Alzheimer's stun­ner: Chi­nese biotech wins OK for a new drug on pos­i­tive da­ta — and they have some high-pro­file sup­port­ers

Did an ob­scure Chi­nese biotech just crack the Alzheimer’s enig­ma that’s dumb­found­ed a host of ma­jor league drug de­vel­op­ers?

Chi­na’s Na­tion­al Med­ical Prod­ucts Ad­min­is­tra­tion re­vealed late Fri­day that it’s grant­ed con­di­tion­al ap­proval for Shang­hai Green Val­ley Phar­ma’s oligo­man­nate cap­sules to im­prove cog­ni­tive func­tions in pa­tients with mild-to-mod­er­ate Alzheimer’s, find­ing an overnight oa­sis in a ther­a­peu­tic desert. The de­ci­sion, which fol­lowed a fast-track re­view, was based on a pur­port­ed Phase III win that the com­pa­ny has yet to dis­sect in de­tail.

Unlock this article instantly by becoming a free subscriber.

You’ll get access to free articles each month, plus you can customize what newsletters get delivered to your inbox each week, including breaking news.

SIGN UP LOG IN BECOME A PREMIUM SUBSCRIBER