Simcere Pharma Reveals Research Deal With Stanford Medicine To Develop Treatment For IPF
(RTTNews) - Simcere Pharmaceutical Group Ltd. (2096.HK) announced on Friday that it has entered into a research collaboration agreement with Stanford Medicine to develop a treatment for irreversible Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis or IPF, a chronic lung disease of unknown origin and with no known cure.
Under the May 29 agreement, the Chinese drugmaker will fund exploratory research on a novel molecule and has an option to license the molecule globally, if the study succeeds.
The project will be led by Stanford professors Chaitan Khosla and Cui Bianxiao. Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis has a median survival time of about three years from diagnosis and current treatments cannot reverse lung scarring.
"Highly targeted therapies for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis have long been an urgent unmet clinical need," Professor Khosla said.
On the HKSE, shares of Simcere Pharma closed Friday's trading 4.02 percent higher at HK$10.100
