(Yicai) Nov. 16 -- Fruquintinib has become the first innovative drug developed in Shanghai to have been prescribed in the United States.

Developed by Hutchison MediPharma, original small molecule antineoplastic medicine Fruquintinib was first prescribed in the US on Nov. 10 local time, after being approved by the US Food and Drug Administration on Nov. 8, HutchMed said at a press conference in Shanghai yesterday.

Fruquintinib has also become the innovative antineoplastic drug self-developed by a Chinese pharmaceutical company approved overseas with the most extensive patient coverage, HutchMed noted.

Fruquintinib shows clear treatment effects in intestinal cancer trials in China and overseas and has good safety and tolerance, meaning that it can be combined with many other drugs, Su Weiguo, chief executive officer and chief scientific officer of HutchMed, said at the press conference.

HutchMed has conducted global clinical trials on 13 self-developed antineoplastic drug candidates since its settlement in Shanghai’s Zhangjiang Hi-tech Park in September 2002. Fruquintinib was approved in China in 2018 and achieved a market share of 47 percent among patients with advanced colorectal cancer in the country. HutchMed also applied for Fruquintinib’s approval in Europe and Japan.

Fruquintinib is also the first antineoplastic drug independently developed in China from drug discovery to clinical development. Japan’s Takeda Pharmaceuticals has the exclusive global license to promote the development, commercialization, and production of Fruquintinib outside China.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Futura Costaglione