Chi-Med (China) Limited ("HUTCHMED") today announced that Elunate ® (fruquintinib) has been added to the Drug Formulary of the Hong Kong Hospital Authority ("HA") in the category of "Specialty Drugs". Patients who are prescribed the new drug for specific clinical applications in public hospitals or clinics are only required to pay the standard fee. Elunate ® received approval from the Pharmacy and Poisons Board of Hong Kong in January 2024 for the treatment of adult patients with metastatic colorectal cancer who have been treated.

The first innovative anti-oncology drug to be directly included in the HA's Drug Formulary category, and the first new drug to be approved under the "1" mechanism of the HA's Drug Formulary, which was quickly included in the Drug Matrix and the "1" mechanism, helping patients accelerate access to important treatment options.

Elunate ® is the first oral targeted therapy approved in Hong Kong for the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer in the last decade, regardless of the patient's biomarker status or previous type of therapy

According to the information provided by the HA, the inclusion in the drug formulary will take effect from mid-October 2024. Fruquintinib is developed in-house by Chi-Med and marketed in Hong Kong under the brand name Elunate ®.

Fruquintinib is a selective oral VEGFR-1, -2 and -3 inhibitor. VEGFR inhibitors play a crucial role in inhibiting angiogenesis in tumors. Fruquintinib is designed to have higher kinase selectivity and is designed to reduce off-target kinase activity, resulting in sustained drug exposure to the target and greater flexibility when potentially used as a combination therapy. To date, fruquintinib has demonstrated a manageable safety profile and is being studied in combination with other anti-tumor therapies.

Fruquintinib is marketed in China by Chi-Med and Eli Lilly under the brand name Elunate ®. It was included in the National Reimbursement Drug List of China in January 2020. More than 100,000 colorectal cancer patients have been treated with fruquintinib since its launch in China. Takeda has an exclusive global license to further develop, commercialize and manufacture fruquintinib outside of Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Macau, and is marketed under the brand name FRUZAQLA®. FRUZAQLA® has been approved in Canada, the European Union, Japan, Switzerland, United Kingdom and United States, and more regulatory registration applications are underway in several countries around the world.

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