Hutchmed (china) Share Discussion Threads

[malcontent] 05/9/2018 16:32

it seems to be that the market is turning

Good news mostly ignored, bad news punished severely

[sportii] 05/9/2018 16:26

Perhaps, there are no buyers left!

[mad foetus] 05/9/2018 14:44

Well, wasn't expecting a down day!

[shaker44] 05/9/2018 13:16

thanks. I get all that but the real benefit
of any cancer drug is the odds of it significantly extending life.

despite all the news we see almost daily, of new wonder drugs for cancer,the gold standard colorectal chemo,oxaplatin, in use globally today, was first developed in 1976!! then 20 years to get it to market!!.

[carcosa] 05/9/2018 12:57

S44,

I find it practically impenetrable to understand the technicalities of a pharmaceutical drug. It's so highly technical and largely beyond my comprehension that I have to rely largely on analysts and company announcements.

I believe fruquintinib is the latest in a class of cancer drugs called VEGFR inhibitors, The drug works by blocking certain kinases, a type of enzyme, that send growth signals to form blood vessels. Most similar drugs target not just VEGFR but also other pathways to inhibit several other kinases. That can be a bad thing, because these kinases play a role in healthy cell function, and so inhibiting them can result in side effects that make the drugs difficult for patients to tolerate.

Chi-Med developed fruquintinib to try to get around this problem. It only targets VEGFR, with the goal of fewer side effects. It was a feature meant to make fruquintinib competitive on the global stage. It is therefore regarded as a very safe, clean drug.

So I believe this drug is somewhat of a technical break through and is best-in-class. But a much greater opportunity lies with combining this drug with other drugs which is under evaluation in the US (I think!)

There is a wealth of technical data available from the company's website.

[mad foetus] 05/9/2018 12:47

But I imagine better tolerability/less side effects would be a more meaningful benefit

[shaker44] 05/9/2018 12:33

thanks. I didnt spot the still alive after 15 months data. clearly more interesting but also makes the median seem very low.

personally If I had been through 2-rounds of very debilitating chemo and my oncologist said I would probably survive 5 months or 7 if I took this new drug, it wouldnt excite me.

so surely there must be more to it. there must have been many very early deaths in the trial for the median to be so low, in which case, in the real world patients would be better targetted to those with a better risk profile.

[carcosa] 05/9/2018 12:21

Am willing to be corrected but my understanding is that the numbers you refer to are the median overall survival rate i.e 50% of patients are alive after 7 months as opposed to 5 months.

The Median progression-free survival (The length of time during and after the treatment, that a patient lives with the disease but it does not get worse)was also significantly increased to 3.7 months from 1.8 months

The study showed nearly 30% of patients were still alive after 15 months as opposed to about 18% on placebo.

At times like this it's perhaps better to consult a statistician than an investor lol!

[mad foetus] 05/9/2018 12:02

I think the other aspects are its improved tolerability and also multiple uses. On tolerability alone it should become the first port of call for those needing this treatment (though obvs it is for those for whom first line treatment has failed). But once launched for one indication the approvals for others should follow quickly as safety has been proven.

[shaker44] 05/9/2018 11:48

maybe the market reaction is muted as the trial results only extended survival from 5 months to 7 months, which isnt such a big deal. and then only in those who have endured 2 chemo rounds unsuccessfully.

unless I misunderstand - in which case I will be happy to be be corrected

[mad foetus] 05/9/2018 10:21

US Should give a nice boost imo

[shaker44] 05/9/2018 09:28

but sad that while they spend years jumping through fda hoops (and politics) patients are dying who could have been saved.

[mad foetus] 05/9/2018 09:22

I have topped up, GLA

[sportii] 05/9/2018 09:21

Great news!
NofS, what’s your opinion about Eli lilly’s role? Specifically, What would be the impact on ex China marketing?

[nerdofsteel] 05/9/2018 09:09

Brilliant, the Company, its scientists and its fantastic management Team are to be hugely congratulated! I had a feeling would happen whilst in HK, I'm posting this whilst in Central with a view of the HWL building ;o-)

I continue to BUY

[mad foetus] 05/9/2018 07:32

Well, bloody great news

[patrick0999] 04/9/2018 11:01

Type Chinese characters but become ????here sorry

[patrick0999] 04/9/2018 11:00

I think google translation is not 100% accurate especially for words translated from its pronunciation. the report is about fruquintinib which is translated into ???? in Chinese.

[patrick0999] 04/9/2018 10:44

thanks for the translation

[nerdofsteel] 04/9/2018 06:18

Approval should, in theory, attract a lot of press attention because it will be the first TKI drug developed in China intended for the global market. Whilst initially it is in the 3rd line setting and in China only, it is best in class so the publicity generated should be significant.........

[sportii] 03/9/2018 18:51

Patrick,
The link you have given isn’t in English. Are you able to get English version?

If fruquintinib had already got approval from Chinese authorities, Chi-med would have announced it in a big way.

[nerdofsteel] 03/9/2018 18:41

well 2 hours ago I was standing on a plaza between the old HWL HQ on Harcourt Road and the Cheung Kong Centre up the hill towards mid levels in Hong Maybe I should have popped in to get an update!!

News is surely imminent.

I continue to BUY.