YB1 oncolytic bacteria expands the ranks of innovative anti-tumor drugs

source:  2022-03-03 10:47
With the normalization of the global COVID-19 epidemic, human beings are more strongly advocating the power of life, health and medical science and technology than ever before, which reflects the performance of the capital market. Activity was significantly active.

Since the beginning of 2020, countries around the world have been caught up in this complicated quagmire caused by the virus epidemic, and China's life science and medical market, which has quickly recovered from the new crown epidemic, has attracted many international capital injections under the special background, especially In the field of innovative R&D in biopharmaceuticals and biotechnology.

Taking the R&D process of innovative drugs as an example, due to the difficulty of finding effective targets in the process of biopharmaceutical R&D, the long clinical trial cycle, and the extremely high R&D costs, innovative R&D itself has become a long-term venture investment, which requires policies, medical systems, and capital. Market and other multi-directional support. The strong support from the capital market is undoubtedly the primary force to catalyze the rapid development of local biomedical innovation and R&D.

Enthusiastic pursuit of capital, active investment market helps biotechnology rise

Despite the impact of the epidemic, 2020 is also a relatively active year for the investment and M&A market in the life sciences and medical industries. Under the influence of the new crown epidemic and a series of favorable policies, China's life sciences and medical industry M&A transactions in 2020 There is a recovery trend in the second half of the year.

According to industry report data, in 2020, the number of M&A transactions in China's life sciences and medical industries reached 169, including ultra-large transactions with a value of more than 1 billion US dollars, an increase of 11.2% compared with 2019, and the total transaction value reached 21.3 billion US dollars. Statistics show that, after excluding mega-deals with a transaction value of more than $1 billion, the transaction value in 2020 increased by 45.2% over the previous year.

On the other hand, due to the opening of the domestic science and technology innovation board, the registration system of the Shanghai Stock Exchange’s Growth Enterprise Market, and the continuous favorable impact of the biotechnology sector of Hong Kong stocks, as well as the loosening of new regulations on refinancing, the amount and number of investment transactions completed by financial investors also hit a new record after 2019. new highs.

The favor and support of the capital market is a great driving force for the vigorous development of the biotechnology industry. In recent years, domestic biotechnology companies have actively started the capitalization process. Many unprofitable biotechnology companies have gone to Hong Kong to list, or listed on the mainland's science and technology innovation board, setting off the listing of biotechnology companies. The boom, and the overall market outlook of the industry is also quite good, showing that the capital market has a positive response to the biotechnology industry.

Thanks to the enthusiastic support of global capital, the biotechnology industry has continued to rise in recent years, and the market performance has been remarkable.

Global pharmaceutical market continues to expand, and R&D spending is "rising"

Industry research reports show that the global pharmaceutical market has grown steadily over the past five years, from US$1,153 billion in 2016 to US$12,988 in 2020, mainly driven by factors such as an aging population and increased life expectancy, improved affordability, and the continuous introduction of innovative drugs. billion, with a compound annual growth rate of 3.0%. This growth is expected to continue, with total revenue projected to reach $1,711.4 billion by 2025, representing a CAGR of 5.7% from 2020.

With the continuous expansion of the global pharmaceutical market, global pharmaceutical R&D spending has steadily increased from US$156.7 billion in 2016 to US$204.8 billion in 2020, with a compound annual growth rate of 6.9%. This growth is expected to continue, with total spending projected to reach $295.4 billion by 2025, or a CAGR of 7.6% from 2020. U.S. pharmaceutical companies continue to invest heavily in pharmaceutical R&D, accounting for 43.8% of global pharmaceutical R&D spending in 2020. Over the past five years, China has played an increasingly important role in the growth of global pharmaceutical R&D investment.

China is the world's second largest pharmaceutical market. Driven by an aging population, rising per capita disposable income, rising healthcare spending and favorable government policies, the Chinese pharmaceutical market is expected to grow from RMB 1,448 billion in 2020 to RMB 2,287.3 billion in 2025, at a CAGR of 9.6%, much higher than the compound annual growth rate of the global and US pharmaceutical markets (5.7% and 5.2%, respectively) during the same period.

The high growth potential of the Chinese pharmaceutical market is supported by strong pharmaceutical R&D investments. R&D expenditure in China's pharmaceutical industry increased from RMB 78.8 billion in 2016 to RMB 170.3 billion in 2020, representing a CAGR of 21.3%, and is expected to maintain a strong momentum and further grow to RMB 342.3 billion in 2025, with a compound annual growth rate of 21.3%. The annual growth rate is expected to be 15.0%, about twice the growth rate of global R&D spending.

China's strong and continued investment in R&D is directly reflected in the exponential growth in the number of new drug applications (IND) approvals and clinical trials. Innovative chemical drugs have shown steady growth over the past few years, which is reflected in a significant increase in the number of new IND approvals and ongoing clinical trials.

The government encourages innovation in the medical industry, and a variety of innovative therapies in the field of anti-tumor attract attention

In recent years, the government has paid more and more attention to encouraging innovation in the medical industry. In the face of the difficulties caused by the new crown epidemic since last year, the momentum of innovation in the industry has not stopped. It can be said that innovation has become the new normal in the Chinese pharmaceutical market. At present, the innovation of China's life science and biopharmaceutical development has changed from "fast follow-up" to "comprehensive innovation", and is moving towards the global "first-class" level.

Especially in the promising tumor treatment market, driven by favorable government policy support and the emerging cell and gene therapy market, biological companies are paying more and more attention to the research and development of innovative drugs. To expand its R&D capabilities and product lines, it has attracted great attention both inside and outside the industry.

In the current popular emerging cancer treatment paradigm, oncolytic bacterial therapy is a major research direction at the forefront. As the Hong Kong drug oncolytic that developed the world's first oncolytic bacterial carrier product YB1, it has also researched with breakthrough innovative technologies. The results have attracted widespread attention in the industry market.

As a scientific and technological innovation R&D company focusing on the development and application of biomacromolecular drug delivery systems, the core technology product of Hong Kong Medicine Oncolytic is the oncolytic bacterial carrier YB1 modified by synthetic biology, which can efficiently deliver a variety of Biomacromolecular drugs.

The research of the company's R&D team has proved that YB1 has a very strong delivery ability and can efficiently deliver a variety of macromolecular anticancer drugs, such as protein drugs, mRNA vaccines, antibody drugs, oncolytic viruses, etc. In addition, YB1 can also carry various thrombolytics Class of therapeutic drugs used to treat many types of thrombotic diseases.

The team's research results show that YB1 has strong technical compatibility and can be compatible with chemical drugs, immune checkpoint antibodies and CAR-T cell technologies, increasing efficacy and diversifying product pipeline design.

At present, the company has laid out a number of product pipelines for the application of YB1, including 7 pipelines of YB1 oncolytic bacteria, the main indications cover sarcoma, melanoma and other solid tumors; and 3 pipelines of YB1 thrombolytic bacteria, respectively It is a thrombolytic drug under development for YB1 carrying recombinant urokinase (rt-PA), YB1 carrying recombinant defibrinogenase and YB1 carrying plasmin. The indications are for various thrombotic diseases.

With the gradual maturity of YB1 technology and more and more outstanding innovative biotechnology companies in the industry gradually entering a broader market, it is believed that the global biotechnology and medical and health fields will usher in new development opportunities, achieve more advanced research results, and benefit mankind healthy.