-
Categories
-
Pharmaceutical Intermediates
-
Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients
-
Food Additives
- Industrial Coatings
- Agrochemicals
- Dyes and Pigments
- Surfactant
- Flavors and Fragrances
- Chemical Reagents
- Catalyst and Auxiliary
- Natural Products
- Inorganic Chemistry
-
Organic Chemistry
-
Biochemical Engineering
- Analytical Chemistry
- Cosmetic Ingredient
-
Pharmaceutical Intermediates
Promotion
ECHEMI Mall
Wholesale
Weekly Price
Exhibition
News
-
Trade Service
Recently, the trend shows that multinational pharmaceutical giant funds have begun to "flow" to the direction
of epigenetic therapy.
For example, on November 21, 2022, Merck announced that it would acquire Imago for cash at a price of $36 per share through its subsidiary
BioSciences, which involved a total of approximately $1.
35 billion
.
It is reported that the transaction is expected to close
in the first quarter of 2023.
Public information shows, Imago
BioSciences is a clinical-stage myeloproliferative disease technology research and development company whose core asset is Bomedemstat
, a lysine demethylase 1 (LSD1) inhibitor in Phase II for the treatment of chronic myeloproliferative tumors (MPNs).
Among them, LSD1 is a classic target of epigenetic therapy
.
In fact, in order to save the "patent cliff" of K drug (Keytruda), Merck has made
frequent acquisitions in recent years.
In the eyes of industry insiders, Merck's acquisition of epigenetics single pipeline company this time is also seeking performance growth points other than K drugs, and exploring the possibility
of further combination with PD-(L)1 targets.
"Imago's epigenetics pipeline has a considerable effect on phase 2 myelofibrosis, which is expected to become a breakthrough therapy to address clinical needs, and the combination effect of 'PD-1+LSD1' has been confirmed
by the academic community.
For example, another blockbuster player in the PD-1 track, BMS (Bristol-Myers Squibb), which holds the "O drug" asset Opdiva, has developed a therapeutic opportunity for PD-1 monoclonal antibody and LSD1 small molecules in indications such as small cell lung cancer after acquiring Celgene, which shows great
potential.
Both are enough to entice the cash-strapped Merck to spend nearly 10 billion yuan to acquire a single-pipeline epigenetics company
.
The industry insider analyzed
.
Open the third path of malignant tumor treatment
Open the third path of malignant tumor treatmentWhether it is monotherapy or combination therapy, after the development of the past period, K drugs have touched the ceiling
of PD-(L)1 target drugs.
According to Merck's 2021 financial report, K drugs have been approved by the FDA for more than 30 indications, and 10 indications were approved by the FDA in 2021 alone, including first-line therapies
for advanced renal cell carcinoma and HER2-positive gastric cancer.
However, while the indications of K drugs continue to accumulate, some of its key patents will also expire in 2028, and biosimilars for K drugs are already in the pipeline
.
Reality forces the "Merck" to pay attention to and lay out the future outlets, and epigenetics may be bringing new breakthroughs
.
The so-called epigenetics is the science of studying the heritable phenotypic changes caused by changes in gene expression without changes in the DNA sequence of the genome, and is the most promising research and transformation direction in the field of life and health in the post-genomic era
.
Traditional tumor treatment methods include chemotherapy and targeted therapy, both of which aim to inhibit the malignant proliferative properties
of tumor cells themselves.
Tumor immunotherapies that have emerged in recent years, such as PD-1 monoclonal antibody, specialize in the regulation
of immune cells in the external microenvironment of tumors.
However, due to the high heterogeneity of tumors, both internal and external attack therapy strategies have the disadvantages
of easy drug resistance, recurrence and metastasis, and low response rate.
The epigenetic mechanism can not only target and reshape the gene expression of the tumor itself, but also reprogram the tumor microenvironment, and inhibit
the highly heterogeneous tumor "both internal and external, two-pronged".
It is based on the above characteristics that future epigenetic therapy is expected to target the treatment of refractory malignant tumors and walk out of the promising third path
.
Professor Xu Guoliang, a representative of the field of epigenetics and academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that at present, a number of epigenetic drugs have shown high safety and good anti-tumor effect in hematological tumors and some solid tumors
.
What is more valuable is that epigenetics also shows the advantages of drug combination, which is expected to cooperate with the existing oncology drug pipelines of major pharmaceutical companies to bring more considerable therapeutic effects
.
Figure | Tumor epigenetics, tumor immunity and immunotherapy
（Trends Cancer.
2020; 6(7): 580–592）
With the deepening of the understanding of epigenetic regulation mechanism and the leap breakthrough in basic research in recent years, new opportunities
are emerging in epigenetic targeted therapy, especially in the field of tumor synthesis lethal mechanism and tumor immune combination therapy.
"Taking the synthetic lethal mechanism as an example, epigenetic drugs not only take the disordered epigenetic factors in cancer as specific targets, but also screen out cancer subtypes that are highly sensitive to this epigenetic target through the biomarker of the second mutation, making it the most vulnerable 'Achilles' heel of tumors, killing with one blow
.
" Academician Xu Guoliang said
.
Who is the domestic epigenetics "bearer"?
Who is the domestic epigenetics "bearer"?It can be said that it is precisely with the broad prospects of single use and combination that epigenetic drugs have successfully attracted the attention
of multinational medical giants.
However, while Imago has received huge capital M&A invitations, in view of the frontier of technology, there are very few domestic companies that truly focus on the field of epigenetics, among which CytosinLab (CytosinLab
Therapeutics (abbreviation: Cylam Pharmaceutical) is the most characteristic and representative one
.
According to public information, Sailan Pharma was founded in 2019 and is the only innovative biotechnology company
in China that focuses on the field of epigenetics.
Based on the new generation of epigenetic mechanisms and epigenomics achievements, the company develops innovative therapeutic drugs and diagnosis and treatment methods to meet the medical needs
of patients in China and around the world for major diseases such as tumors.
Since its establishment three years ago, Sailan Pharmaceutical has received hundreds of millions of yuan of financing support from top investment institutions at home and abroad, including Shenzhen Venture Capital, Sany Innovation, CDH Investment, Zeyue Venture Capital, Kaitai Capital, etc.
, and has built a R&D center
of more than 1,100 square meters located in the core area of Shanghai Zhangjiang Medicine Valley.
In terms of R&D pipeline layout, the company has also created more than ten product pipelines for malignant solid tumors and hematological tumors that are urgently needed in clinical practice, and has rapidly promoted several therapeutic candidates to enter clinical trials in the near future
.
The main pipeline products are the world's first target and mechanism (First-in-Class, FIC), and are in a leading
position in the world.
Figure | A glance at Sailand's pipeline
Figure | Cylan Pharmaceutical Biological Laboratory
The ability to quickly develop several First-in-Class or Best-in-Class pipelines also benefits from Celan Pharmaceutical's top epigenetics R&D team
.
Dr.
Haiping Wu, founder and CEO of Sailan Pharmaceutical, has more than ten years of epigenetics research experience, and has been responsible for the research and development of a number of innovative tumor epigenetic therapies at Novartis and their clinical promotion, and was recently awarded the "Zhangjiang Life and Health Industry Annual New Person 2022"
.
Dr.
Mi Yuan, co-founder and chief operating officer of the company, has also led a number of breakthrough blockbuster new drugs into the clinic and even listed during his tenure at GNF and Novartis, and is a senior practitioner
in the pharmaceutical industry in China and the United States with more than 20 years of experience.
Academician Xu Guoliang is also one of the co-founders of
Sailan Pharmaceutical.
As one of the founders of modern epigenetics research in China, Academician Xu has long focused on the study of epigenetic regulation of animal growth and development and the exploration of the pathogenesis of tumors and other diseases, and has great international influence in related fields, and was selected as one of the "Top Ten Discoveries of Chinese Science" in 2011 and 2016, and has a number of patents and external authorizations
.
"The company is based on making innovative drugs and making good drugs urgently needed by Chinese patients, especially to achieve the rapid transformation
from basic scientific research results to pharmaceutical applications.
" In Dr.
Wu Haiping's view, in addition to the treatment of malignant tumors, epigenetic therapy has also shown broad application prospects
in neurological diseases, regenerative medicine, longevity and other fields closely related to human quality of life.
"In the future, technologies and approaches such as epigenomics big data, AI, new applications of traditional Chinese medicine, a new generation of nanorobots, epigenetic-related synthetic biology, new therapeutic paradigms and even metaverse applications are expected to be jointly applied to form interdisciplinary frontier disciplines, reshape a new model for human beings to better understand and adapt to their own health management and environment, and jointly contribute to the cause
of human health.
"
PhotoSailan Pharma Shanghai Office
In order to solve the problem of epigenetics lacking a transformation path that meets industry standards, Sailan Pharma has built a domestic exclusive and international first-class EpigenPLUS technology platform
.
Based on unique epigenomics and tumor diagnosis and treatment mechanism research, the platform can develop a new generation of innovative drugs and treatment methods targeting cancer, immune system and other diseases, and transform
original epigenetic research results into applications.
Figure | Introduction to the EpigenPLUS platform
Dr.
Mi Yuan introduced that the EpigenPLUS platform integrates diversified innovative drug development technology platforms such as epigenomics, biology, medicinal chemistry, toxicology and pharmacology, structural biology and translational medicine, which can achieve efficient, integrated and comprehensive systematic evaluation and transformation of new epigenetic mechanisms, new targets and new technologies for the rapid discovery of innovative targets and candidate compounds, and the platform can be extended to cooperate with external academia, medical circles and industry.
In the future, it is expected to further develop into a world-class big science, specialized and new technology platform carrier
.
Dr.
Liu Dan, senior partner of CDH Investment, who led the Series A financing of Celan Pharmaceutical, pointed out that in addition to the "central law", epigenetics involves a variety of regulatory mechanisms, which can provide "pen and paper, eraser, ink" and other ways to provide a variety of "programming modification solutions" for the book of life, and Merck's acquisition of the Imago pipeline also once again reflects its optimism
about the potential of this large field.
"China has cutting-edge advantages in this field, and based on the accumulation and transformation development of Academician Xu Guoliang's team in the epigenetics field 3.
0 era, Sailan Pharma has great potential for controllable risks, and is a leader in this platform field in China
.
" We are optimistic about the potential
of Cylan in solid tumors, synthetic lethal and combination therapy.
Dr.
Liu Dan said
.
