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21 September 2010

Novartis Aims for China Trial of Novel Cancer Drug in 2013

The China R&D center for Novartis (NYSE: NVS) plans to put its first novel cancer treatment into Phase I testing in 2013. Although details of the new drug candidates were not released, Novartis said the new molecules are aimed specifically at treating cancers that are most prevalent in China, which include gastric, liver, nasopharyngeal and esophageal cancer. The China trial would be the first-in-human test of the drug candidate."2013 is a target ... it can be for any disease (of these cancers)," said Chris Lu, PhD, who heads drug discovery at Novartis' China R&D operation, speaking to Reuters reporters at a recent pharmaceutical meeting in Shanghai. "We have certain things in pre-clinical stage. We could reach that target." The China branch of the worldwide Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research (NIBR) is located in Shanghai’s Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park. "We are developing drugs for Chinese patients. If we can't do first-in-man trials in China, then we are ruined,” continued Dr. Lu.

When Novartis opened the China branch of NIBR in 2007, the facility was given the task of investigating the infectious causes of cancer endemic to China, though the focus of the R&D center certainly could have changed over time. Last year, Novartis made the dramatic announcement that it would spend $1 billion over five years in China, increasing its investment in its China R&D facility, and seeking to make China one of its top three markets worldwide. Enough money would be allocated to the R&D operation to take its staff count from 160 in 2009 to more than 1,000 in 2015.
Before that time, Novartis had been making R&D investments in both China and India, but after it lost patent protection in India for its leukemia drug, Gleevec (known as Glivec outside the US), Novartis turned to China and stopped putting money into India. Last November, the day after announcing its $1 billion China investment, Novartis said it would invest an additional $250 million to expand its global technical center in Changshu, and it would also pay $125 million to buy an 85% stake in a privately held China vaccine company, Zhejiang Tianyuan.

**Published in "Seeeking Alpha"

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