"Will make R&D partnerships, introduce new drugs in Korea"

Jay Mei, CEO of Antengene

Antengene aims to grow into a global biotech based in the Asia-Pacific’

‘Korea is an important country in the bio market…will continue commercializing products in the country”

“Seeking collaboration opportunities with Korean biotechs such as LegoChem Bio… key is in discovering a good partner”

The China Shanghai-based Antengene has started its activities in earnest in the domestic pharmaceutical market.

 

Marking its start with Xpovio (selinexor), a blood cancer drug that was approved in July last year, the company aims to introduce more new drugs in cancers with high unmet needs.

 

Antengene is an anticancer drug developer that has received investments from global pharmaceutical companies, including BMS.

 

Its founder and CEO Jay Mei, has extensive experience in the field, working at the National Cancer Institute as well as various global pharmaceutical companies including Johnson & Johnson, Novartis, and Celgene, where he led global clinical trial programs.

 

Based on this experience, the CEO founded Antengene, with its key focus of interest in blood cancer.

 

Antengene is one of the few Chinese biotechs that have entered Korea.

 

The company decided to enter Korea as it considers the country an important base in the Asia-Pacific region.

 

The company is also actively engaged in open innovation with bio companies in Korea.

 

It is currently conducting joint research with LegoChem Bio.

 

Through such efforts, Antengene aims to address the unmet medical needs in the Asia-Pacific region, and further expand into a global company.

 

At a virtual interview with Dailypharm on the 14th, CEO Mei (57) said, “We had decided early on that we would need to enter Korea as the country owns a top-class healthcare system, a solid infrastructure for clinical trials, and has a good environment for R&D.

 

We plan to continue expanding our business through joint research in partnership with various Korean companies including Lego ChemBio.” The following is the QA with Antengene’s CEO Jay Mei.

 

Jay Mei, CEO of Antengene

-You chose selinexor, an oral anticancer drug you brought in from Karyopharm as the first product for commercialization in Korea.

 

What do you think of selinexor’s vision? =Selinexor was approved as a treatment for multiple myeloma (MM) and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) treatment by the FDA in July 2019.

 

The drug has been also approved for the two indications in Korea in July last year.

 

Selinexor is an oral selective inhibitor of nuclear export (SINE) that can be used in combination and as monotherapy.

 

We are conducting trials in other blood cancers such as myelofibrosis and acute myeloid leukemia, and are investigating its use in T cell or NK cell-related lymphoma as well.

 

WE plan to continue expanding selinexor’s indication in consideration of its scalability.

 

-What is your key platform technology and pipeline? =Antengene has opted for a two-track approach in which the company seeks growth through partnership-based technology introductions and the development of original pipelines.

 

In addition to Karyopharm, we have made partnership agreements with AstraZeneca, Celgene, and LegoChem Bio.

 

For individual development, our scientists are developing new drugs by investigating new targets.

 

We have a total of 15 progress in progress ranging from non-clinical trials to Phase III trials that are investigating small-molecule drugs, monoclonal antibody therapies, bispecific antibody drugs, ADCs, etc.

 

The trials are underway in Asia and the United States, as well as in Japan and Europe.

 

-What other product do you have in plan to commercialize following selinexor? =We are developing a new drug substance that has the same XP01 inhibiting mechanism of action as selinexor.

 

We are conducting various clinical trials with Karyopharm for the drug, eltanexor (code name ATG016).

 

The target indication is the high-risk group with myelodysplastic syndrome, and a global clinical trial currently in progress is a pivotal clinical trial prepared to be used as the basis for approval reviews.

 

Also, Antengene is developing 6 other new drug candidates for commercialization.

 

First, ‘ATG008' is a new drug candidate that can be used with mTOR inhibitors for the treatment of cervical cancer.

 

The company plans to conduct a global trial if the ongoing clinical trial brings positive results.

 

Also, a clinical trial for a PD-1-based bispecific antibody ‘ATG101' is underway in Australia for patients who cannot see a further effect from existing PD-(L) 1-based immunotherapies.

 

Within the company, ATG101 is considered a unique substance that has the potential to become a ‘best-in-class’ drug.

 

-What is the background on your partnership with LegoChem Bio in Korea?

 

What is your prospect for ADC treatments?

 

= 'ATG022' that we have in our pipeline is an ADC-based treatment that targets claudin-1.

 

Claudin is quite often found in gastric cancer.

 

Antengene is deeply interested in cancers with high prevalence in Asia like gastric cancer and has taken an interest in next-generation ADCs while developing ADCs.

 

In our search for companies with new innovative technology for developing anticancer substances to conjugate with ADC platforms such as linkers or payloads, we came across LegoChem Bio.

 

We believe LegoChem Bio owns a unique technology and strong potential for next-gen ADC development.

 

Both companies have been searching intently for a new candidate substance after signing the partnership.

 

-In addition to Antengene, the global entry of China-based biotechs and their collaboration with big pharmas have been increasing recently.

 

What do you make of this trend? = Despite the remarkable economic development the region had made over the past 30 years, the unmet medical need in the Asian region is still relatively high.

 

Just in the fields of multiple myeloma and lymphoma that Antengene frequently monitors, only half of the drugs approved in the Western countries are approved in Asia.

 

As such, there are still many areas where patient accessibility needs to be increased.

 

Thanks to the development of the economy and healthcare systems, the talent pool is rapidly increasing in Asia as well.

 

As more and more Asian talents with graduate degrees or higher in biology, chemistry, and medicine enter society, there is now an abundant opportunity for Asia-based biopharmaceutical companies to utilize these talents.

 

We believe that these environmental changes played a part in increasing collaboration opportunities for Asian-based biotech companies that have not entered the global market before.

 

The entry of these companies will provide benefit the global patients by developing new drugs based on new technologies and medical knowledge.

 

If European and American companies had fared well in the past 50 or 60 years, I think it is not time for Asian-based companies, including Korea, to play this role now.

 

I think now is the right time to go global.

 

-Many Korean biotechs are also seeking to enter the global market.

 

However, the companies have trouble communicating with the FDA and designing the clinical trial protocols.

 

As a biotech that has commercialized various products, what know-how do you have to share with the Korean companies? =To become a successful bio-company, the company should first own a competitive product or candidate substance.

 

Next is talent.

 

The company needs to recruit a lot of talented people who have global vision and experience, a deep cultural understanding of various countries and can work smoothly as a team with people from other cultures.

 

In the case of our company, we had set the global strategy to expand into Asian countries including Korea, then to go global from the early stages of establishment.

 

So we thought securing the two factors mentioned above was of utmost importance.

 

In particular, as pharmaceuticals are one of the most highly regulated industries, collaboration with regulatory authorities is very important.

 

Also, we have put in a lot of effort to secure a talented workforce that owns such job competencies.

 

Also, finding a reliable local partner can be helpful if you don’t have enough time to set up a solid team in each market.

 

Finding a good partner is as important as securing good talent in-house.

 

This is why we have established partnerships with various companies including Karyopharm, AstraZeneca, Celgene, and LegoChem Bio.

 

-Your Korean branch celebrated its 1st anniversary this year.

 

What other activities do you have in plan for the Korean branch as well as other countries?

 

= Antengene has established subsidiaries in Korea, China, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the United States, and is aiming to continue expanding in the future in terms of expanding pipelines and talent pools in addition to geographic areas.

 

Currently, Antengene is positioning itself as an 'Asia+' company, and our urgent mission is to meet the unmet medical needs in many Asian countries.

 

Selinexor has been approved in for this purpose in Korea, Australia, Singapore, and China, and is scheduled to be approved in Taiwan and Hong Kong within the year.

 

The second step is to broaden the partnership with the self-developed substances to advance and become a truly global company.

 

I first visited Korea while serving as head of a global clinical program at Novartis, and was also able to broaden my business understanding of Asian counties at Celgene.

 

Building on my experiences, I am determined to drive Antengene's strong growth and expand its businesses in Asia.