Basilea Pharmaceutica (China) Ltd (formerly Jiangsu Innovative New Drug Research Center Co Ltd - JI Pharma), the wholly own subsidiary of Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd, Switzerland, is the first foreign-invested new drug R&D company in mainland China. It focuses on developing new drugs in anti-infectious area. With the supported from its parent company, the Basilea Pharmaceutica (China) Ltd is keen to finding new lead compound, structure modification, exploring on pharmacology, toxicity and pharmacokinetics. The company is located in Haimen Technological Development zone, north to Shanghai.
Currently, Basilea Pharmaceutica (China) Ltd is working on the development of Ceftobiprole, which is used to treat complicated skin and skin structure infections (cSSSI) due to MRSA species, which has been followed by an additional designation for the treatment of hospital-acquired pneumonia (HAP) including ventilator-associated pneumonia due to suspected or proven MRSA. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted ceftobiprole fast track designation for the treatment of these two diseases. Its phase III clinical trial in Europe was finished at the end of 2006. Basilea Pharmaceutica (China) Ltd is also taking part in the research and development of BAL8557—a new antifungal drug and BAL4079—a new drug for chronic skin diseases. The phase III clinical trial of the two new drugs in Europe is also on going.
The research and development center of the company is well equipped and meet the international safety standards, the advanced analytical instrument including 400MHz NMR, LC-MS-MS, GC-MS, FTIR, etc. More than 75% of the staff has got the doctoral or master’s degree.
Professor Shen Zhengwu, General manager of the company, Ph.D from Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemsitry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, was worked in US, Germany and UK. As former director of the Unilever research institute in China and Dean of school of Pharmacy, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, He is very experienced in the management and R&D activity in China.
Basilea Pharmaceutica AG is a biopharmaceutical company focused on new antibacterial and antifungal agents to fight drug resistance and on the development of dermatology drugs. Basilea’s products are targeted to satisfy high medical and patient needs in the hospital and specialty care setting. The company owns a diversified portfolio including three investigational phase III drugs of which two have shown positive pivotal phase III results. Basilea is building a sustainable hospital and specialty pharmaceutical business. The company is integrating commercialization into its organization, in a first step through co-promoting ceftobiprole with its partner Cilag GmbH International, a Johnson & Johnson company.