Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica Successfully Develops China’s First Quinolone Drug
This article was originally published in PharmAsia News
Executive Summary
Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica has successfully developed China's first quinolone drug - antofloxacin hydrochloride - with intellectual property rights. This represents an achievement under the country's new drug innovation and production program (PharmAsia News, May 11, 2009). With a decade's research and three phases of clinical trials, the drug has gained China's rare Class-I new drug certification and is ready to market. Compared to recent fourth-generation generic quinolone drugs such as prulifloxacin, gemifloxacin and moxifloxacin, the new drug demonstrates advantages in its metabolic characteristics and production costs. It offers long-acting effectiveness of up to 95 percent with the lowest oral dosage for respiratory, urinary and skin infections, making it affordable to the general public. Moreover, its phototoxicity is markedly lower than current similar products including lomefloxacin, sparfloxacin, fleroxacin and ciprofloxacin. (Click here for more - Chinese Language)
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