Li Ka-shing’s CK Life unit eyes China fast track for cancer vaccine pipeline

CK Life Sciences, a unit of Li Ka-shing-backed CK Group, plans to bring its cancer vaccine candidates to mainland China through a “fast track” channel as Beijing moves to accelerate early-stage drug development.“We are planning to run investigator-initiated trials [IITs], hopefully, in the next year,” CK Life Sciences’ vice-president and chief scientific officer Dr Melvin Toh Kean-meng said in a recent interview.His comments came as CK Life Sciences set up Sequencio Therapeutics in Hong Kong as a subsidiary on March 10 to advance its cancer vaccine pipeline. Sequencio has about 20 preclinical vaccine projects targeting different cancers, with its two most advanced candidates expected to enter the clinical trials by late 2027 or early 2028.In China, IITs allowed drug makers to generate human clinical data “faster” than the conventional regulatory process, which typically took one and a half to two years before a single patient could be dosed, Toh said.“The earlier you get in and the faster your drug is approved, the faster you can generate revenue,” he said. “First to market always has an advantage.”Melvin Toh Kean-meng, vice-president and chief scientific officer of CK Life Sciences. Photo: Dickson LeeUnlike cancer drugs that targeted tumour growth or cell survival, Sequencio’s vaccines aimed to “stimulate” a patient’s immune system to fight existing cancers or prevent recurrence, Toh said.