Hutchison China Meditech (HCM) has successfully completed its first pivotal drugs trial, and has become the first China-based biotech company to take a drug all the way from discovery to production. Fruquintinib - which has been developed alongside US pharma giant Eli Lilly - increased the chances of overall survival for colorectal cancer patients who had previously been treated with two rounds of chemotherapy. Chi-Med will now seek a new drug application in China, while Eli Lilly has the option to enter the drug into a pivotal trial in the US.
In 2016 there were more than 380,000 new cases of colorectal cancer in China alone and academics have predicted this number could rise to over 1m by 2020. The market for Fruquintinib is therefore substantial, particularly as it is currently undergoing trials in non-small-cell lung cancer and gastric cancer as well.