Xiangxue Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.

BEIJING, Dec. 27, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- China has made efforts to ensure the medical supplies needed for COVID-19 prevention and control after it loosened its epidemic measures in early December, which was followed by an increase in infections and surging demand for medicines. The country's National Medical Products Administration has urged medical regulatory authorities at all levels to adopt various enhanced measures, such as sending personnel to factories for inspections and strengthening quality sampling inspections, to safeguard medical supplies needed, such as therapeutic medicines, testing reagents, vaccines, medical masks and protective suits. Pharmaceutical enterprises have also striven to secure supply. East China's Shandong Province is the largest production base of raw materials for antipyretic analgesic medicines in the country. Many companies in the province focus on export markets, but quickly adjusted their distribution channels and increased production capacity in order to secure domestic supplies. Local government departments have also helped companies to access to raw materials and transportation to ensure the stability of the industrial supply chain for key products. Raw materials and preparations have been produced at full capacity, Zhang Haibo, director at the Department of Industry and Information Technology in Shandong Province, told China Media Group. Zhang said that they would also coordinate between production enterprises, medical institutions and commercial circulation among others, and organize the delivery of medicines to improve the accessibility to medicines for the people. Pharmaceutical companies across the country have also adopted measures, such as technological transformations and new production lines, to expand production capacity and meet market demand. Tan Guanghua, general manager at Pharmaceutical Business Department of Guangzhou Xiangxue Pharmaceutical Co., LTD. in south China's Guangdong Province, said that they have opened two new production lines to produce Chinese patent medicines and increase daily production capacity by about 50 percent. For antigen detection reagents, Zhou Jian, deputy general of the consumer product industry department at the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said at a press conference on December 14 that all 42 manufacturers have been included in a government white list and were required to procure and store key materials to ensure sufficient supply of the reagents. Zhou said the country's vaccine could also meet the needs of the current epidemic prevention and control, since China has built the world's largest production line of COVID-19 vaccine, with an annual capacity of more than 7 billion doses and an output of over 5.5 billion doses. In response to the rising demand for N95 masks, the country has improved its production, according to Zhou. Medical services provided by hospitals and clinics Multiple makeshift fever clinics have been set up at the grassroots level in cities in east China's Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, central Henan Province and southern Guangdong Province to provide timely treatment for people with COVID-19 symptoms. Doctors in the makeshift clinics would diagnose patients and prescribe drugs, making it convenient for locals in urgent need of medical services. In southwest China's Guizhou Province, some community clinics have opened online consulting services which support medicine prescription and delivery. Some medical institutions have set up special treatment channels for vulnerable groups of people such as the elderly, the pregnant and infants. Shanghai has expanded the capacity of fever clinics in community health service centers, branch centers and village clinics to receive the increasing numbers of patients. China has a three-tier system to grade hospitals, with primary, secondary and tertiary hospitals. Primary and secondary hospitals usually receive patients from certain communities and districts. In Shanghai, these two levels of hospitals so far have responded to 60 percent of the whole treatment requirements. Tertiary hospitals have the largest number of beds and provide comprehensive medical services and are at the top of the list. Many tertiary hospitals in Shanghai have enlarged their ICU capacity and increased their medicine inventories. Beijing Municipality urged its tertiary hospitals to play a role in medical treatment, give full play to expert teams, and provide specific treatment for critically ill patients who are affected by the novel coronavirus in accordance with their cases, and make every effort to raise the cure rate and reduce the mortality rate, according to a spokesperson at a press conference held in Beijing on Saturday. SOURCE CGTN

Hand showing money in network. The concept of electronic money. Natali_Mis/Getty Images/iStockphoto Athenex is kicking off the second half of 2018 with a bang. The company secured $100 million in investments from Perceptive Advisors, is making major inroads in China with a joint venture with Chinese biotech Xiangxue Life Sciences and an in-licensing agreement from Avalon PolyTom Limited. Buffalo-based Athenex is kicking off the second half of 2018 with a bang. The company secured $100 million in investments from Perceptive Advisors, is making major inroads in China with a joint venture with Chinese biotech Xiangxue Life Sciences and an in-licensing agreement from Avalon PolyTom Limited. Athenex and Xiangxue Life Sciences, a subsidiary of Guangzhou Xiangxue Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. , initiated a joint venture to develop T-cell receptor-engineered T cells (TCR-T). The new company will be called Axis Therapeutics Limited. Athenex will have a 55 percent ownership in the company and Xiangxue will own 45 percent, the two companies said. Axis has in-licensed Xiangxue’s TCR-T immunotherapy technology. Xiangxue has developed a new generation of TCR-T called HATac, which consists of the expression of high binding affinity soluble T-cell receptors on the engineered T-cells to target HLA-antigenic peptide complex on certain types of cancer cells. Early clinical studies in China demonstrated a good safety pro patients. Athenex and Xiangxue have collaborated before on the development of KX-02 for glioblastoma multiforme in China. To fund the new Axis, Athenex will provide the company with $30 million in cash. Additionally, Athenex will provide $55 million of Athenex common stock to Xiangxue Life Sciences as an upfront payment. Axis Therapeutics will also pay various clinical and regulatory milestones of up to $110 million to Xiangxue Life Sciences. Xiangxue Life Sciences will retain the mainland China rights to the technology and there will be royalties on net income payable to Axis Therapeutics upon successful commercialization in mainland China. Additional new TCR-T technologies developed by Axis will also be partnered with Xiangxue Pharmaceutical in the future for the mainland China rights. In addition to the joint venture with Xiangxue, Athenex also entered into a licensing agreement for a pegylated genetically modified human arginase (Pegtomarginase) from Hong Kong-based PolyTom. Preclinical work demonstrated that the Pegtomarginase was a potentially strong candidate in anti-cancer research. Athenex said the anti-cancer mechanism of the Pegtomarginase lies in the fact that some cancers don’t express either ornithine transcarbamylase (OTC) and/or argininosuccinate synthetase (ASS). Both of the enzymes are critical for the synthesis of arginine in the urea cycle pathway. This treatment approach shows specificity as the depletion of circulating arginine will starve such OTC-/ASS- deficient cancer cells, while normal cells can synthesize arginine intracellularly through urea cycle for their survival, Athenex said. As Athenex dives into the second half of the year, the company secured $100 million from Perceptive Advisors to help expand its pipeline. The $100 million includes $50 million in equity and $50 million in debt. Athenex Chief Executive Officer Johnson Lau said the company is excited about the expansion of its product pipeline with the additions of the TCR-T based cancer immunotherapy. “Given our confidence in our two Phase III programs in Oraxol for metastatic breast cancer and KX-01 ointment for actinic keratosis, we are delighted to have this opportunity to further expand our product pipeline,” Lau said in a statement. Oraxol is a novel oral formulation of chemotherapy drug paclitaxel combined with HM30181A, a novel orally non-absorbable gastrointestinal tract P-glycoprotein pump inhibitor. In April the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted Oraxol Orphan Drug Designation for the treatment of angiosarcoma. An interim analysis of the Phase III trial of Oraxol in metastatic breast cancer is expected to be released in the third quarter of this year. In February Athenex completed enrollment in its two Phase III actinic keratosis trials. KX-01, is a dual Src kinase and tubulin polymerization inhibitor and a first-in-class topical treatment of actinic keratosis.