Griffith partners with China Grand Pharma to develop parainfluenza drug

Griffith University will co-develop the world’s first drug to treat parainfluenza in partnership with a Hong Kong pharmaceutical firm.

Griffith University’s Mark von Itzstein leads a team developing a new drug in the Institute of Glycomics. Picture: Regi Varghese

Griffith University has partnered with a Hong Kong pharmaceutical company to develop a “blockbuster” drug that was ­invented in its laboratories — the first to ­effectively treat human para­influenza virus.

The new drug, as yet unnamed, is being developed by a team led by Mark von Itzstein, director of the university’s Institute for ­Glycomics, who previously invented the world’s first anti-flu drug, Relenza.

Professor von Itzstein said hPIV was a significant cause of dangerous respiratory tract infections in infants and young children, people with compromised immune systems and the elderly.

“At this moment there is neither a vaccine nor drug available to prevent or treat hPIV,” he said.

Griffith University has signed an exclusive licensing deal with the Hong Kong-listed China Grand Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Holdings to co-­develop the drug and to commercialise it globally. The university, which retains ownership of the drug, will receive support for further research and development, fees when specified milestones are reached as well as royalties from eventual sales.

China Grand Pharma is well known in Australia as one of the Chinese companies that bought Sirtex, a company that offers radiation treatment for cancer using small particles, for $1.9bn last year.

The new drug, which has not yet reached the stage of preclinical trials, is expected to take seven to 10 years before it is available on the market.

However, Institute for Gly­comics general manager Chris Davis said there could be an ­opportunity to fast-track the drug because of the need to treat hPIV in people whose immunity system was compromised, such as cancer and transplant patients, where mortality rates following hPIV ­infection were about 50 per cent.

“We see this as a potential blockbuster drug,” Dr Davis said.

The Institute for Glycomics says hPIV is estimated to be the main cause of 7 per cent to 11 per cent of lower respiratory tract infections that result in hospitalisation of children below the age of five. For people over 65, hPIV has been found to be the most common viral pathogen among those hospitalised with acute respiratory problems. In the US, the economic cost of hPIV infections is ­estimated at more than $US200m ($290m) a year.

Dr Davis said one advantage of working with a Chinese company to develop the drug was that, ­unlike most international ­pharmaceutical firms, “they are very willing to invest in Australian R&D”.

He said the institute had a “solid development platform”.

“It makes sense to work with Chinese pharma because we can co-develop,” Dr Davis said.

Professor von Itzstein said the principles and processes his team used in developing the drug were similar to those used in the successful development of Relenza.

Griffith University vice-chancellor Carolyn Evans said the partnership with China Grand Pharma was a major licensing deal for the university.

“With neither an hPIV treatment nor vaccine currently on the market, there is a clear unmet clinical need and market opportunity,” she said.

“It’s a perfect example of the institute’s pioneering research and its commitment to translating and commercialising its research into tangible benefits for the ­global community.”