Hua Medicine appoints Dr. Fuxing Tang, a former U.S. FDA Officer, as Chief Technology Officer

SHANGHAI, China, Feb. 13, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Hua Medicine, a leading clinical stage biotechnology company based in Shanghai, is pleased to announce that Dr. Fuxing Tang has joined Hua Medicine as Chief Technology Officer, VP of Formulation R&D and Product Development. He will also head up research and development functions for Hua Medicine in the United States.

Dr. Fuxing Tang obtained his Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Florida.  In addition, Dr. Tang conducted postdoctoral research in peptide delivery in Professor Ronald Borchardt’s group, which is well known for their work in Caco-2 cells.  Before joining Hua Medicine, Dr. Tang worked in the pharmaceutical industry and regulatory affairs for 20 years.  Dr. Tang worked as reviewer in the Office of Regulatory Science of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and worked in TEVA and Allergan as Global Director of Biopharmaceutical Sciences.  Dr. Tang started his career at Forest labs, Inc.  During his tenure at Forest labs, Inc/Allergan, Dr. Tang was instrumental in building various biopharmaceutical functions and in charge of multi-functions of ADME, preformulation, drug product process optimization and product post-approval manufacture process optimization. 

Dr. Tang and his team made significant contributions in multiple successful IND/NDA filings and supported post-approval manufacturing for drug products such as Lexapro®, Namenda®, Namzaric®,  Linezess®, Vraylar®, Viberzi®, among others, of which Lexapro®, Namenda®  are  blockbuster products with peak annual sales of US$2 billion.  At Allergan/TEVA, Dr. Tang and his team supported drug development for both NDA and ANDA.  Dr. Tang and his team significantly contributed to multiple first-to-files ANDA approvals such as doxycycline and abuse-deterrent-formulation (ADF) morphine sulfate.

Dr. Tang authored/coauthored more than 20 peer-reviewed research articles/patents across various fields, including organic synthesis, gene delivery, pre-formulation, formulation, and ADME studies. 

“We are very excited to welcome Dr. Tang to join the Hua team, leading and accelerating new products development based on our glucokinase platform,” said Dr. Li Chen, CEO of Hua Medicine. “Dr. Tang is highly experienced in a broad range of drug discovery and development, and contributed to many important innovative and generic drug developments. He will help Hua Medicine expand dorzagliatin product pipeline globally and our engagement in R&D innovation in the United States.”

“I’m very excited to join Hua Medicine, a leading biotech company not only developing innovative medicine for patients worldwide, but also providing leadership in creating ecosystem in pharma R&D in China. By successfully developing dorzagliatin as a global First-in-Class diabetes medicine in China, Hua Medicine has greatly advanced the concept of 'fix the sensor and remodel the glucose homeostasis' to treat diabetes,” said Dr. Tang. “It offers tremendous opportunity to expand its indications and production pipeline through innovation in the pharmaceutical sciences which will help many patients worldwide.”

Hua Medicine announced in November 2019 that the 24-week top-line results from its Phase III Monotherapy Trial (HMM0301) of HMS5552 (dorzagliatin) achieved its primary efficacy endpoint with desirable safety profiles. As HMM0301 will soon be completing its 52-week study, and Phase III Combination Trial (HMM0302) of HMS5552 add on to metformin is near completion of its 24-week study, Hua Medicine is expanding its pipeline into multiple combinations of dorzagliatin with existing oral and injectable anti-diabetic medicines. These efforts will significantly increase the value of dorzagliatin as a novel cornerstone therapy to stop diabetes and its complications.

About Dorzagliatin

Dorzagliatin is a first-in-class, dual-acting glucokinase activator, designed to control the progressive degenerative nature of diabetes by restoring glucose homeostasis in people with type 2 diabetes. By addressing the defect of the glucose sensor function of glucokinase, dorzagliatin has the potential to restore the impaired glucose homeostasis state of people with type 2 diabetes and serve as a first-line standard-of-care therapy for the treatment of the disease, or as a cornerstone therapy when taken in combination with currently approved anti-diabetes drugs.

About Hua Medicine

Hua is a leading, clinical-stage innovative drug development company in China focused on developing novel therapies for the treatment of diabetes. Founded by an experienced group of entrepreneurs and international investment firms, Hua advanced a first-in-class oral drug for the treatment of type 2 diabetes into NDA-enabling stage and is currently evaluating the therapy in adults with diabetes in two Phase III trials in China and various earlier stage clinical trials in China and the United States. Dorzagliatin has achieved its first primary endpoint in a Phase III monotherapy trial. The company has also initiated product life-cycle management studies of this novel diabetes therapy and advanced its use in personalized diabetes care. Hua Medicine is working closely with disease experts and regulatory agencies in China and across the world to advance diabetes care solutions for patients worldwide.