Simcere Pharmaceutical Group (NYSE: SCR) ("Simcere" or the "Company"), a leading pharmaceutical company specializing in development, manufacturing, and marketing of branded generic and proprietary pharmaceuticals in China, today announced an agreement with OSI Pharmaceuticals, Inc., to develop, manufacture, and market its KDR/Kit inhibitor OSI-930 in China.
Headquartered in Long Island, OSI is a NASDAQ listed pharmaceutical company specialized in discovery and development of innovative molecular targeted therapies. OSI-930 is an orally active inhibitor of two clinically validated targets: c-Kit and the vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-2 (VEGFR-2). OSI-930 is designed to target both cancer cell proliferation and blood vessel growth (angiogenesis) in selected tumors. In preclinical studies, OSI-930 shows broad efficacy in tumor models representative of small cell lung cancer, glioblastoma, colorectal, renal, head and neck, non-small cell lung cancer and gastric cancers. The company completed a phase I dose escalation study of OSI-930 in healthy volunteers. A phase I single agent dose escalation study in cancer patients has identified a recommended phase II dose and a phase Ib dose escalation study with erlotinib has also identified a recommended dose for the combination. Both phase I studies in cancer patients have been reported at recent ASCO meetings.
"OSI-930 has potential to help cancer patients, and we are delighted to cooperate with OSI Pharmaceuticals to promote this treatment in China," commented Mr. Jinsheng Ren, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Simcere Pharmaceutical Group. "We believe that this is a groundbreaking agreement which will become a model for future R&D cooperation between Chinese and foreign pharmaceutical companies."
Dr. Colin Goddard, Chief Executive Officer of OSI Pharmaceuticals added, "As a leading Chinese pharmaceutical company with a successful track record of developing and commercializing oncology products in China, we are confident that Simcere has the right capabilities and resources to successfully manufacture, develop and market OSI-930 in China. We are looking forward to working with Simcere on this exciting collaboration."
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