PHARMACEUTICALS
Air pollution shot in arm for China lung cancer drug industry
Surge in lung cancer spawns new listings and billion-dollar market values for Chinese companies Betta Pharma and Hutchison China MediTech, writes Li Hui
The thick haze of pollution blanketing northern China this winter is a grim reminder of the nation’s new growth industry: lung cancer drugs. China logged more than 700,000 new cases of the disease in 2015, the product of a surge in air pollution, high smoking rates and unhealthy lifestyles as China has prospered in recent decades. Lung cancer is now the most common type of cancer in the country. Its spread has spawned new listings as well as billion-dollar market values for Chinese companies such as Betta Pharmaceuticals and Hutchison China MediTech, which are attempting to build blockbuster treatments. Zhejiang, Hangzhou-based Betta Pharma, which sells just one lung cancer drug, Conmana, shot up to as much as $5.6bn in market value late in 2016 after raising about $110m in a public offering on the Shenzhen exchange in November. Hutchison China MediTech, whose pipeline of experimental therapies is also heavily focused on lung cancer, also attracted $110m in a new listing on the Nasd...
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