India must capture space vacated by US in biotech
At the recently concluded American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting, one of the most coveted headliner slots went to a clinical trial conducted only in China. For the first time, a Chinese-only study was placed on one of cancer research’s biggest global stages. India has researchers, clinicians, elite engineers and a base of patients who could help answer questions that western research cannot. (Unsplash) The drug is ivonescimab, developed by Akeso Biopharma. It combines a programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) blocker — PD-1 is a human protein that acts as an immune system down-regulator that prevents autoimmune diseases but also thwarts immune response against cancer cells — and a vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) inhibitor (VEGF is a protein that promotes growth of new blood vessels in normal course, but is also produced by tumours to create a blood supply for them). It has been presented with data from more than 500 Chinese patients with advanced squamous lung cancer. Big Pharma companies including Merck, Pfizer, and Bristol Myers Squibb are now racing …



