China's innovative therapies lead new cancer battle

New frontiers

IASO Biotechnology has proved that supplying CAR T-cell products to other markets is viable, paving the way for Singapore, Saudi Arabia, South Korea and Japan to acquire them.

"The process wasn't easy," said Zhang Jinhua, founder of IASO Biotechnology. A patient's blood samples are classified as "Category A" — infectious substances that require strict customs clearance — and have to reach a laboratory within 48 hours.

Hong Kong's Department of Health inspected IASO's Nanjing factory for compliance with international Good Manufacturing Practices. The Pharmaceutical Inspection Cooperation Scheme involves more than 56 regulators, including the United States Food and Drug Administration.

Fucaso was the first China-developed advanced therapy medical product to win such recognition.

"By keeping core production on the Chinese mainland, we can better control costs — Fucaso is priced at about one-third to one-half of comparable US CAR T-cell therapies," said Zhang.

She recently received a video from a British mathematician living in New Zealand who was diagnosed with advanced cancer.

A year after taking IASO's CAR T-cell therapy in China, he is drug-free, back at work, and has gone on a world cruise.

Since the launch of Fucaso in 2023, at least 60 patients from more than 10 countries and regions have traveled to China to receive treatment.

Zhang expects that within three years, overseas revenue will grow from 10 to 50 percent of total revenue. As the overseas market expands, IASO's new production capacity will also scale up to 3,000 batches a year.

Hong Kong registration has helped Fucaso enter international insurance networks, she added. The city is also IASO's natural launchpad for global expansion, notably markets in Southeast Asia and the Middle East.

Singapore gave Fucaso the green light in June, and Zhang expects Saudi Arabia to do the same this year. The two regional hubs have high-income earners seeking premium care, with concentrated medical systems that ease market entry.

Kwong believes Hong Kong's approval of Fucaso might have helped it gain approval in Singapore. "Hong Kong's internationally-recognized medical system translates into confidence in drugs that we approve," he said.

That approval also helps innovative mainland drugs, especially "living drugs" like CAR T-cell go global, he added.