BRIEF—WuXi STA preferred CDMO partner for Beta Pharma

STA Pharmaceutical, a subsidiary of China’s WuXi AppTec, and Beta Pharma, a biotech company focusing on innovative drug discovery and development in oncology, announce a strategic partnership.

Under the terms of the collaboration, WuXi STA will become the preferred contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) partner of Beta Pharma, leveraging its platform to accelerate process R&D and manufacturing of later phase and commercial production – utilizing the Marketing Authorization Holder (MAH) scheme.

Beta Pharma has a pedigree spanning some 20 years and its founder Dr Xiaodong Zhang even participated in the molecular invention, development and listing in China of the first small molecule targeted anticancer drug, Icotinib.

Today, Beta Pharma continues to expand its pipeline to integrate anticancer drugs and therapies, such as biopharmaceuticals, into its long-term development planning.

In February 2019, Beta Pharma officially launched the China registered Phase II clinical trial for the target BPI-7711 – a third generation of EGFR TKI that has a highly selective inhibitory effect on T790M mutations and EGFR single mutant tumors after a generation of EGFR TKI resistance.

The company also has another target, BPI-1178 undergoing preclinical research and it is expected to submit a clinical application in the first quarter of 2019.