University opens city's first clinical trial centre
Drugs to treat common diseases such as cancer and diabetes will be developed at new facility
The city's first dedicated drug trial centre opened yesterday to help bring new medicine to market quicker and turn Hong Kong into a regional pharmaceutical hub.
Chinese University has set up the Phase 1 Clinical Trial Centre at the Prince of Wales Hospital in Sha Tin to develop drugs for diseases which are prevalent in Asia, such as diabetes, viral hepatitis and certain cancers.
"Typically, the whole process takes seven to 10 years, and most trials have been done in the West, mostly in the United States or in Western Europe," centre director Professor Anthony Chan Tak-cheung said. "This means the drugs take even longer to reach Asia, including Hong Kong - typically another three to five years after registration.
"The bottom line is that our patients can't wait that long."
Drugs need at least seven years of rigorous testing on humans before they can enter the market. Phase-one trials are the first step, to find the safest effective dose for testing in the next two phases.
Chan said the centre cost tens of millions of dollars and was funded by the university and a five-year grant from the Food and Health Bureau.