China Approves its First Alzheimer’s Drug
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China Approves its First Alzheimer’s Drug Oligomannate

China has now granted conditional approval to its first self-developed drug for Alzheimer’s disease, a move that may point to revived opportunities in a therapeutic area where drugmakers have burned billions of dollars without yielding a validated new drug.

Oligomannate, which uses an extract from marine brown algae as raw material, received a conditional green light to treat mild-to-moderate level AD, the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) said in a statement on its website late on Saturday.

Effective treatment for Alzheimer’s, which is estimated in 60%-70% of around 50 million dementia cases worldwide, could become one of the best-selling drugs globally.

Trial results demonstrated that Oligomannate statistically improved cognitive function in mild-to-moderate AD patients as early as week 4 and the benefit was sustained at each follow-up assessment visit, Shanghai Green Valley Pharmaceuticals, which developed the drug along with two academic institutions in China, said in a statement.

The outlook for a cure is clouded with theoretical uncertainties and high-profile failures. Pharmaceutical giants including Johnson & Johnson, Merck, and Pfizer have ditched their projects on unsatisfactory data.

Biogen last month revived its plans to seek U.S. approval for its aducanumab treatment after announcing

in March that it would terminate two large clinical trials for the drug. But some analysts believed FDA approval is highly unlikely.

China is fast-tracking approval for innovative drugs at home in a bid to offer more and cheaper options to patients, as many in the rapidly aging country struggle to find alternatives to costly treatments sold by multinational pharmaceutical firms for chronic diseases.

In an August overhaul to its drug administration law, Beijing said conditional approval could be granted to some still-under-research medicines of predictable clinical value for life-threatening diseases for which effective treatment is not immediately available.

Further research on Oligomannate’s pharmacological mechanism and long-term safety and effectiveness is required, according to the NMPA statement.

Green Valley said it would launch the drug very soon in China. The company also aims to roll out a phase-3 clinical trial with sites in the United States, Europe, and Asia in early 2020 to facilitate global regulatory approval of the drug.

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Editor’s Note: China Approves its First Alzheimer’s Drug Oligomannate, China Gives Conditional Approval for Its First Home-Grown Alzheimer’s Drug, China gives conditional OK to its first self-developed Alzheimer’s drug.

Ria Roy completed her Post Grad degree at the Visvesvaraya Technological University. She has a great grounding in the skills, including technical, analytical and research skills. She is a motivated life science professional with experience of working in famous research institutes