San Diego, USA and Shanghai, China – October 2, 2007 — HUYA Bioscience International (HUYA), a rapidly expanding biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of key disease-fighting drugs sourced from China, announced today that it has licensed a novel clinical stage anti-arrhythmic compound from the prestigious Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica (SIMM), Chinese Academy of Sciences.
The compound, HBI-3000 or sulcardine, exhibits a unique profile of myocardial ion channel regulation, compared to approved US and European anti- arrhythmic therapeutics. HBI-3000 has met significant Phase I safety milestones in three completed studies under a SIMM-sponsored Chinese IND. Gary T. Elliott, Pharm.D., Ph.D., Executive Vice President of Product Development at HUYA, commented that “the compound displays an ion channel selectivity profile that may contribute to effective treatment of both ventricular and atrial arrhythmias, while decreasing the risk of sudden death (Torsade de Pointes) associated with some anti-arrhythmics currently on the market.”
Mireille Gingras, Ph.D., CEO of HUYA said, “There is a large unmet medical need for safer and more effective treatments for atrial and ventricular arrhythmia. We believe that HBI-3000 has the potential to fill this need, based on its unique properties and significant performance to date. By 2015, the global anti-arrhythmic market is expected to be $3.5 billion, and we feel we are on target to provide an innovative product.”
Additional information is available at https://huyabio.com/huyaweb.
About HUYA
HUYA Bioscience International, LLC, with offices in San Diego and Shanghai, capitalizes on the explosive growth of the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries in China. HUYA identifies and licenses promising Chinese pharmaceuticals for development and commercialization in Western markets. Using its management team and advisors, HUYA lowers the product development risk by accessing an extremely broad range of late stage preclinical and early clinical product opportunities and assisting with the generation of early clinical data in China. This information is highly valuable for risk mitigation, as well as the efficient initiation of clinical development in the United States and Europe. Further information about the company is available at https://huyabio.com/huyaweb.
About SIMM
The Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica (SIMM) at the Chinese Academy of Sciences emerged from the Institute of Materia Medica of the Peking Academy of Sciences, founded in 1932. It is currently located in the Zhang Jiang Hi-Tech Park, Pudong New District, Shanghai. SIMM’s mission is to provide a comprehensive single-site solution to drug discovery and development. By combining basic and applied research in chemistry and biological disciplines, SIMM carries out modern drug discovery, as well as studies supporting identification of the purified ingredients responsible for the activity of traditional Chinese medicines. SIMM is also involved in the discovery of new therapeutic targets and carries out comprehensive pre-clinical evaluation of drug candidates, while also promoting commercialization; thereby playing a key role in building China’s drug innovation capabilities.
Contact
USA:
Mireille Gingras, PhD
President and Chief Executive Officer
HUYA Bioscience International
(858) 798-8800
mgingras@huyabio.com
www.huyabio.com
China:
Wen Chen, MS, MBA
EVP China Operation and Chief Representative
HUYA Bioscience International
wchen@huyabio.com
Media Contact:
Jan Tuttleman, PhD, MBA
Vice President of Marketing
HUYA Bioscience International
(858) 798-8800
jtuttleman@huyabio.com