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STA Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (WuXi STA), a subsidiary of WuXi AppTec, announces that its partner, Ascletis has received approval from China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) of its Category 1 new drug, Ganovo® (also known as Danoprevir or ASC08), to treat viral hepatitis C.
The collaboration between WuXi STA and Ascletis began in 2012, and the approval of Ganovo® marks a critical milestone in the history of the “MAH” policy in China. WuXi STA is now the first Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO) in China to support the launch of an innovative drug using the Marketing Authorization Holder (MAH) pilot program.
Ganovo® is the first Direct-acting Anti-viral Agent (DAA) developed by a domestic company in China and has been selected as a National Science and Technology Major Project for “Innovative Drug Development”.
WuXi STA supported the process optimization and process validation of Ganovo® Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API), as well as the Ganovo®NDA submission and approval – via its process development and manufacturing technology platform, and global standard quality systems.
In December 2017, WuXi STA’s Jinshan API manufacturing site successfully passed the pre-approval inspection by CFDA as part of the Ganovo® NDA application process. As a pioneer of “MAH”, WuXi STA is helping many innovative drug development partners in China, including Ascletis, to optimize their manufacturing processes, significantly reduce commercial production costs, mitigate business risk, and improve operational efficiency.
“The successful development of Ganovo® fulfilled our commitment to deliver affordable innovative drugs for the Chinese patients.” said Jinzi J. Wu, Ph.D., Ascletis’ founder, President and CEO. “We sincerely appreciate the dedicated support from WuXi STA over the past six years, which was crucial to the approval of Ganovo®.”
“Congratulations to our partner Ascletis for reaching this milestone. The strong support received from the Chinese government for new drugs and the successful implementation of ‘MAH’ pilot was integral to reaching this milestone. We now look forward to enabling more partners to launch their innovative medicines both in China and internationally for benefit of patients around the world.” said Dr. Minzhang Chen, CEO of WuXi STA.
About WuXi STA
STA Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of WuXi AppTec (WuXi STA), is a leading pharmaceutical development and manufacturing capability and technology platform company serving the life science industry, with operations in China and the United States. As a premier Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO), WuXi STA offers our worldwide partners efficient, flexible and high-quality solutions for Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) and finished dosage forms. For more information, please visit: http://www.STApharma.com
About WuXi AppTec
WuXi AppTec is a leading global pharmaceutical and medical device open-access capability and technology platform company with global operations. As an innovation-driven and customer-focused company, WuXi AppTec provides a broad and integrated portfolio of services to help our worldwide customers and partners shorten the discovery and development time and lower the cost of drug and medical device R&D through cost-effective and efficient solutions. With its industry-leading capabilities such as small molecule R&D and manufacturing, cell therapy and gene therapy R&D and manufacturing, and medical device testing, WuXi platform is enabling nearly 3,000 innovative collaborators from more than 30 countries to bring innovative healthcare products to patients, and to fulfill WuXi’s dream that “every drug can be made and every disease can be treated.” Please visit: http://www.wuxiapptec.com
