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China’s world-leading cancer drug makes historic foray into the US amid medicine crisis
- Innovative cancer medicine toripalimab has become the first biopharmaceutical drug from China to be approved by America’s FDA
- The US is continuing to struggle through a drug shortage crisis, with 15 cancer medicines affected after manufacturing site closures
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An innovative biopharmaceutical medicine from China has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat cancer, as the US turns to China to solve its cancer drug shortages.
Toripalimab, an antibody drug developed by Shanghai Junshi Biosciences, received FDA approval on October 27 to treat nasopharyngeal carcinoma, an aggressive form of cancer that starts behind the nose in the upper part of the throat.
This is the first – and currently only – drug that is approved by the FDA to treat that type of cancer. It is also the first Chinese antibody drug – the development of which requires huge investment and cutting-edge technology – to enter the US market.
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The US has been a world leader in biotechnology. American pharmaceutical giants dominate the medicine market at home and internationally.
But in recent years, with a growing fear that the US could expand its sanctions from computer chips to life-saving medicines, the Chinese government and Chinese companies have massively increased investment in research and development of new drugs.
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What many did not foresee, though, was that it would be the US looking to China as it experienced difficulty producing its own drugs.
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