A person in charge of Northeast Pharmaceutical recently stated in an interview with China Securities Journal that in recent years, the company has strategically laid out a new track for biopharmaceuticals and seized the pharmaceutical "blue ocean" market with more "new brand" products. In the future development, the company will continue to implement the "innovation+imitation" dual wheel drive strategy, and on the basis of further strengthening traditional businesses such as raw materials and chemical generic drugs, continue to focus on the new track of biopharmaceuticals, fully build new advantages for latecomers, and provide strong impetus for long-term development.
Entering the field of cell therapy
As an old pharmaceutical company with a history of 78 years, Northeast Pharmaceutical has always focused on raw materials and chemical generic drugs as its main products. It should be noted that in the pharmaceutical industry, including sub sectors such as chemical drugs, the track is becoming increasingly crowded. Currently, the pharmaceutical industry is rapidly iterating. Companies must respond to industry changes with a strategic perspective, continuously promote product innovation, strive to achieve new breakthroughs in the biopharmaceutical field, and cultivate new competitive advantages, "said Feng Xiao, Vice General Manager and Chief Scientist of Northeast Pharmaceutical.
Recently, Northeast Pharmaceutical announced that it has invested 187 million yuan to acquire 70% equity of Dingcheng Peptide Source, rapidly entering the fields of specific cell immunotherapy technology research, product development, and clinical applications, and cultivating new business growth points. Recently, Dingcheng Peptide Source has completed the relevant registration and approval procedures for the above-mentioned equity change, and has obtained the registration notice and business license from the Changping District Market Supervision Administration in Beijing. At this point, Dingcheng Peptide Source has become a controlled subsidiary of the company and is included in the scope of the company's consolidated financial statements.
Public information shows that Dingcheng Peptide Source has built an independent core technology platform around target discovery, sequence discovery, sequence evaluation, and functional enhancement, and is developing TCR-T, TCR protein drugs, and CAR-T cell therapy products. It also simultaneously established a transformation platform for plasmid technology, virus technology, cell technology, and quality research.
From the perspective of product pipeline, Dingcheng Peptide Source has formed a complete technical platform and product transformation system for TCR-T and CAR-T cell therapy products, and has developed more than 10 cell therapy products for pancreatic cancer, colorectal cancer, gastric cancer, liver cancer and glioma.
At present, the global market for cell therapies such as CAR-T and TCR-T shows enormous growth potential. Cell therapy is an essential component of future comprehensive cancer treatment, and cell therapies including CAR-T, TCR-T, TIL, and NK will play an important role in cancer treatment in the next 10 years. Feng Xiao stated that as a research and development enterprise focused on the development and transformation of solid tumor cell therapy products, Dingcheng Peptide Source has become an ideal choice for Northeast Pharmaceutical's strategic acquisition due to its strong research and development capabilities.
Northeast Pharmaceutical has laid out a new track in cell therapy by directly acquiring equity, filling business gaps through mergers and acquisitions of mature projects, quickly obtaining a complete product line, ensuring safe investment landing, and seeing benefits as soon as possible, "Feng Xiao said." Although the product pipeline of Dingcheng Peptide Source is still in the preclinical research and development and clinical application stage, and has not yet been profitable, its strong research and development capabilities and potential market prospects give us confidence in its future development
Innovation+imitation "dual wheel drive
In recent years, Northeast Pharmaceutical has continuously improved its research and development capabilities and cultivated core competitiveness through independent research and development, joint development, and project introduction. With a strong industrial foundation and the advantage of integrating raw materials and formulations, the company has achieved significant results in the fields of active pharmaceutical ingredients and chemical generic drugs, laying the foundation for its market position.
In Feng Xiao's view, in order to adapt to the new changing trends in the pharmaceutical industry and achieve strategic transformation and upgrading, it is necessary to fully leverage the comprehensive advantages of funds, technology, resources, and markets, focus on new tracks, strengthen research and development capabilities, continuously improve self research and joint research and development capabilities, conduct more original research and development, and form a dual innovation driven pattern of "innovative drugs leading and generic drugs following" to better meet the diversified needs of the market.
Taking this acquisition as an example, for Northeast Pharmaceutical, the acquisition of Dingcheng Peptide Source means that the company will receive a "direct ticket" to enter the field of specific cell immunotherapy, and obtain a product pipeline from early research and development to the upcoming clinical phase I; At the same time, it will also acquire core technologies and mature research and development teams in the field of specific cellular immunotherapy.
If we build a team from scratch and achieve technological breakthroughs, it will take at least 3-5 more years, "Feng Xiao said." This acquisition is a major opportunity for Northeast Pharmaceutical to achieve a 'curve overtaking'. In the future, with the continuous transformation and application of Dingcheng Peptide Source's scientific research achievements, Northeast Pharmaceutical is expected to achieve greater breakthroughs in the field of biopharmaceuticals. This will become an important exploration and practice for the company's innovative drug business development