Dongcheng Pharmaceutical, the aircraft carrier of the nuclear medicine industry, has made new moves.

Dongcheng Pharmaceutical's acquisition target Adike and General Electric Healthcare Co., Ltd. ("General Medical" or "GEHC") have signed an agreement to exclusively distribute Metatron (Strontium Chloride [89Sr] Injection) in Mainland China , And officially launched related sales work. Metatron is a nuclide drug developed by GE in the United States to relieve bone pain caused by bone metastasis of advanced malignant tumors such as prostate cancer and breast cancer.

This is the first time that Dongcheng Pharmaceutical, a listed company, has cooperated with a large international pharmaceutical company in the field of nuclear medicine, in order to bring high-quality foreign nuclear drug products into China and benefit the majority of cancer patients; this will enrich the operation of Dongcheng Pharmaceutical's nuclear drug products The type and product line of nuclide preparations help to strengthen the company's product layout in the field of therapeutic nuclide. Dongcheng Pharmaceutical will also start the expert consensus work on strontium chloride [89Sr] injection for the analgesic treatment of tumor bone metastases in China, and standardize the clinical use of the drug in China.

Radionuclide palliative care market has a promising future

As one of the most effective methods and methods for the treatment of tumor bone metastasis, injectable somato-nuclein therapy is a treatment method that uses the biological effect of the beta particles produced by the nuclide in the decay process to inhibit or destroy the diseased tissue. It is an analgesic for bone pain. A treatment option that can target multiple bone metastases throughout the body and greatly relieve the patient's pain.

In fact, in recent years, with the high incidence of tumors, the incidence of bone metastasis from advanced malignant tumors is as high as 15% to 70%, and the incidence of pathological fractures in patients with bone metastasis within 1 year is 22% to 52%. The pain, fracture, and dysfunction associated with bone metastasis seriously affect the quality of life of cancer patients. Clinical experts predict that the application of radionuclide therapy in such patients will become more and more widespread.

Strontium chloride [89Sr] injection is one of the representative drugs in the treatment of bone metastasis radionuclides.

Compared with domestically produced nuclide drugs such as 153Sm-EDTMP, strontium chloride has four major advantages: one is that side effects are minor, and blood picture suppression is rare; the other is that the analgesic effect lasts for a long time, generally up to 3 to 6 months; The total efficiency is higher. Fourth, there is no radiation impact on the surrounding environment.

Clinical experts also pointed out that compared with traditional opioid analgesics, due to the exact curative effect, small side effects and direct treatment of tumors, strontium chloride [89Sr] and other radionuclides can not only effectively relieve pain symptoms but also reduce The dosage of analgesics.

In addition, strontium chloride [89Sr] injection has a simple method for treating bone metastatic pain, and intravenous bolus injection is sufficient. Pain relief usually occurs about two weeks after injection, and the effect can be maintained for 3 to 6 months.

From the perspective of the development of global radionuclide drugs, in 2013, the prostatic cancer treatment radionuclide drug radium chloride went on the market and its rapid increase indicates that the global radionuclide drugs have entered a period of rapid growth.

In recent years, the prices of radioisotope raw materials required for the production of radioisotope drugs/reagents, except for cobalt-60, fluorine-18, strontium-89, molybdenum-99, and iodine-131, have all increased, especially due to the decommissioning of some foreign reactors And the demand for downstream pharmaceutical preparations has increased, and the prices of molybdenum-99, strontium-89, iodine-131, and iodine-125 have increased significantly.

Therefore, industry insiders believe that the cooperation between Adike and GE can effectively reduce the risk of strontium chloride [89Sr] domestic preparation supply.

"Independent research and development + external introduction" innovation model

"Innovation is the soul of enterprise development."

In recent years, Dongcheng Pharmaceutical, which takes nuclear medicine as its core competitiveness, has rapidly integrated the Chinese nuclear medicine market, and is under the leadership of global nuclear medicine leaders to deploy international nuclear medicine cutting-edge technologies, launch key innovative product research and development, and independently research and develop A number of new drugs targeted by Class 1.1 nuclides will come out in the next few years. The cooperation between Dongcheng Pharmaceutical and GE is also considered by the industry as an active attempt to initiate international innovation cooperation in the field of nuclear medicine. Dongcheng Pharmaceuticals will take this opportunity to introduce more innovative nuclear medicine products into the Chinese market through the two-wheel drive of "independent research and development + external introduction", and bring innovative nuclear medical solutions to Chinese patients. The "Foresight of Military-Civil Integration Industry in Nuclear Industry-Nuclear Medicine" published on Snowball shows that Dongcheng Pharmaceutical acquired Chengdu Yunke Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. in 2016, becoming the first domestic nuclear drug to enter the capital market. Since then, the Nuclear Medicine Fund was established to focus on the nuclear medicine industry.

On April 4, 2018, Dongcheng Pharmaceuticals completed the acquisition of Nanjing Jiangyuan Adike Positron Research and Development Co., Ltd. Following the acquisition of Chengdu Yunke Pharmaceutical and Dongcheng Xinke, the merger and integration of nuclear medicine has gone further.

After these years of operation and accumulation, Dongcheng Pharmaceutical has built a very solid and competitive platform. Therefore, in addition to independent research and development, Dongcheng Pharmaceutical also has the qualification and ability to build nests and attract phoenixes. Nuclear medicine giants also extended an olive branch to Dongcheng Pharmaceutical for international cooperation.

In this regard, the brokerage believes that from the perspective of products, Dongcheng Pharmaceutical has a complete product line of nuclide drugs, and existing products (Yunke injection, fluorine [18F]-FDG) have grown steadily + the major products under research have been approved ( Rhenium[188Re]-HEDP injection, fluorine[18F]-AV45)+extensional mergers and acquisitions can guarantee the product echelon of nuclide drugs; from the perspective of channels, Dongcheng Pharmaceutical’s Adike + Dongcheng Xinke integrate and enhance nuclear The profitability of pharmacies has gradually built up a nationwide nuclear pharmacy network control terminal.

The rich product echelon + extensive marketing channels will promote the company's nuclide drug business to maintain rapid growth and have the potential to develop into a national leader in nuclear drugs.