Chinese group Guizhou Sinorda Biotechnology Co Ltd from Guiyang National High-tech Industrial Development Zone recently signed up to partner with Latvian biotech company Latima – part of the Rigvir Group based in the Baltics in Europe – to help develop a treatment targeting cancer tumours.
The Chinese company is based in Guiyang HIZD in Guiyang, the capital city of Southwest China's Guizhou province.
Officials said it signed a $16.7 million cooperative development agreement with Latima at the Guizhou Economic and Trade Exchange Conference at the second China International Import Expo in Shanghai on Nov 6.
According to local media reports, the agreement is mainly on the cooperative development of new antitumor drugs for the oncolytic virus.
Experts say the oncolytic virus is a kind of virus that can effectively infect and kill cancer cells. It only attacks tumor cells and does not harm normal cells. It can also stimulate human immune responses and enhance anti-tumor effects, they added.
As a national high-tech enterprise, Sinorda Biotechnology mainly focuses on the development of innovative drugs and the commercialization of tumor immunotherapy.
Sinorda executives said the RIGVIR oncolytic virus has a lengthy research and development history and is the first oncolytic virus drug in the world that has been approved for marketing.
At present, the drug has been used in Latvia, Estonia, Poland, Armenia, Belarus and other places. At the same time, the drug's registration in the European Union is also progressing.
Guiyang HIDZ officials said the new contract was helped by a great deal of effort by departments from the zone.
They said they have helped a succession of companies in the zone to do their preparations.
In addition, they have familiarized themselves with the wishes of the enterprises, provide improved services for them, used the CIIE to expand imports and promoted the settlement and development of industrial projects.