumour types that are
prevalent there such as liver and gastric cancer. Many
other countries, including India and China, have
more limited resources. There is lesser uptake of
screening for cancers as well as a delayed diagnosis
as the patients often present late in the course of
their disease. Therapeutic nihilism on the part of
primary care doctors who fail to refer on the cases to
appropriate specialty centres also persists.

Of course, financial considerations play a part.
Even when a diagnosis is made and appropriate
care sought, the cost of care may well be in excess

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standard resulting in a lower cost of development. anticipate others, including large Pharma, will likely
The combination of a lower cost of doing business in adopt similar strategies as they face pricing pressures
Asia, a greater willingness of patients to participate in in their home territories.
studies (faster enrolment = faster study completion =
money saved), increasing numbers of highly trained, Appropriately structured deals will safeguard the
competent and willing investigators makes Asia an patients’ interests while allowing reasonable profit
ideal place to conduct drug development studies. generation by all parties.
We also make use of precision and digital medicine
techniques to make sure we understand how a What is main objective behind the recent
drug works and the associated biomarkers to select acquisition of the anti-cancer drug ETC-206?
the patient population most likely to respond. We We are delighted to have ETC-206 (AUM-001) as the
offer world-class drug development and regulatory first drug in AUM’s pipeline. It meets our mandate
strategies designed to rapidly move candidate and is a Singapore discovered molecule that is now
molecules along the drug development pathway. being developed by a Singapore company. An exciting
drug, it targets a pathway that is central to translation
Are you planning to develop affordable of many key signalling pathways in cancer cells and
solutions for Asian population only, or do you has a strong safety profile making it an excellent
have a global approach? If so, how? partner for combination therapies.
Our approach leads to shortened timelines for drug
development and potentially requires a smaller study Are there more acquisitions in the pipeline?
size (which in turn also saves time and money). Yes, we anticipate that we will in-license several more
Consequently, we are able to deliver phase III ready molecules as part of our strategy to build a high-
drugs that cost less to develop than in Western value, specialty oncology drug development company.
countries. This results is our ability to out-license
our drugs at a lower, more economical cost while Please share some details about the recent
still satisfying our need to meet our development collaboration with C-CAMP in India? How do
costs and generate a healthy economic return for you intend to take this association further?
our investors. In an ideal scenario, we would want Our collaboration with C-CAMP will provide us
to license out our phase III ready drugs to larger with access to ongoing oncology research and drug
Asian Pharma companies to retain the economic development in the Indian biotechnology arena
advantage that we have created. We expect any through its existing networks, and will pair that with
out-licensing partner who works with us to pass our rich experience in early drug development. By
the economic benefit we have created by our faster, tapping on each party’s strengths, this symbiotic
Asia-based development strategy, on to the final partnership hopes to advance India-discovered
users, the patients. We fully anticipate our Asia-to- and developed small molecules as drugs for cancer
global strategy to result in a lower cost of drugs not therapy for patients in need across the world.
only to Asian patients, but also in the global markets.
This is a paradigm shift in drug development and we The partnership creates an avenue for an Early
Phase commercial exit for C-CAMP’s existing startups
in the oncology space that share our mandate and
vision by creating the opportunity for them to license
out their technologies. We have committed to offer
AUM’s support to C-CAMP’s existing start-ups, in
line with the Start-up India and Skill India initiatives
of the Indian government.

What are the major targets assigned for 2019?
Our key focus for 2019 will be across 3 areas. AUM
will focus on growing our enterprise value by building
a robust pipeline of additional innovative cancer
drugs. We are currently speaking with investors
and working towards securing additional funding.
More importantly, AUM will develop an organisation
focused on world class delivery and execution.

Dr Manbeena Chawla
[email protected]

34 HEALTHCARE

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Driving Asian workplaces towards
better mental health support

« health attitudes and misconceptions. Nearly nine in
10 (89.4 per cent) of the 1,210 respondents felt that
Kevin Jones, mental illness is “like any other illness”, and nearly
Chief Executive the same number also believed that virtually anyone
Officer, Aetna could become mentally ill. Yet, less than 30 per cent
(Hong Kong) of all surveyed Hong Kong residents are willing to
live with someone working through a mental health
A 2017 mental health atlas by WHO found condition.
that 40 per cent of surveyed South East
Asians pay mostly or entirely out of their own Compounding the problem of social stigma
pockets for mental health services, which is associated with mental health, individuals in Asia
much higher than the global average of 17 also tend to judge their poor mental health as a
per cent to do so. Even with more resources personal failing. A recent Singapore study found
in place, fewer than half of those affected by that half of the population regarded mental health
mental illness in Asia receive any treatment. problems as a “sign of personal weakness”, while nine
in 10 felt that those affected “could get better if they
Discussing and seeking mental health treatment wanted to”.
is a topic no organisation or individual should
face alone. Yet, the stigmatisation of mental The dollars and cents of
health in the Asia-Pacific region presents many neglecting mental health
roadblocks and opportunities for workplaces and
individuals to seek the support they need. Bringing mental health awareness to Asian
workplaces can be equally challenging. In Singapore,
The stigma behind mental health issues in Hong employers enquire about the mental health of
Kong, Singapore, and other developed Asian nations potential hires, grouping these questions with
such as Japan are rooted in culture. Several studies background checks related to criminal records
and case reports on mental health perception in Asia and bankruptcy, when there’s no requirement
arrived at the same conclusion – working around an for potential employees to declare mental health
existing mental health condition requires extra effort histories under the nation’s Employment Act.
from the individual to keep pace with a competitive
workforce and maintain a lifestyle that encourages Our joint Hong Kong study revealed that 73.4 per
exemplary results and social standing. cent of the respondents’ workplaces do not provide
any programmes to support the mental health needs
Accessibility to mental health services in Asia can of their staff. In fact, we have seen an approximately
also be hampered by preconceived notions around 30 per cent increase in annualised claims for
mental wellness. Less than 20 per cent of Thailand’s psychological and psychiatric services
primary-care physicians would refer cases to mental among our Hong
health professionals. The World Health Organisation Kong coverage
(WHO) found that their primary health care doctors users since 2015.
consider it a stigma to have contacts with mental
health staff. The resultant
cost of neglecting
We recently published a survey with Mind HK, a the mental
mental health non-profit, and The University of Hong states of Asian
Kong, that shed some light on Hong Kong’s mental workers can be
hefty. In Hong
Kong, the average
amount of time
being unproductive
while at work
(presenteeism)
amounted to nearly 71 days

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per work year. Employers in Malaysia and Singapore “GOVERNMENT SERVICES AND SOCIAL SUPPORT
lose an average of 66 and 54 days, respectively. IS ONE PART OF THE HOLISTIC MENTAL WELLNESS
APPROACH, SUBSEQUENTLY LEAVING US WITH
The same study attributed these findings to one THE NEED TO PLUG MENTAL HEALTH SOLUTIONS
‘striking’ factor - high levels of mental health issues, AND SUPPORT GAPS WITHIN WORKPLACES AND
and the stigma associated with them. This Cambridge BUSINESSES. HIGH-INCOME ASIAN TERRITORIES
whitepaper estimates that mental illness will result LIKE SINGAPORE AND HONG KONG FEATURE
in a loss of economic growth in the next 15 years, to MENTAL HEALTH AND SOCIAL SERVICES THAT
the tune of $11 trillion for India and China combined. ARE MORE ADVANCED THAN OTHERS WITHIN THE
As the stigma and lack of understanding exacerbate REGION, BUT THESE SERVICES ARE HAMPERED BY
the struggle of bringing mental wellness support into A LACK OF HUMAN RESOURCES, CROSS-SECTORAL
workplaces, it becomes unsound for businesses to COORDINATION, FUNDING INCENTIVES FOR COMMUNITY
expect sane profits and productivity if we allow such TREATMENT, AND PATIENT ADVOCACY.”
trends to continue.
lack of human resources, cross-sectoral coordination,
This is of interest for Singapore and other Asian funding incentives for community treatment, and
markets, with a 19 per cent increase in annualised patient advocacy.
claims for psychological and psychiatric services
across Asia at Aetna since 2015. The CEO of Mind HK, Dr Hannah Reidy,
puts it best – “The first step to reducing stigma
Playing a part towards around mental health problems is [to encourage]
better mental health support conversation.” In a bid towards providing robust
mental wellness support in Asian workplaces, firms
Despite these challenges, Asian countries have can reference countries with a deeper understanding
proactively stepped up their efforts towards of mental health care on a population basis, like the
supporting the stigmatised population. The World United Kingdom and Australia.
Health Organisation (WHO) has recognised the
progress Asia has made over the last five years in Companies can work with the right employee
terms of mental wellness. This improvement is due coverage partner to reshape mental health welfare
in part to factors such as the scale and pace of policy and support resources that are specifically tailored to
development and effective policy advocacy. each country’s cultural and organisational nuances.

While we welcome these advancements over the For example, the Aetna CARE team in Asia
years, there is always room to improve workplace located across Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai,
standards and attitudes toward mental health care Jakarta, Bangkok and Ho Chi Minh City provides
and support. A 2017 mental health atlas by WHO comprehensive solutions dedicated to fulfilling its
found that 40 per cent of surveyed South East Asians clients’ different psychiatric needs in the workplace.
pay mostly or entirely out of their own pockets for The resource and support go beyond recommending
mental health services, which is much higher than the local psychiatric professionals, with the firm
global average of 17 per cent to do so. Even with more providing Employee Assistance Programme (EAP)
resources in place, fewer than half of those affected services to workplaces. It includes counselling
by mental illness in Asia receive any treatment. support and sharing of resources on the various tools
available to aid in mental wellness.
Government services and
social support is one part of the Other business resources like the Asian
Innovation Hub in Singapore can help develop end-
holistic mental wellness to-end solutions targeted workplace mental wellness
approach, subsequently in the Asia-Pacific region. It is every company’s
leaving us with the need responsibility to help employees improve their health
to plug mental health and well-being. By taking an active role and providing
solutions and support holistic wellness programs to address mental health
gaps within workplaces and stress-related concerns, employees will be
and businesses. High- more forthcoming in reaching out for resources and
support, which promotes a happy and resilient work
income Asian territories environment.
like Singapore and Hong

Kong feature mental health
and social services that are
more advanced than others
within the region, but these
services are hampered by a

36 Q&A

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“AD is the largest unmet clinical need”

« in the pharmaceutical sector.
There is currently no cure for AD and just a
Dr Charles Stacey,
President and handful of approved treatments, with the success
CEO, Cerecin, rate for approval of new compounds the lowest of any
Singapore therapeutic area and a failure rate of 99.6 per cent
over the last 20 years. Despite the bleak statistics,
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a growing at Cerecin our combination of a differentiated lead
concern within the Asian community. agent with a proven track record, global and regional
AD is a devastating degenerative disease expertise, strong financial position, and scientific
that causes memory loss, challenging behaviour backers put us in a strong position to make positive
problems, and severe functional limitations. The progress.
disease is increasing like a plague in Asia placing
a huge burden on the healthcare sector. According According to you, what is the present clinical
to a recent report by Zion Market Research, the trial landscape across APAC?
global Alzheimer’s drugs market was valued at $3.6 The clinical trial situation is evolving in APAC and
billion in 2017 and is expected to generate revenue clearly has matured most rapidly in Singapore. It
of around $ 5.66 billion by end of 2024, growing at a is no surprise that many biopharma companies
CAGR of around 8 per cent between 2018 and 2024. and contract research organizations have set up
AD is the 6th leading cause of death in the United headquarters in Singapore. Elsewhere in Asia,
States. As it stands, the disease currently affects 48.6 clinical research is less well developed but this offers
million patients around the world. In the Asia Pacific excellent opportunities for an innovative company
region, only Australia, Japan and the Republic of like Cerecin that brings extensive Western expertise
Korea have formulated public health policies directly to the area.
targeting the burden of AD. However, it is China and
India that account for a huge share of AD prevalence The exception to this is China where we are seeing
in the region. Recently, Dr Charles Stacey, President remarkable growth due to a combination of factors:
and CEO Cerecin, formerly Accera, Singapore, easing of regulation and policy hurdles, improving
spoke to BioSpectrum Asia about his outlook on the infrastructure and the development of modern
disease, clinical trial situations in Singapore and neuroimaging technology in the country. Recently,
APAC as well as the recent relocation of Accera to Shanghai Green Valley announced that their phase
Singapore. Edited excerpts; 3 Study of Sodium Oligomannurarate (GV-971)
Capsules in mild-to-moderate Alzheimer’s disease
Could you please discuss Alzheimer’s Disease, had met its primary endpoint. Full results
available treatment and its current global will be presented shortly. This highlights
prevalence? that China is evolving a bio-ecosystem of
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common its own and we expect to play a key role in
form of dementia and is an age-associated, China from our base in Singapore.
neurodegenerative disease. It is characterized by
the progressive decline in memory and language, Can you share more about
and pathologically by progressive regional declines the decision behind the
in cerebral glucose metabolism, and later, by move to Singapore
accumulation of amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary instead of countries like
tangles in the brain. Despite significant advances in Taiwan or China?
research and development, AD is the largest unmet As a small, innovative
clinical need, and consequently the most important, biotech company, we
look for good science,
good talent and capital.
Singapore has all three.
It has world-class science
and scientific institutions
that we can draw from in terms
of support as well as building out our

Q&A 37

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pipeline. On the talent side, Singapore is the regional growth. We are currently building a team in our core
centre for most of the Big Pharma companies and areas of activity: clinical research, manufacturing,
most of the big CROs, meaning that there is a lot commercial strategy. We hope to spearhead a new
of talent here to draw on. Although the majority of generation of biotech professionals, from Singapore,
venture capital is in the US, there is life sciences who are creating this ecosystem and not merely
venture capital in Singapore as well as government fulfilling orders from a headquarters overseas.
support in terms of grants and other forms of
support. Singapore is English-speaking, very friendly What has Cerecin done to engage the local
towards international companies and has world-class Alzheimer’s community?
corporate governance. Another important factor is its On October 16, we announced the appointment of
proximity to some of our key markets such as China, two local Senior Advisory Board members: Prof.
Korea and Japan, without the complexities of doing Chua Nam-Hai and Associate Prof. Christopher Chen
business in those countries. who will provide us with scientific advisory support.
Prof. Chen’s expertise is in dementia and clinical
In light of the new hire of Cheryl Tan, what are trials, and Prof. Chua brings a wealth of knowledge
the commercial plans for Cerecin in the next on biotechnology and life science in Asia.
year?
Cheryl will lead the commercial strategy for the We have also recently engaged with the local
pipeline of innovative drugs that are in development. Singapore Alzheimer’s Disease Association (ADA)
She will also lead the commercialization of Axona in to better understand first-hand the Alzheimer’s
the Asia Pacific region in 2019. Axona is a medical situation better here in Singapore. Moving forward,
food intended for the dietary management of the we are looking to foster greater collaboration with
metabolic processes associated with Alzheimer’s these local stakeholders to build up our role in finding
disease. It has been on the market in the US a therapeutic for Alzheimer’s here in Singapore and
since 2009 and we will be launching this product in the Asian region, where the number of people with
throughout Asia. There has already been keen dementia in the region is estimated to increase from
interest from various potential partners and 23 million in 2015 to 71 million by 2050.
organisations in Asia-Pacific countries. This has
already led to our partnership with DuChemBio, We are also connecting with other groups
an innovative Korean company, who plans to conducting research in AD in the region. Whether
launch Axona in Korea in 2019. We expect further academic researchers or other life science companies.
partnership announcements in the coming months,
now that Cheryl is building her team and actively What does Cerecin have in its pipeline? How do
you see the growth of the company in the next
pursuing leads. 10 years?
Cerecin has a very clear positioning and strategy.
What hurdles and The key is implementing it. We will continue the
opportunities are present drug development and look to bring the clinical
for those in the local biotech development of our lead drug compound to a pivotal
industry? study. We are also in early stages of other assets
Singapore has great talents, within the AD and broader neurological space.
sciences, infrastructure,
government support, policy Beside drugs, Cerecin is also looking to build up a
environment – these are all important pipeline of other solutions for brain health, especially
factors for biotech industry and present when it’s now headquartered in Asia that has a
opportunities for companies like Cerecin. culture of taking nutritional derived therapeutics.
Singapore government has been very
supportive for building up a vibrant I personally spend a lot of time building up teams
biotech system. And it’s only and make sure the right talents are recruited and
retained. Our team will continue to grow with the
a matter of time before business needs.
VCs in Asia become more
sophisticated in investing in Given our combination of differentiated assets,
this industry. As the Singapore technical know-how, experienced personnel, and can-
life science space grows, so will we do attitude, I am confident that Cerecin has the right
and we intend to be a major factor in its ingredients to grow and be a major player in the brain
health space and in Asia Pacific.

Priyanka Bajpai
[email protected]

38 Q&A

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“India, China will soon have largest
populations of people with dementia”

« Alzheimer’s Association, shared many aspects of the
disease and its impact on the economy of a country
Dr Maria C. Carrillo, like India. Edited excerpts;
Chief Science
Officer, Alzheimer’s How many people are currently suffering with
Association, Greater Alzheimer’s in APAC region?
Chicago, the USA It’s called a “hidden problem” because only about
10 per cent of cases are diagnosed. Because of the
Researchers from around the world met range of cultures and languages, as well as high rates
recently in Bengaluru under the umbrella of of illiteracy in rural populations, raising awareness
Alzheimer’s Association, leading voluntary and concern about dementia and Alzheimer’s – and
health organization in Alzheimer’s care, support encouraging diagnosis, treatment, and clinical trial
and research, to discuss one of the most challenging participation – is very difficult.
medical mysteries of our time – finding effective
preventions, treatments and cures for Alzheimer’s What will be impact of Alzheimer’ disease on
disease and other dementias. The goal is to facilitate the economy of a country such as China and
connections among researchers for scientific India?
collaboration and data sharing that can move the Paying for care is a big concern as Alzheimer’s
field closer to breakthroughs in Alzheimer’s science. progresses. In addition to the human suffering caused
by the disease, Alzheimer’s is creating an enormous
This is the fourth Alzheimer’s Association strain on health care systems, families and the federal
International Conference (AAIC) Satellite budgets. Persons with Alzheimer’s or dementia
Symposium hosted by the Alzheimer’s Association. eventually need full-time care either in-home or in
Previous symposia were held in Mexico City, Mexico; residential care facilities, which are hugely expensive.
Varna, Bulgaria and Buenos Aires, Argentina. An additional reason for these costs is that Alzheimer’s
The Alzheimer’s Association, headquartered in makes treating other diseases more expensive, as
Chicago, partnered with two leading local scientific most individuals with Alzheimer’s have one or more
organizations to convene this meeting held December additional health conditions that complicate disease
18–19: the India Institute of Science’s Centre for management and increase costs. In the United
Brain Research and the National Institute of Mental States, for example, Alzheimer’s disease is the most
Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS). expensive health condition. The total lifetime cost of
someone living with dementia in the United States
At the symposium, scientists learned about was estimated at $341,840 in 2017 U.S. dollars,
dementia-related genetics research in India, according to the Alzheimer’s Association’s 2018 Facts
including the Genome India initiative, which will & Figures report. India and China will soon have the
carry out whole genome sequencing of 10,000 people largest populations of people with dementia because
across India. Other sessions included information of the dramatic increase in people over age 60. As a
about improvements in diagnosing and assessing costly disease, this will put an economic burden on the
individuals with cognitive decline, and a report on healthcare infrastructures of these countries, as well
prevalence of Alzheimer’s and dementia across India. a physical and emotional burden on the families and
In 2019, the Alzheimer’s Association will convene caregivers of those affected.
a Satellite Symposium in Brazil. The Alzheimer’s
Association is the world’s leading nonprofit funder What are the achievements of Alzheimer’s
of Alzheimer’s and dementia research. It is currently Association so far in Asia Pacific region to
investing over $160 million in more than 450 projects facilitate connections among researchers for
in 25 countries. In an interaction with BioSpectrum, scientific collaboration?
Dr Maria C. Carrillo, Chief Science Officer for the As the world’s largest convener and nonprofit global
funder of research, a priority for the Alzheimer’s
Association is to support collaboration among

Q&A 39

BIOSPECTRUM | FEBRUARY 2019 | www.biospectrumasia.com

the scientific community across the globe. The provide the strongest evidence to date about reducing
Alzheimer’s Association - with the Center for Brain risk of MCI and dementia through the intensive
Research and the National Institute of Mental Health treatment of high blood pressure, which is one of the
and Neuro Sciences - convened India’s largest leading causes of cardiovascular disease worldwide.
regional dementia scientific meeting in December
2018 in Bengaluru. The two-day Alzheimer’s Perhaps the most exciting current research are
Association International Conference (AAIC) the ongoing Alzheimer’s prevention studies – testing
Satellite Symposium drew more than 300 registered to see if we can intervene with people at high risk
researchers, clinicians and students to hear two of Alzheimer’s before the dementia symptoms start
dozen global experts from India, other parts of Asia, in order to change the course of the disease. For
the United States, the United Kingdom, and Europe. example, the Alzheimer’s Association is determined
to develop and deliver a more-specific recipe for
What kind of research activities has the risk reduction of cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s
Alzheimer’s Association undertaken across disease dementia. We now can effectively prevent
Asia? What are the latest developments or treat heart disease, cancer and HIV/AIDS with
regarding the same? combinations of drugs and lifestyle. The same
The Alzheimer’s Association is a major sponsor of may also be true for Alzheimer’s disease and other
the World Wide Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging dementias in the not too distant future.
Initiative (WW-ADNI), a collaborative effort of
scientists from around the world - including Japan, At the recent AAIC Satellite Symposium in
Taiwan, Korea and China. High priority goals include Bengaluru, India scientists discussed clinical trials
using advanced imaging and other biomarkers and research projects happening across India,
to (1) help predict the onset and progression of including:
Alzheimer’s, and (2) establish global standards to
identify and diagnose the disease. Japan, Taiwan, ● STRiDE, a 4-year project with the London School
Korea and China are countries in Asia participating in of Economics and Alzheimer’s Disease International
WW-ADNI. The Alzheimer’s Association is a partner that will focus on health care systems in low- and
and host of World Wide FINGERS (WW-FINGERS), middle-income countries, including understanding
a global network to plan and harmonize international the impact of dementia in various cultural, social and
research for the prevention of cognitive impairment economic contexts in order to support development
and dementia. The consortium currently includes and evaluation of national plans.
scientists from Sweden, Finland, China, Singapore,
Australia, and the United States. ● National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro
Sciences (NIMHANS), Centre for Brain Research
What is the current status of clinical trials at the India Institute of Science have undertaken
which are underway related to Alzheimer’s and large-scale longitudinal studies – one in urban India
by when one can expect the launch of new and one in rural India. The aim is to identify the
medicines? risk factors even before the onset of illness so that
This is a very exciting time in Alzheimer’s disease preventive strategies can be developed.
research. Today, there are unprecedented levels
of government and philanthropic investment in ● Three major genetic studies are underway in
Alzheimer’s research. The Alzheimer’s Association India, including the Genome India initiative that
believes this will accelerate the pace of discovery to will carry out whole genome sequencing of 10,000
slow, stop and prevent Alzheimer’s disease. At the people across India. They are hoping to identify
same time, Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias risk and protective genes that haven’t been found in
are a growing global health problem. The only way we previously studied populations.
are going to solve that problem is through research.
Narayan Kulkarni
Globally, there are hundreds of clinical trials and [email protected]
other research studies underway that aim to answer
questions about Alzheimer’s and other dementias.
In the summer of 2018, we heard the results of a
major U.S.-based clinical trials at the Alzheimer’s
Association International Conference (AAIC). The
preliminary results of the SPRINT MIND trial

40 Q&A

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“Today customer see us
as 'Scientific Experts' and a
'Preferred Solution Provider'”

« Our close association with the pharmaceutical industry
has enabled us to develop products and solutions to
Rakesh Aggarwal, meet the industry’s stringent requirements for testing
Manging Director, and manufacturing. In the pharmaceutical industry,
Asia Pacific, the customers’ operate in most dynamic environments
Cole-Parmer India where compliance, accuracy and accountability are
critical. Changes in regulations by leading bodies have
Cole-Parmer has been a leading global source increased the significance of regulatory compliance
of laboratory and industrial fluid handling management. We help our customers comply with the
products, equipment and supplies since 1955. toughest regulatory demands and the highest industry
With over 14 years of direct operations in India, standards. Our products meet the highest quality
the company shares a very strong association with standards and conform to good cGMP and cGAMP
pharmaceutical industry and has recently launched (Good Automated Manufacturing Standards). We
its first ‘Pharma Resource Book 2019-20’, dedicated provide our customers with tailor-made solutions to
to pharma needs from R&D to production. On the help them speed up their product development and
occasion, Rakesh Aggarwal, Manging Director- time to market.
Asia Pacific, Cole-Parmer, who is responsible
for deploying the company’s strategic vision and Can you please share with us the highlights of
developing business alliances as well as managing his the “Pharma Resource Book”?
team shared thoughts behind their pharma resource This is our first ever ‘Pharma Resource Book’,
book, product launches and company’s expansion dedicated to pharma/biopharma industry and
plan. Edited excerpts; their needs from R&D to fill/finish. The products
are mapped as per a typical pharma workflow
Cole-Parmer is growing significantly in India— from R&D, Quality, Production, Projects, EHS,
what is the secret of success in competitive as and to the Warehouse. The book offers a wide
well as challenging markets? range of laboratory essentials, cleanroom & safety
Cole-Parmer is known for bringing unique and products, fluid handling products, lab equipment,
quality products to the market, reaching customers in electrochemistry, test and measurement, cell culture,
the most efficient way, and giving them exceptional and chromatography products. It addresses the pain
service. Customers rely on us, as we understand areas of the customers, be it related to compliance,
their complexities of having small lab-scale batches SOP challenges, quality standards, or traceability
to full production runs. We provide them individual issues. This resource book is developed based on
solutions with our proven and qualified products and the inputs and feedback from our key customers.
help them reduce their operation costs by centralising The products and specifications meet most of the
and simplifying procurement. This gives us a pharmaceutical industry standards. So, the outcome
competitive edge. is this one-stop solution customers’ need today from
a scientific expert. Therefore, the customers will
Please share a bit about your association with relate to this book, not just any other catalog, but as
the Pharmaceutical Industry. their best resource.

How would you differentiate Cole-Parmer
positioning in Indian market with others?
We started as a catalogue company and today
customers see us as Scientific Experts and a
Preferred Solution Provider. Our consistency

Q&A 41

BIOSPECTRUM | FEBRUARY 2019 | www.biospectrumasia.com

in delivering quality, combined with the latest, ‘PHARMA RESOURCE BOOK’, IS DEDICATED TO
hard-to-find products and value-added services PHARMA/BIOPHARMA INDUSTRY AND THEIR NEEDS
has contributed to this change. With multiple FROM R&D TO FILL/FINISH. THE PRODUCTS ARE
choices available with the customers, they look at MAPPED AS PER A TYPICAL PHARMA WORKFLOW
customized convenient solutions and experience. FROM R&D, QUALITY, PRODUCTION, PROJECTS,
Over the years, we have developed a strong team EHS, AND TO THE WAREHOUSE. THE BOOK OFFERS
of application experts, service and technical team, A WIDE RANGE OF LABORATORY ESSENTIALS,
who ensure to give customer end-to-end support CLEANROOM & SAFETY PRODUCTS, FLUID HANDLING
and partner in resolving their challenges. They PRODUCTS, LAB EQUIPMENT, ELECTROCHEMISTRY,
offer unbiased answers for product selection and TEST AND MEASUREMENT, CELL CULTURE, AND
technical questions. Beyond helping with product CHROMATOGRAPHY PRODUCTS. IT ADDRESSES THE
selection, our technical experts also assist customers PAIN AREAS OF THE CUSTOMERS, BE IT RELATED
in troubleshooting existing products, maintenance, TO COMPLIANCE, SOP CHALLENGES, QUALITY
repair and providing qualification service (IQ/OQ) STANDARDS, OR TRACEABILITY ISSUES.
with complete documentation support.
in real-time and remotely control them. We have
What have been the recent activities in terms enabled them to bring IoT into their labs, thru which
of product launches for you? Any plans for they can securely, real-time control and monitor the
expansion of new product lines? product and safely upload, acquire and share data
The company aims at continuous growth and via cloud. Right now, this technology is equipped
therefore is meticulously investing in enhancing its MasterflexLive, CPLive and TraceableLive products
product portfolio. We have added many renowned and soon will be extended to other products.
brands in the last three years to widen our pharma
solutions— Kinesis, Jenway, Stuart, Traceable, Our pharma resource book produces synergistic
Electrothermal, VapLock, and Ismatec to name a effect in combination with our robust and smart
few. We have now a full range of products to offer phone friendly website. With easy-to-navigate menus
for cleanroom environments, product and personal and filtering capabilities, customers can find products
safety, test and measurement, and end-to-end in seconds. The website provides easy-to-create
solutions for applications like fluid transferring, product comparison charts, technical articles and
liquid handling, spectroscopy, and cell culture. We’ve how-to videos.
developed a broad portfolio for aseptic fluid transfer
applications, including a wide range of single- What kind of growth will be looking at in 2019
use products such as bioprocess bags and liners, in India and Asia Pacific region?
manifolds, and EZ Top container closures. We are looking at higher growth in 2019.
Pharmaceutical market in India and APAC looks
We are amongst very few companies who very promising. Pharma and Biopharma companies
manufacture pharmaceutical latex gloves, specifically are meticulously investing in expansion and new
made for pharmaceutical applications addressing developments, so the market scenario looks very
related stringent regulatory concerns. We’ve positive and so does our business. We are looking to
developed a wide portfolio of latex and nitrile gloves continue our expansion in the APAC marketplace and
for various pharma applications, with complete continue to strengthen our commercial presence in
validation support including factory audit, making it these regions. We are working with leading pharma
a reliable choice for the customers. giants, and we will continue to focus on large global
corporate companies who have presence across
Another recent addition to the portfolio is nations. This will help us propel our growth.
chromatography solutions, which includes protein
separation columns, fittings, Vaplock solvent delivery
and waste systems, SGE micro syringes, D2 and HC
lamps, and vast range of AccuStandard standards.

How will Cole Parmer support the industry
players with your technical knowhow and tools?
We are continuously investing in bringing cutting-
edge technologies to help our customers enhance
their productivity and efficiency. In today’s digitized
world, customers want to monitor their product

42 SCIENCE NEWS

BIOSPECTRUM | FEBRUARY 2019 | www.biospectrumasia.com

Bio- HKBU invent faster method to
compatible identify antibiotic resistance
polymeric
material for Researchers at Hong Kong Baptist to be about 50 per cent lower.
drug delivery University (HKBU) have invented a The new method uses hydrogel, a
faster, cheaper and more accurate material found in various products
A team of researchers at way to identify how resistant including facial masks and contact
the Indian Institute of bacteria are to antibiotics in lenses. For the test, the hydrogel
Technology, Guwahati individual patients. The invention is was made into a chip-like tool,
(IIT-G) has developed a 10 to 20 times faster than the current which was also fitted internally
bio-compatible polymeric antimicrobial susceptibility testing with microchannels. To find out
material that promises methods, with a cost estimated whether a patient was resistant to
to help in simultaneous any antibiotics, a small amount of
and extended release body fluid such as blood or saliva
of two different drugs would be placed on the chip, and
from a single platform. drugs used for testing would be
Combination of two inserted into the microchannels
or more drugs is and then diffuse within the
increasingly becoming hydrogel material. Researchers
necessary to address would be able to tell whether the
drug resistance and medication was effective in about
treat cancer and four hours by observing the growth
neurological disorders. of the bacteria.
During severe infection,
defense mechanism of SBIC discovers BCAAs
the body gets activated regulating progression of cancer
at multiple levels and
single-molecule drugs Researchers at A*STAR’s Singapore Bioimaging Consortium (SBIC) have
cannot control multistage discovered that branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) in tumours can be
complications. The new targeted to prevent and treat cancer. Together with collaborators from the
polymer mimics the United States and National Cancer Centre Singapore (NCCS), they found
chemistry and features of that some cancers potently suppress the catabolism (breakdown) of BCAAs.
lotus leaf which make it This leads to BCAAs accumulating in tumours and activating a known pro-
to repel water. This helps oncogenic pathway called mTOR. Researchers also found that dietary BCAA
in controlling the rate intake was directly linked to tumour development, suggesting that diets
of infiltration of water low in BCAAs could limit tumour progression and enhance overall survival.
molecules and thus allows Moving forward, the team will work with NCCS to continue investigating the
release of drug molecule underlying mechanisms by which BCAAs regulate Hepatocellular Carcinoma
in a sustained manner. (HCC), and to develop and test the efficacy of drug compounds that may lead
to better treatment and outcomes for patients.

SCIENCE NEWS 43

BIOSPECTRUM | FEBRUARY 2019 | www.biospectrumasia.com

Indian team designs biosensor for bacterial detection

Researchers at Indian aeruginosa, Bacillus subtilis testing. The biosensor
Institute of Technology, and Staphylococcus aureus. relies on hydrogen
Delhi (IIT-D) have They also prepared a separate sulfide gas produced by
developed a biosensor ampicillin antibiotic resistant microorganisms. It is a
and a mobile app, which culture of Escherichia coli for gaseous signaling molecule
together can be used for that transmits biological
bacterial detection. One signals in living system. In
can fit the biosensor in the heart of the biosensor
front of mobile camera and are silver nanorod sensors
images captured by camera that react with hydrogen
are sent to the mobile sulfide to form black
app called colorimetric coloured silver sulfide.
detector developed by the The colour and water wetting
team, for analysis. Researchers properties of silver nanorods
have tested the biosensor change when exposed to
with four bacterial strains - microbes, while dead ones do not
Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas do any such thing.

Japanese scientists Korean researchers
create sensor to find genes to cause
monitor heart muscles early-onset gastric cancer

A team of scientists at the University of Tokyo, Researchers at Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of
Tokyo Women’s Medical University and RIKEN Science and Technology (DGIST), Korea have
in Japan has created a sensor to more accurately found three mutated genes that cause early-
assess the behavior of heart muscle cells in vitro. onset gastric cancer in people aged 40 years
The sensor is in the form of an electronic device or below for the first time in the world, paving
which is a soft nanomesh with embedded sensors to the way for a method to ensure more accurate
closely monitor beating heart cells without affecting diagnosis and treatment of the disease in the
their behavior. To create the nanomesh, the future. The researchers deployed proteogenomic
scientists used a process called electro-spinning to technology to find the cause of early-onset gastric
cancer and analyzed genes (DNA and mRNA)
extrude ultrafine polyurethane and proteins in an integrated manner. Exome
strands into a flat sheet, similar sequencing was applied to blood and tumor of
to how some common 3D patients and mRNA sequencing to cancer and
printers work. This spiderweb- surrounding normal tissues. The analysis led to
like sheet was then coated in a discovery of 7,079 somatic cell gene mutations
parylene, a type of plastic, and identified the three genes in correlation with
to strengthen it. The team protein phosphorylation, which is believed to be
took human stem cells, associated with early-onset gastric cancer.
differentiated them into
a sheet of heart muscle
cells on a soft material
called fibrin gel, and
laid the nanomesh on
top of the cell layer.
They were able to record
the propagation of
signals which result from
and trigger the beating of
the heart muscle cells.

44 ACADEMIC S NEWS

BIOSPECTRUM | FEBRUARY 2019 | www.biospectrumasia.com

ICCBS, Karachi signs NTU, Max Planck to develop
MoU with Chinese innovative healthcare solutions
Institute on S&T
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) and
The International Centre for Chemical Germany’s Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces (MPICI)
and Biological Sciences, University of have launched a joint lab to conduct research in artificial senses
Karachi (ICCBS) and Tianjin Institute and develop innovative robotics and healthcare solutions. These
of Industrial Biotechnology (TIB), include skin-like wearable devices that not only monitor health and
Chinese Academy of Sciences have environmental conditions through smart sensors, but also enhance
recently signed the Memorandum of prosthetic devices with ‘artificial sensing’ capabilities. This would
Understanding (MoU) on Cooperation allow prosthetic devices to restore rudimentary sensory functions
of Science and Technology. The for patients who have lost certain senses such as after accidents.
broad objectives of this MoU are to Leveraging on advanced materials, ‘skin’ electronics, biomedical
promote wide cooperation in various engineering, and artificial intelligence (AI), the new Max Planck-
fields of bioorganic chemistry and NTU Joint Laboratory for Artificial Senses will also look into
biological sciences, especially in developing robotic technologies with sensory capabilities. The
natural products, including R&D, joint lab will house 30 NTU and MPICI researchers and staff who
staff exchange, transformation will also explore mechanical sensing such as pressure and strain,
and industrialization of scientific and chemical sensing like smell and taste, and even physiological
and technological achievement. sensing that usually involves electrocardiograms (ECG).
The MoU agrees that the two sides
will co-establish China-Pakistan
Joint Research Centre for Natural
Products based on the framework of
the National Technology Innovation
Centre for Synthetic Biology and
co-support the related S&T activities
of the COMSATS (Commission
on Science and Technology for
Sustainable Development in the South,
Pakistan) such as the International
Thematic Research Group on Natural
Products Sciences.

Daiichi Sankyo to lead open innovation research on cell therapy

Daiichi Sankyo Company Limited, enables creation of iPS cell-derived manufacturing process for such iPS
Mitsubishi UFJ Capital Co. Ltd and insulin producing cells similar cell-derived insulin producing cells,
Tokyo Institute of Technology have to the body’s own pancreatic β aiming at practical application
announced that they will commence cells in combination with Daiichi as an innovative therapy for
open innovation research with the Sankyo technology. The research severe type I diabetes, for which
aim of creating insulin producing will improve the performance and blood glucose management is
cells from iPS cells for use in difficult with conventional insulin
regenerative medicine and cell therapy, and in which high unmet
therapy. The Kume and Shiraki medical needs exist. To carry out
Lab at the School of Life Science the research, a new company
and Technology, Tokyo Tech, has called OiDE BetaRevive, Inc.
developed a technique to produce has been established and will be
pancreatic β cells (insulin secreting wholly funded by the OiDE Fund
cells in the pancreas) derived from Investment Limited Partnership
human iPS cells at a high rate. It operated by Mitsubishi UFJ
has been found that this technique Capital.

SUPPLIER NEWS 45

BIOSPECTRUM | FEBRUARY 2019 | www.biospectrumasia.com

AOTI enters into strategic Qiagen to
relationship for Chinese market develop new
TB assay for
AOTI Inc. has entered into a major strategic relationship with a leading low-resource
regions
Chinese medical company, Nanning Xinzizhu Trading Co. Ltd, for
QIAGEN N.V. has
distribution of its patented Topical Wound Oxygen (TWO2) therapy announced plans to develop
a proprietary new version
wound healing products into the People’s Republic of China. The multi- of a QuantiFERON-based
tuberculosis (TB) test dedicated
year agreement includes and tailored to the needs of
low-resource regions with a
minimum sales performance high disease burden of TB.
The new testing solution,
expectations totaling close to QuantiFERON-TB Access (QFT
Access), is designed to pair
$18 million. Both companies ultrasensitive digital detection
of latent TB infection with a
are working closely together complete workflow created
with a focus on cost efficiency
to achieve National Medical and ease of use. QIAGEN is
developing QFT Access in a
Products Administration new partnership with Ellume,
an Australian developer of
(NMPA) registration and high-performance digitally-
enabled diagnostics. Clinical
approval for the TWO2 trials for QFT Access are
planned to start in 2019, and
therapy product line in China, commercialization is expected
to begin in 2020. QFT Access
while in parallel generating market awareness and clinical acceptance of has been designed to advance
TB control in areas with limited
this unique therapy across the country. Following this initial phase and infrastructure, including
countries in Asia, Africa and
after gaining marketing approval, Nanning will aggressively market the Latin America. The World
Health Organization (WHO)
product line nationwide through both its direct sales force and network has classified a group of 30
countries in these regions as
of regional distribution partners. high-burden, representing an
estimated 85 per cent of the
Waters accelerates global TB burden. QIAGEN
biomed research with new kit intends to work with the WHO,
various non-governmental
Waters Corporation has introduced a new amino acid analysis kit that organizations and governments
to support their TB control
reduces the time required to quantify amino acids, a critical application efforts, in particular to achieve
the goals set for the WHO’s
for research scientists investigating the physiological underpinnings of End TB Strategy.

disease. The new Kairos Amino Acid Analysis Kit consisting of reagents,

standards, an analytical column and associated methodology is capable

of cutting analytical run times that can range up to two hours to run

times of 10 minutes or less when used as directed with supported

Waters UPLC systems, mass spectrometers and Waters Targeted Omics

Method Library. The all-in-one Kairos Kit comes with everything

needed to consistently quantify 40 or more amino acids in 10 minutes

or less when used with compatible Waters UPLC systems and mass

spectrometers and the Waters Targeted Omics Method Library. For the

needs of high-throughput laboratories, Waters is introducing a Kairos

kit with consumables for 500+ individual analyses. Waters anticipates

launching a second version of the kit for processing 100+

samples at the end of March.

46 SUPPLIER NEWS

BIOSPECTRUM | FEBRUARY 2019 | www.biospectrumasia.com

Roche launches uPath multislide digital pathology software

Roche recently announced the and the Leeds Teaching Hospitals
launch of its innovative uPath NHS Trust, U.K. With this technology,
enterprise software for digital pathologists can diagnose a patient
pathology. Offering a new standard case more quickly by viewing all
of personalization for pathology slides in a case in a single seamless
workflows, the uPath enterprise view, as well as viewing all available
software improves on the previous patient information simultaneously.
version, known as VENTANA Multiple slides appear on a canvas-
Virtuoso. uPath software enhances like display, enabling pathologists
the user experience by drastically to move seamlessly between
decreasing image rendering hematoxylin and eosin (H&E),
times, integrating automated immunohistochemistry (IHC) and
image analysis and improving efficiency by enabling special stains in a single view, which is not possible
an improved workflow for sharing cases between with a standard microscope. The LVM technology
pathologists. To aid in the development of uPath operates on displays that range from laptops to ultra-
software, Roche acquired the Leeds Virtual Microscope high definition Powerwalls, to transform pathologists’
(LVM) technology from the University of Leeds, U.K., ability to diagnose disease.

WuXi Biologics, BD opens advanced
CANbridge expand molding centre in Asia
rare disease
partnership BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company), a leading global
medical technology company, marked its 30th anniversary
CANbridge Pharmaceuticals Inc, of manufacturing in Singapore with the opening of the
a biopharmaceutical company company’s first Advanced Molding Centre in Asia. The
developing innovative drug Advanced Molding Centre, built within BD’s primary facility
candidates to treat underserved in Tuas, is part of the company’s $5.2 million transformation
medical conditions in China and journey. The Centre is a flagship plastic molding
other markets, and WuXi Biologics, a manufacturing facility for BD in Asia, and is one of the largest
leading global open-access biologics and most sophisticated plastic molding plants in the world
technology platform company for the company. The new Centre will centralize and insource
offering end-to-end solutions for a majority of BD’s Greater Asia plastic molding production.
biologics discovery, development BD will now produce 75 billion units of plastic components
and manufacturing, have jointly at its Singapore plant, an increase of more than 50 per cent.
announced an expansion of their The Advanced Molding Centre will help to elevate competency
rare disease partnership to enable in manufacturing, with the use of data analytics to track
CANbridge to discover, develop and the manufacturing process, allowing for more accurate and
commercialize four additional drug consistent output of high-quality plastic components that are
candidates. These new candidates essential for the manufacture of medical products.
target rare genetic chronic diseases.
According to the agreement,
CANbridge has an exclusive regional
or global rights for these therapies.
WuXi Biologics will receive upfront,
milestone payments and royalties.
WuXi Biologics will also be the
exclusive clinical supplier and
primary commercial supplier for all
these programmes.

PEOPLE NEWS 47

BIOSPECTRUM | FEBRUARY 2019 | www.biospectrumasia.com

Terns Pharma appoints Dr Erin Takeda
Quirk as Chief Medical Officer names Moon
Hee-seok
Terns Pharmaceuticals Inc., a US and China based biopharmaceutical as CEO of
company focused on discovering and developing molecularly targeted, Shire Korea
oral, small-molecule drugs to treat NASH and cancer, recently announced
the appointment of Dr Erin Quirk, MD as Chief Medical Officer (CMO). Takeda Pharmaceuticals
Dr Quirk brings more than two decades of clinical medicine and drug Korea has recently
development experience, most recently serving as Vice President of Clinical appointed Moon Hee-
Research at Gilead Sciences. Previously Dr Erin was Vice President, seok, CEO of Shire
Clinical Research at Gilead Sciences where she oversaw all phases of Korea, as its new chief
clinical development for Gilead’s HIV treatment, prevention and cure executive officer (CEO).
Moon is a sales and
franchise and was responsible for strategy and life- marketing specialist
cycle maintenance for the company’s HIV portfolio, with more than 30
advancing multiple compounds and combination years of experience in
products into clinical development and through the pharmaceutical
the approval process. She also led the clinical industry. After
development of small molecules within graduating from Chung
Gilead’s emerging and neglected viral diseases Ang University, he has
portfolio, including antivirals for Ebola virus accumulated various
disease. Prior to joining Gilead, Dr Erin was experiences such as
Director of Clinical Research at Merck where sales, marketing, and
she advanced clinical trials for Merck’s business affairs at
investigational HIV vaccine products Jansen Korea, BMS
and oversaw the clinical development Korea, and Bayer Korea.
of small molecules for hepatitis C virus Moon’s appointment
infection. Dr Erin holds an MD from the came after the Korean
University of Colorado and completed offshoot of the Japanese
training in internal medicine and pharmaceutical
infectious diseases at Washington company bought out
University in St. Louis where she was Shire recently. The
a faculty member prior to joining the two companies are
pharmaceutical industry. still in the process
of integrating its
Dr Sun joins Foresee Pharma as Senior VP businesses.

US and Taiwan based Foresee Nuredis Inc., and was in the leading
Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd, has position for medicinal chemistry,
announced the appointment of Dr CMC and nonclinical development.
Thomas Weitao Sun as the Senior Prior to Nuredis, Dr Sun, as a co-
Vice President of Pharmaceutics inventor of fostamatinib, was the
and Manufacturing. Dr Sun is a Vice President of Pharmaceutics
successful executive with over 20 and Manufacturing at Rigel
years of experience in all aspects Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and played
of pharmaceutical development a key role in the development,
from discovery pharmaceutics to the NDA filing and commercial
manufacturing and supply chain planning of Tavalisse (R). Dr Sun
management for phases 1 to 3 studies, received his BS degree in Chemical
leading and playing key roles in the Engineering and his MS degree in
advancement of 14 new chemical Chemistry from Dalian University of
entities into clinical studies. Most Technology, and his PhD in Organic
recently he was the Vice President Chemistry from the University of
of Nonclinical Development of California, Santa Cruz.

48 PEOPLE NEWS

BIOSPECTRUM | FEBRUARY 2019 | www.biospectrumasia.com

BioAsia 2019 to felicitate Agilent to bring
Dr Soumya Swaminathan Mala Anand on Board

BioAsia, the annual global life sciences confluence hosted Agilent Technologies, Inc. has recently
by the Government of Telangana, India has announced that announced that Mala Anand, president,
the prestigious Genome Valley Excellence Award for the Intelligent
16th Edition the event will be conferred upon Dr Soumya Enterprise
Swaminathan, Deputy Director General of Programmes, Solutions
World Health Organization (WHO). Dr Swaminathan, who and
is the first Indian to be appointed to the second highest Industries
position in the World Health Organization, is acknowledged has been
for her excellence in Biomedical research. The award will elected to
be presented during the inauguration ceremony of BioAsia its board of
2019, which is scheduled to begin from February 25, 2019 directors,
at HICC, Hyderabad, India. Globally acclaimed for her effective
research in tuberculosis, she served as the director of the March 20,
2019. Mala
National Institute for Research serves as
in Tuberculosis, Chennai. President,
Further, she was a part of Intelligent
several global advisory Enterprise
bodies and committees, Solutions and Industries at SAP since
which include the WHO October 2016. Prior to that, she served
expert panel to review as the Senior Vice President, Data &
global strategy and plan Analytics and Automation Software
of action on public health, Platform group at Cisco Systems, Inc.
innovation and intellectual from 2007 to 2016. She has over 20 years
property, the strategic and of experience leading products and go-to-
technical advisory group of market for enterprise-focused software
companies. Mala has deep expertise in
the global TB department at the data analytics and automation platforms
WHO. In recognition of her (real-time analytics, machine-learning,
expertise, she served as cloud platforms and distributed
the co-chair of the Lancet computing).
Commission on TB.

Roche Diabetes Care India appoints Dr Gaurav as GM

Roche Diabetes Care India, a relocates to Mumbai from his
pioneer in the development current role as Head of Program
of blood glucose monitoring Management Office (PMO)
systems, and a global leader for APAC in Singapore. He has more
diabetes management systems than 18 years of experience in
and services, recently announced commercial operations, business
the appointment of Dr Gaurav development, and management
Laroia as General Manager (GM) consulting in healthcare-related
for its India operations. He has multinational organisations in
assumed his new role with effect India, Singapore and the USA.
from January 1, 2019. Dr Gaurav He holds a PhD in Molecular
will report to Pedro Goncalves, & Cellular Biology from New
Head of Roche Diabetes Care York University School of
Asia Pacific and will be a member Medicine, USA and a Masters in
of the Roche Diabetes Care Asia Genetics from the University of
Pacific Leadership Team. He Cambridge, UK.

BIO EVENT 49

BIOSPECTRUM | FEBRUARY 2019 | www.biospectrumasia.com

70TH INDIAN PHARMACEUTICAL CONGRESS

India should promote Indian
systems of medicine: Naidu
With the aim of sharing best practices to
aid the domestic industry become a world The Vice-President of India, Venkaiah Naidu speaking after
leader by 2030, the three-day 70th Indian inaugurating 70th Indian Pharmaceutical Congress at Amity
Pharmaceutical Congress (IPC) was organized by University on December 21, 2018.
Indian Pharmaceutical Congress Association at Amity
University Campus, Noida from December 21, 2018 working to make healthcare more accessible everyone
to December 23, 2018. The theme of this three day in India. While the launch of “Ayushman Bharat” is
conference was ‘Pharma Vision 2030’. highly valued and will provide means for the pharma
industry to serve the underserved, “Jan Aushadhi
70th IPC was inaugurated by the Vice-President Kendra” is already reaping dividends. The “Make in
of India, Venkaiah Naidu and saw the participation India” initiative too has emboldened the ambition of
of around 12,000 delegates. Industry captains and Indian pharmaceuticals, with significant support from
thought leaders from the pharma industry discussed the government. Other initiatives like “Kaushal Bharat
the challenges and solutions in the road to achieve Kushal Bharat” for skill development and “Digital India”
Pharma Vision 2030. are pushing innovation and furthering the cause.”

Addressing the congress, Venkaiah Naidu said, This three day event witnessed various panel
“India becoming the largest provider of generic drugs discussions and sessions on topics like ‘Discovering
globally with the Indian generics accounting for 20 Innovative Medicines Global vs India’; ‘Trends in
per cent of global exports in terms of volume was an medical technology & devices in changing regulatory
eloquent testimony to the competence of the Indian environment for cost effective healthcare’; ‘Skilling
pharma sector in terms of quality and pricing.” in pharma and bio pharma sector’; ‘Can Indian
pharmaceutical industry be a global leader?’ and
“Apart from being the world leader in generic many others.
medicines, India should promote Indian systems
of medicine. Young researchers to work towards Day one of 70th IPC witnessed one interesting
standardizing and benchmarking Indian systems of segment where industry leaders and entrepreneurs
medicine and establish the efficiency, validity and shared inspirational stories about their journey success.
efficacy of these traditional medicines, using globally BR Sikri, Chairman of 70th IPC and Managing Director
established experimental protocols”, he added. of ABS Group of companies along with J Jayaseelan,
Director, Delvin Group of Companies; Rajeev Juneja,
The Vice President asked the pharma companies Director, Mankind Pharma and SV Veeramani,
to go above and beyond their corporate social Chairman and Managing Director, Fourrts and Sandeep
responsibility (CSR) mandates to provide life-saving Singh from Alkem were part of this session.
and other essential drugs to those who cannot afford
them and said that, “It is essential for a country like
India to provide healthcare and medicines at affordable
prices. In developing countries, India is rendering
yeoman service by providing access to life saving
medicines at affordable prices.”

He also added, “Given the significance of highly
educated and specialized scientists in the sector, skill
development is crucial.” He also asked for a constant
coordination between government and industry to
remove disconnect between demand and supply of
skilled manpower in pharmacy sector.

Dilip Shanghvi, President of 70th IPC and
Managing Director of Sun Pharma said, “There has
been many positive and noteworthy developments in
the past few years, as a result of the government actively

50 BIO EVENT

BIOSPECTRUM | FEBRUARY 2019 | www.biospectrumasia.com

Rajeev Juneja said, “Unlike any other successful Increased penetration of health insurance can also play
company, Mankind has less of failures and more a pivotal role in increasing diagnostic access. Diagnosis
of success. One cannot become successful without was now moving from simple intervention to real-time
team cohesiveness and it is very important. Constant monitoring and predictive markers. Hence, it offers vast
upgradation of knowledge and carving your own niche employment opportunities to young and passionate
were other factors he laid emphasis on for success.” learners.”

Day two saw industry leaders and regulatory The Panel Discussion on Over-The-Counter (OTC)
authorities coming together for a session ‘Can industry drug retail and regulation, threw up crucial points
and regulators go hand in hand?’ Moderated by B.R. such as the dangers of self-medication and the need to
Sikri, other speakers who participated in the discussion raise awareness of the rules concerning OTC medicine
were Dr S. Eswara Reddy, Drug Controller India; Dr delivery and consumption. Dr R. Chandershekhar,
H.G. Koshia, Commissioner, FDA, Gujarat; N.K. Ahooja, Deputy Drugs Controller (I), CDSCO, stressed on the
State Drug Controller, Haryana; S.V. Veerramani, MD, importance of compliance, safety and risk control
Fourrts India; Dr S.M. Mudda, Chairman, Regulatory standards in the age of e-pharmacy and online
Affairs, Indian Drugs Manufacturing Association and pharmacy.
Dr Rajendra K. Sanghavi, Medical Committee, Indian
Drugs Manufacturing Association. Apart from industry debates on industry challenges
and events, the congress for the first time had Women
Dr S. Eswara Reddy said, “Though since the 1940 Empowerment Committee. There was a panel
Drugs and Cosmetic Drugs Act the industry and discussion on ‘Success Matra for Women Pharmacist’
regulators are working together, we need to further consisting of all the women panelist like Dr Rimmy
strengthen the relationship. In comparison to other Khurrana, Joint advisor, NITI Aayog; Archana Mudgal,
markets, we have minimal regulation. Our regulations Registrar cum secretary, Pharmacy Council of India;
have helped the pharma industry to grow phenomenally Dr Pooja Sharma, Senior Scientist, Clinical Trails
in India and global markets.” and Research Ethics, Medanta Institute of Education
and Research; Dr Kirti Soni, Head-Formulation
“Before sharing any data with Drugs Technical Development, Dabur Research Foundation, Aprajita
Advisory Board (DTAB), I share the agenda with the Takkiar, MD, LARK Laboratories and Dr Swarnlata
industry manufacturers’ forum to avoid any conflict Saraf, Dean, University Institute of Pharmacy, Pt.
of interest. Better synergy between the industry and Ravishankar Shukla University, Chattisgarh.
regulators would also help to better understand the
patients’ perspective”, he added. Over 150 volunteers from IPCA initiated Swachh
Bharat Drive within Amity Campus. B. R. Sikri and
Dr S. M. Mudda highlighted, “There is a need for Dr Ashok K. Chauhan, Chief Patron, 70th IPC led the
collaboration between the industry and regulators at group of students who in a matter of few hours cleaned
the operation level. Both should make more efforts to the campus and surrounding area.
understand the global perspective and take adequate
measures before it’s too late.” “Cleanliness and hygiene factors are extremely
important values for the pharmaceutical industry, given
Last day of the conference witnessed power-packed the fact that it is the high standards of hygiene that are
panel discussions on the critical topics of Over-The- a prerequisite for functioning in pharmaceutical lab
Counter drug regulation, risk and safety in the era of and manufacturing. Therefore we have a much greater
multi-drug resistant microbial strains, the challenges realization and appreciation for cleanliness. The
people face in accessing quality diagnostic services, the students’ body that’s engaged with the activity is the
relationship between the pharmacist – as the first point Indian Pharmacy Graduates’ Association (IPGA) which
of contact – and the patient and how the menace of fake is also the body hosting the event”, added B. R. Sikri
medicines can be curbed.
India exports pharmaceutical products to over 180
A panel discussion on ‘Diagnostics in India: countries around the globe, of which, 30 per cent goes to
Opportunities & Challenges’ discussed about various the US alone. While India’s drug industry is set to grow
aspects of medtech sector and highlighted, “while at 13 per cent, the same sector in the US was growing at
the Indian diagnostics market was a $ 9.6 million just 3 per cent. For the first time, India exported drugs
industry, just under 20 per cent of Indians have ever worth $17 billion – a huge achievement. In the next 10
given their blood for testing while Tier III & IV towns years, India’s pharma trade will be worth $200 billion
are deprived of quality diagnostic facilities. However, which speaks for the efficacy of India-made drugs in the
the government is fully geared to increase healthcare world.
spending from 1.3 per cent of the GDP to 2.5 per cent
of the GDP by 2025. Tele-pathology could play a great Kalyani Sharma
role in reducing costs of diagnostics in such cases. [email protected]