TIME: May 23, 2015
Source: Economic Daily
Online Archive:https://www.most.gov.cn/ztzl/zmkjry/rwzf/lxp/201505/t20150526_119707.html

In January 2015, the research team at Shenzhen Chipscreen Biosciences Co., Ltd., led by Chief Scientist and President Xianping Lu, introduced the original anti-cancer drug Chidamide, which significantly extends patient survival. Developed independently over more than a decade, this breakthrough filled a critical gap in the treatment of T-cell lymphoma in China. Lu attributes this achievement to forward-looking scientific vision, a comprehensive risk prediction and evaluation system, and the team’s 14 years of unwavering commitment.

Scientific Vision as the Foundation of Innovation

Reflecting on the development and scientific contribution of Chidamide, Lu explained: “We persisted because we foresaw that this drug could fundamentally change approaches to cancer treatment. As research progressed, we gained a deeper understanding of its properties and confirmed its druggability.”

All of Chipscreen’s original drugs are small-molecule compounds—the backbone of the pharmaceutical market, but also among the highest-risk categories in drug development. Multinational companies typically invest over $1 billion and spend more than a decade to bring a single innovative drug to market. How, then, did a relatively small company like Chipscreen manage to mitigate such risks?

According to Lu, original drug development requires rigorous, science-based evaluation at every stage. From its founding in 2001, Chipscreen established an integrated drug discovery and early evaluation platform based on chemical genomics. This platform enables the team to predict and assess the viability of designed molecular structures and identified targets, allowing them to decide early whether to proceed or terminate a project. “Once a drug enters clinical trials, both the cost and time escalate dramatically, and failure becomes extremely expensive,” Lu noted.

He emphasized that the entire process—from initial chemical structure design to molecular mechanism studies, preclinical development, and industrialization—was carried out independently by Chipscreen. “Our integrated technological capabilities are a key factor behind our success,” he said. He also pointed out that while China had previously invested heavily in drug research, few globally influential drugs emerged due to a lack of integration across disciplines and processes.

Lu’s scientific confidence is also rooted in his team’s expertise across molecular medicine, biochemistry, bioinformatics, oncology, metabolic medicine, and immunology. The company has filed 73 global invention patents for compounds, 45 of which have been granted. Lu himself is a seasoned expert across multiple disciplines and has published over 70 academic papers, filed around 80 patents globally, and received 50 authorizations. He has also led numerous national research programs, earning him the industry nickname “a fighter in innovative drug R&D.”

Returning to China Driven by a Dream

Fourteen years earlier, Lu left behind his young children in the United States and gave up a well-established career in drug development to return to China. Why abandon a comfortable life abroad? “It was driven by a dream,” he said.

“Our generation shares a simple aspiration—to give back to the country that nurtured us through what we’ve learned,” Lu explained. During his time in the U.S., discussions among Chinese scholars often centered on China’s rapid economic development across many industries, contrasted with the slow progress in pharmaceuticals. Despite having the largest number of pharmaceutical companies globally, and leading in formulation production and ranking second in active pharmaceutical ingredient manufacturing, China’s industry remained dominated by generics, with minimal innovation.

“China has outstanding scientists, a vast market, and a strong manufacturing base. Why, then, is it positioned at the low end of the global value chain?” Lu recalled. This realization revealed both a challenge and an opportunity—motivating him to pursue something unprecedented. Encouraged further by strong interest from domestic investors in biotechnology, Lu returned to China with several experts and secured $6 million in funding. In early 2001, Chipscreen was officially established.

“Why focus on original drugs? Our goal is simple: to meet unmet clinical needs, often involving complex or chronic diseases that require entirely new mechanisms of action,” Lu said. From the outset, the company aimed to become a leader in China by building core competitiveness around original innovation—developing globally patented, clinically differentiated small-molecule drugs targeting major diseases.

Long-Term Commitment Is Essential for Success

As China’s environment for innovative drug development has gradually improved, Chipscreen has made significant progress over more than a decade. The company has built a core technology platform centered on integrated drug discovery and evaluation based on chemical genomics, forming a complete innovation system—from target research and structure-based design to novel mechanism discovery, safety evaluation, clinical development, and commercialization.

Chipscreen was the first company globally to demonstrate that subtype-selective histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors can activate anti-tumor immune responses. Chidamide was the first to validate this mechanism, representing a major original scientific contribution. It is also China’s first innovative drug to undergo simultaneous global development, with clinical studies underway in the United States and Japan.

“Developing original drugs in China was an entirely new endeavor. In many cases, we were the first to explore uncharted territory, which required a tremendous investment of time,” Lu said.

Today, Chipscreen has built a pipeline of original drugs targeting malignant tumors, diabetes, endocrine disorders, and autoimmune diseases. In addition to Chidamide (marketed as Epidaza), which has already been approved for sale, China’s first original small-molecule drug for type 2 diabetes, Chiglitazar sodium, was expected to complete pivotal Phase III clinical trials for registration by 2016.

Lu noted that Chipscreen has evolved from an early-stage R&D company into a fully integrated biopharmaceutical enterprise combining research, manufacturing, and commercialization. Driven by core technologies and supported by a robust pipeline of innovative drugs, the company represents a sustainable development model. Its path—built on returnee scientific talent, venture capital, and government innovation funding—serves as a valuable example for the transformation of China’s biopharmaceutical industry.