ScinoPharm Taiwan Ltd (台灣神隆), which makes active pharmaceutical ingredients, yesterday announced that it would team up with Hong Kong-based CVie Therapeutics Ltd (CVie, 中生醫藥) in the company’s first new drug development project with an external partner for a heart failure treatment.
The companies aim to identify a next-generation compound that would make it possible to create an oral version of Istaroxime, a new acute heart failure drug developed by CVie.
“The availability of an oral version of the drug would grant access to a larger patient population that risks chronic heart failure, compared with the number of patients with acute heart failure alone,” ScinoPharm president Fred Chen (陳勇發) said.
Istaroxime is a dual-function drug that combines both intropic and lusitropic effects, Chen said, adding that the drug is capable of increasing the strength of heart beats, as well as producing myocyte relaxation effects.
“We will prioritize identifying a lead compound that retains the drug’s dual-action advantage in an oral administration,” Chen said.
An injectable version of the drug is currently in second-phase clinical trials in China and Italy, using samples produced at the company’s plant in Changshu in China’s Jiangsu Province, he said.
ScinoPharm aims to be the primary chemistry, manufacturing and controls service provider to furnish material for both the clinical and commercial phases, while CVie would apply its vast biological know-how to screen and identify the new candidate.
The company’s announcement of a partnership with CVie came after it reported that net income reached NT$174 million (US$5.51 million) in the second quarter, up by 1 percent from the previous quarter and a 32 percent increase from the same period last year.
During the April-to-June period, gross margin rose to 46 percent due to an improving product mix with a heavier weighting of more profitable oncology products, the company reported.
That compared with a gross margin of 42 percent in the previous quarter and 38 percent a year ago, the company added.
Operating revenue dipped 1 percent quarterly, but grew 5 percent annually to NT$1.01 billion, it said.
Operating income jumped 88 percent annually to NT$229 million, helped by a 1 percent annual decline in operating expenses.
Earnings per share were NT$0.24 in the second quarter, 33 percentage points higher than a year ago and flat from the previous period.
Aggregate net income in the first half of this year rose 41 percent annually to NT$346 million, translating to NT$0.47 per share.
Chen also said that a new generic drug codeveloped with US-based drugmaker Sagent Pharmaceutical Inc for the treatment of myeloid leukemia is expected to receive the US Food and Drug Administration’s abbreviated new drug application approval, with a commercial launch planned for next year.
He said that sales terms with Sagent would yield favorable margins for the company, but declined to provide further details, citing contractual obligations.
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