A staff member shows the Benvitimod cream. [Photo by Li Xusheng]

Guangdong Zhonghao Pharmaceutical, based in the National Health Technology Park, on July 19 morning organized the "First Production of the World's First-in-Class National New Drug, Benvitimod Cream" ceremony. This marked the launch of China's first (global first-in-class) chemical innovation drug in skin treatment.

Zhang Yongming, Chairman of Zhonghao Pharmaceutical, introduced that after 20 years of research and development, Benvitimod has been officially put into production. Apart from great efforts by the R&D team, production and management teams, its production also attributes to the great support of the Ministry of Science and Technology, governments of Guangdong Province and Zhongshan City, and a series of institutional reforms and innovations taken by the pharmaceutical regulatory authorities. 

Clinical studies have shown that Benvitimod has more significant results on psoriasis, compared with Calcipotriol, the "golden solution" recognized at home and abroad. It's characteristics include: high safety and efficacy, long remission period, and low recurrence rate, and is effective in spite of recurrence. 

Psoriasis (commonly known as "psora") is an immune-mediated chronic skin disease. As of now, about 125 million people around the world suffer from psoriasis, including 8 million in China. It is predicted that the global psoriasis treatment market size will reach 13.3 billion dollars in 2024. 

Zhongshan has in recent years increased its support to high-tech industries such as biomedicine and introduced a series of industrial promotion policies. As the core region for the development of the bio-pharmaceutical industry in Zhongshan City, Torch Development Zone has attracted a batch of innovative projects with independent intellectual property rights and great development potential, such as Akeso Biopharma and MinFound Medical. 

Zhonghao Pharmaceutical became part of the National Health Technology Park in 2015. The company is capable of producing 1 ton of active pharmaceutical ingredients and 10 million ointments per year that meet the drug use demands of 1 million domestic patients.