Recently, HRS3797 for Injection, a new chemical drug of Class I, has obtained the clinical trial approval from the NMPA for tracheal intubation during induction of general anesthesia and maintenance of intraoperative skeletal muscle relaxation. It is codeveloped by School of Pharmacy & Key Laboratory of Drug Design and Optimization of Jiangsu Province and Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceutical from research led by Professor You Qidong and Associate Professor Jiang Zhengyu.
Targeting the unmet need for skeletal muscle relaxation drugs, the research team innovated a new approach in drug design to target multimeric protein complexes and successfully obtained new model candidates that are significantly superior to existing drugs. They are expected to be the potential Best-in- Class skeletal muscle relaxation drug.
The team was led by Professor You Qidong and Associate Professor Jiang Zhengyu. They are responsible for developing and selecting candidate molecules with potentials, and Jiangsu Hengrui for later stage studies like preclinical research and evaluations. The both parties agree to share the benefits and risks. The whole process was complete in a very short period from the establishment of the project to the obtaining of clinical approval. In February 2021, the patent technology was transferred, and consequently, the clinical application was submitted by the company in May. The clinical trial approval was obtained in July. The success highlights the favor of university-enterprise cooperation and industry-academia-research link, and creates a new model in developing new drugs.
The project is mainly accomplished on the platform of Key Laboratory of Drug Design and Optimization of Jiangsu Province with financial support from the Double First Class project of CPU and Outstanding Discipline Project of Jiangsu Province.
