The 17th “C.C. Tan Life Science Award” ceremony was held at Shenyang Pharmaceutical University on October 9th. Dr. Chen Li, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Hua Medicine, was awarded the “C.C. Tan Life Science Industrialization Award”. C.C. Tan Life Science Award has the highest honor as “the Chinese Nobel” in life science. In the context of the comprehensive construction of Chinese-style modernization and the development of new productivity, this award is a high recognition of Dr. Chen Li’s outstanding contributions to the industrialization of life science achievements, and a full affirmation of his decades-long efforts to promote conceptual, technological and institutional innovations in biopharmaceutical industry.
“C.C. Tan Life Science Award” was proposed by Mr. Tan Jiazhen, one of the founders of modern genetics in China and an outstanding scientist and educator in modern China, which was approved by the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People’s Republic of China, aims to promote the industrialization of China’s life sciences research results and stimulate life scientists to make innovations. Since its establishment in 2008, C.C. Tan Life Science Award has been awarded annually to scientists, professors and young scholars who have made achievements in life science in the People’s Republic of China and have made outstanding contributions to the industrialization of scientific and technological achievements in life science.
With more than 30 years of experience in new drug R&D and management, Dr. Chen Li returned to Shanghai from the U.S. in 2004, and participated in the establishment of Roche R&D Center, the first R&D center of a multinational company in Shanghai, bringing the advanced experience, talent concept, technical standards and quality management system of international new drug R&D to China, and contributing to the establishment of the environment of China’s biopharmaceutical industry. Dr. Chen Li has contributed to the establishment of China’s biopharmaceutical industry environment.
In 2010, Dr. Chen Li founded Hua Medicine in Zhangjiang, Shanghai, with the original intention of “China leads the way in pharmaceutical innovation”, adhering to the tenet of “patients first, innovation first, and good medicines for the people”, focusing on the unmet clinical needs, and concentrating on the research and development of first-of-its-kind new medicines for diabetes. Dr. Chen Li is not only one of the earliest pioneers to leave his executive position at a multinational pharmaceutical company to start a local innovative drug company, but also a leader in developing First-in-Class drugs in China.
In September 2022, under the leadership of Dr. Chen Li, Hua Medicine’s world’s first, China’s first, Class I National New Drug, Dorzagliatin (trade name: HuaTangNing®), which took ten years to develop independently, received marketing approval from the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA), making it the first Glucose Kinesin Activator (GKA) approved and marketed globally, and the tenth class of diabetes therapeutic drugs.
As the world’s first GKA drug, Dorzagliatin utilizes the new concept of “repairing sensing, reshaping homeostasis, and treating diabetes at the source” to achieve the improvement of blood glucose homeostasis dysregulation in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus, and to bring a brand-new treatment for diabetes mellitus patients, which is a major breakthrough in the history of drug research and development of China in the field of major chronic diseases.
During the development of Hua Medicine, Dr. Chen Li has actively contributed to the development of China’s biopharmaceutical industry. He has provided constructive opinions and suggestions for the system of marketing license holders and the system of patent linkage and patent protection, etc. He has cooperated with enterprises in the industry chain in the R&D and production of dorzagliatin to establish a joint innovation model, which has led to the development of the ecological development of the biopharmaceutical industry. In early 2024, Dr. Chen Li was awarded the first “Shanghai Outstanding Talent”. He is also the inventor of 119 granted invention patents and 270 invention patent applications and has been published more than 70 scientific papers in Nature Medicine, Lancet Diabetes Endocrinology, Nature Communication, PNAS, Diabetes, Obesity Metabolism, and the Journal of Biomedicine. PNAS, Diabetes, Obesity Metabolism, JACS, JOC and other international academic journals.
About Hua Medicine
Hua Medicine is an innovative drug development and commercialization company based in Shanghai, China, with companies in the United States and Hong Kong. Hua Medicine focuses on developing novel therapies for patients with unmet medical needs worldwide. Based on global resources, Hua Medicine teams up with global high-calibre people to develop breakthrough technologies and products, which contribute to innovation in diabetes care. Hua Medicine’s cornerstone product HuaTangNing (dorzagliatin tablets), targets the glucose sensor glucokinase, restores glucose sensitivity in T2D patients, and stabilizes imbalances in blood glucose levels in patients. HuaTangNing was approved by the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) of China on September 30th, 2022. It can be used alone or in combination with metformin on hydrochloride-tolerated T2D patients. For patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD), no dose adjustment is required. It is an oral hypoglycemic drug that can be used for patients with Type 2 diabetes with varying degrees of renal function impairment (including end-stage renal impairment without dialysis). Hua Medicine partnered with Bayer, a leading global pharmaceutical company, to commercialize HuaTangNing in China, benefiting diabetic patients and their families.
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