MWC-China collaboration celebrates anti-cancer drug clinical trials
A longstanding relationship between MWC and Chinese researchers is celebrating its first clinical candidate undergoing Phase 1 trials. LX-132 targets many different types of cancers and is anticipated to benefit cancer patients worldwide.
Researchers involved in the MWC-China anti-cancer drug clinical trials?? Dr. Chaonan (Fiona) Chen (GIBH), Prof. Peng Li (GIBH), A/Prof. Jeff Smaill (MWC), Prof. Chenleng Cai (GIBH), A/Prof. Adam Patterson (MWC), Prof. Xiaoyun Lu (formerly the GIBH, now at Jinan University).
A novel anti-cancer drug LX-132, co-developed by MWC and Chinese investigators, has begun human trials in China. The promising drug candidate targets the fibroblast growth factor receptor family which plays a role in the abnormal growth of many types of cancer.
Approval of LX-132 for Phase 1 trials by the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) of China is a significant achievement arising out of a successful and ongoing collaboration which began in 2012 after an MWC-funded delegation presented to the Joint Commission on Science and Technology in Hangzhou, China. In turn, this has led to a strategic alliance for drug discovery.
Since 2012, MWC, the Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedical Health (GIBH) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences have worked together on a range of projects. This mutual focus has culminated in the China-Maurice Wilkins Centre Collaborative Research Programme (C-MWC) funded through the Ministry of Business Innovation & Employment (MBIE) since 2020, and the establishment of the China-New Zealand Joint Laboratory on Biomedicine and Health.
A patent acquisition agreement for LX-132 signed in November 2024 between Auckland UniServices, the commercialisation company of University of Auckland, and Guangzhou Salustier Biosciences, a leading biotech company in Guangzhou, represents one of the largest biopharmaceutical commercialisation deals between the two countries.
Development of this novel compound has been a joint project led by MWC Investigators Assoc Prof Jeff Smaill and Adam Patterson at the University of Auckland and MWC investigators based at the Auckland Cancer Society Research Centre, as well as Professors Ke Ding and Xiaoyun Lu (formerly from the GIBH, Chinese Academy of Sciences).
Assoc Prof Adam Patterson says “this success is the result of over ten years’ collaboration with Chinese scientists and would not have been possible without funding support from the MBIE, the Health Research Council of New Zealand and the C-MWC programme.”
“It has been a pleasure working with our colleagues at Guangzhou Salustier Biosciences and the Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences to create a product that will benefit many cancer patients in their treatment,” says Assoc Prof Smaill.
“We're working towards bringing an LX-132 trial to New Zealand that will leverage the results of the Chinese Phase 1 trial, and support partnering of the rest-of-world rights for LX-132.”
The long-term partnership between MWC and the GIBH has extended to include the Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Jinan University (Guangzhou) where Assoc Prof’s Smaill and Patterson are collaborating with Prof’s Ding and Lu on the discovery of isoform-selective FGFR inhibitors.