Believing in botanical drugs: SunTen Phytotech :: BiotechEast - Taiwan and China biotechnology, medical devices, pharmaceuticals, ^¤å½s×, ^¤å×§ï ::

SunTen Phytotech Co., Ltd.

(By Ben Ferris)

24 February, 2005
As a 20-year veteran of Big Pharma, Dr. Chien Du-shieng, President and CEO of SunTen Phytotech Co., Ltd., is well versed in the central methodology of Western drug discovery; identifying single compounds that attack a single disease target. When asked about the time he first heard of botanical drugs, drugs that use a combination of botanical (plant-based) compounds that are notorious in their difficulty to scientifically quantify, he nods his head grimly.

"I was a skeptic."

Now, at the helm of SunTen Phytotech, a botanical drug discovery company, his attitude is belied by his contagious smile and unfailingly humble demeanor: He's a devout believer.

Believing in botanicals. Chairman and CEO of SunTen Phytotech, Dr. Chien Du-shieng.

Since its inception as the botanical drug discovery subsidiary of the Sun Ten Pharmaceutical group in 2000, SunTen Phytotech has amassed a series of milestones in botanical drug development. The company has collaborated with some of the leading stars of the botanical drug industry, including US-based PhytoCeutica for the development of the anti-cancer auxiliary compound PHY906 (currently in Phase II trials) and UK-based Phytopharm for the development of PhytoTopica, an herbal remedy for eczema. Botanical drugs for cardiovascular diseases, asthma, as well as an herbal-based cough medicine are also under development in Sun Ten Phytotech's portfolio.

Rounding out an array of services, SunTen Phytotech also produces consumer food supplements which use lower doses of a botanical drug, such as their HERBright series of extracts. Chien says that while the supplements aren't the focus of the company, it's an important source of supplementary revenue.

"It's a good business if you have a side product that always brings you some revenue to support your other costs of drug development."

Crucial to landing international partners has been SunTen Phytotech's ability to leverage its R&D and chemistry, manufacturing and control (CMC) capabilities to attract business. Their broad range of technical platforms for such tasks as authentication of plant species and raw material sources and plant extraction process control, puts them on a very short list of Taiwanese companies who can offer these services at a high quality. Chien believes that SunTen Phytotech has a head start in these areas, especially in light of Asia's extensive history and experience in the area of botanically based R&D.

The recent accreditation of SunTen Phytotech's labs by the CNLA (Chinese National Laboratory Accreditation, a regional accreditation scheme that meets international standards) stems from their committed drive to make processes accountable to Western scientific standards, a critical factor in convincing Western audiences often predisposed to skepticism when it comes to botanical drugs.

"I don't think botanical drugs or traditional Chinese medicine has been given a fair assessment or view by the scientific community." Chien says. When he came back to Taiwan from the US, he realized he could play a unique role in understanding the botanical drug industry from the Western point of view.

"I thought it was a very good opportunity for me to look at that, more scientific experience to look at it and makes sure it makes sense to other people. If I am convinced, I know how to convince other people."

But Chien knows the challenge is incumbent on SunTen Phytotech and other botanical drug companies to expand the body of scientific evidence that show botanical products do work, and he is excited to do so.

Modern medicine may be at a crossroads, Chien believes, where single molecule drugs evolve to multiple components as understanding of disease and health becomes more sophisticated. Botanical drugs work fundamentally the same way triple combination therapies for cancer treatment (the FDA approved regimen), and cocktail drugs for HIV patients work, Chien asserts, by hitting multiple disease targets simultaneously. He notes how often the treatment fails if only one component is removed, representative of the synergistic dynamics involved in multi-compound drug. SunTen Phytotech is favorably positioned to be at the forefront of this new frontier, Chien believes.

At work in the lab at SunTen's Taipei County operations center.

Better communication is one of the keys to opening up Western minds to the benefits of herbal medicine, Chien explains. The US is a particularly hard nut to crack, due to their relative inexperience with herbal medicine, unlike Europe, where herbal medicine- particularly of Indian origin- is more common.

This 'education' follows the humanitarian aims of Dr. Hsu Hong-Yen, the founder of Sun Ten Pharmaceutical, and the 'Father of scientific Chinese medicine'. Hsu is responsible for many of the scientific advances Chinese medicine has made over the last 50 years, for example, changing the drugs (which originally had to be cooked) into powder packets for more affordable and quantifiable measurements.

"He wrote many books just regarding botanical drugs. Can you imagine a founder of a drug company now doing that now?" Chien laughs.

"He came from different way of looking at it, doing something important to help people."

The drug market has obviously changed since Hsu's era, when the parent company Sun Ten Pharmaceutical was a traditional manufacturing company able to rely on a loyal Taiwanese customer base. The recent broadcast by the company of a commercial on BBC World Europe as well as a visible presence in international conferences and exhibitions ?including a planned showing at the world's largest biotech exhibition, BIO 2005 Philadelphia- speak to SunTen Phytotech's new commitment to building an international presence.

Marketing and international promotions are areas that SunTen Phytotech is hoping to improve upon, says Chien, noting that it’s a "slow process".

"If people want to know you, they won't know you overnight," he says with a smile.

If Chien seems buoyant in the face of adversity, he has reason to be. The recent BIOAsia pharmaceutical partnering conference held in Tokyo at the beginning of February, was "very successful" for SunTen Phytotech. Several big name large pharmaceutical (protein-based drug discovery) and venture-capital companies showed a level of interest in SunTen Phytotech that even Chien was surprised by.

"I thought to myself, why would they be interested in botanical based drug company like us?" The answer, according to Chien, lies at the heart of the modern medicine quandary where pharmaceutical companies are finding difficulty in treating disease with conventional single compound drugs.

"They weren't just interested in our products, they were also interested in our approach, how we use multiple compounds to hit multiple [disease] targets. They were interested in sharing experience and knowledge."

Out of the matchmaking conference, SunTen Phytotech walked away with six interested partners. For Chien, this is a small example of the current sea change in thinking about medicine by Western big pharma companies. He cites recent moves by the FDA and European regulatory boards which in recent years have allowed for more leeway for the difficult to classify category of botanical drugs.

"People are starting to notice and are asking each other, why are they doing that [botanical medicine]?" Chien says, his smile tinged with excitement.

"Seven or eight years ago, when we experienced a lot of failure with so called new medical entities working in Big Pharma, we always wondered why. We had a feeling we were missing something. When I came here and started working with botanical drugs, the results were totally different than what I could expect from all the knowledge I understood from Western medicine; something didn't fit. But it works. Now I’m starting to learn, this theory really is something."

And SunTen Phytotech is betting on it.

SunTen Phytotech Co., Ltd.
4F-1, No. 268, Liancheng Rd., Jhonghe
Taipei County, Taiwan
Ph: 886 2 82278111
Fax: 886 2 82278110
Email: support@stpt.com.tw
Website: www.stpt.com.tw

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