Academic Seminar: Drug Research of Icaritin Soft Capsules for the Treatment of Liver Cancer
On the morning of December 5th, Dr. Junma Zhou, executive director of Beijing Shenogen Pharmaceutical Technology Co., Ltd. was invited to visit the Centre for Artificial Intelligence Driven Drug Discovery (AIDD Centre) and present an academic lecture entitled "Drug Research of Icaritin Soft Capsules for the Treatment of Liver Cancer" in the conference room N47A of Wui Chi Building. The lecture was presided over by Professor Henry Tong, director of the AIDD Centre, and attended by all the teachers and doctoral candidates of the AIDD Centre.
The content of this academic report is mainly divided into four parts. Firstly, Dr. Junma Zhou introduced the research and development process of Icaritin Soft Capsules. In the second decade of the 2000s, Icariin has completed 5 clinical studies, including clinical phase I dose exploration (2010-2012), clinical phase IIA dose and indication expansion (2012-2014), clinical phase II single-arm efficacy and safety study (2013-2015) and Phase III clinical validation (2017-2020) for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma include icariin versus cinobufacin in the first-line treatment of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma.
Immediately afterward, in the second and third parts of the lecture, Dr. Junma Zhou mainly introduced the indications of icariin for liver cancer and the effect of immunomodulatory treatment of alcladin on advanced HBV-related diseases compared with cinobufacin. There was better long-term survival in HCC (mOS was 13.5 vs. 6.8 months), and the risk of death was reduced by 57% (HR=0.43, P=0.0092), and superior safety has been observed in all patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma who have received the treatment of acladine. The results of Phase III clinical trials have fully confirmed that Alcoradine has the same curative effect as targeted drugs, is better than chemotherapy, has significantly lower adverse reactions, and can be taken for a long time, which reflects the advantages of traditional Chinese medicine.
In the fourth part, Dr. Zhou introduced the real case of icariin restoring the efficacy of target immunotherapy in the late stage, which filled the precise treatment plan for advanced liver cells. In the end, Dr. Zhou generously shared his experience in the drug development process, and the audience responded enthusiastically. Finally, the lecture came to a successful conclusion amid warm applause.
Beijing Shenogen Pharmaceutical Technology Co., Ltd. was established in 2006. The company's core management team has rich experience in new drug research and development at home and abroad, leading an innovative scientific research team, establishing a research and development platform with international cutting-edge technology, and cooperating with top domestic and foreign medical experts work closely together to efficiently advance the development of new drugs. The company uses world-renowned scientists as scientific advisors to support its long-term development strategy. At the same time, the company maintains close cooperation with key scientific research institutions and business partners at home and abroad, and has successively won many government awards such as "Eleventh Five-Year Major New Drug Creation", "Twelfth Five-Year Major New Drug Creation", "Innovation Fund" and so on. The strong support of the fund has attracted a large number of investments from well-known venture capital companies to promote the research and development and industrialization of original anticancer drugs. The company's first core product, Acradine, is a perfect example of the combination of traditional Chinese medicine and modern biotechnology. Acradine, which is extracted and developed from the traditional Chinese medicinal herb Epimedium, is a natural small molecule Class 1 new drug for liver cancer, and is in Phase III clinical trials. In recent years, the company's research and development has integrated innovative advantages such as new technologies, new targets, new products, and independent intellectual property rights, and has expanded from natural medicines to various drug forms. Products under research from small molecules, oncolytic viruses, to various forms of biological drugs, have a rich R&D pipeline, and are distributed in various stages from discovery to the late clinical stage.
