The two oncology programs, aumolertinib, an epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitor and sugemalimab, an anti-PD-L1 antibody, have shown promising Phase 3 data for the treatment of patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).\u00a0 \u00a0These therapies have the potential to offer treatment at a fraction of the cost of existing approaches.<\/p>\n
This collaboration will see Abdul Latif Jameel Health commercialize the drugs to selected markets throughout the Middle East region, as well as in Turkey and all of Africa, providing access to affordable, safe, effective treatment for thousands of lung cancer patients.<\/p>\n
We spoke to Melanie Nallicheri<\/a>, Chief Executive Officer, EQRx, and Akram Bouchenaki<\/a>, CEO, Abdul Latif Jameel Health, about the partnership and what it could mean for cancer patients in the target markets. \u00a0<\/p>\n MN: <\/strong>Our mission is to improve health for all through great innovative, affordable medicines:<\/p>\n What we are basically saying is, we want to make innovative, life-enhancing medicines available and accessible to patients all over the world.<\/p>\n MN: <\/strong>Our understanding of medicine, biology and data science has developed enormously in recent years. \u00a0Things we can do today would have been seen as science fiction a decade or two ago. \u00a0What usually happens\u00a0 as technology moves forward, costs \u2013 or at least consumer prices \u2013 come down. \u00a0But in healthcare, costs have actually gone up. \u00a0This means our understanding and our capabilities have increased, but the accessibility and affordability of these new solutions has decreased. \u00a0We could see this was wrong, and we saw an opportunity to do things differently by building a successful business at scale to change this dynamic.<\/p>\n AB: <\/strong>To add to Melanie\u2019s point, there is an incredible unmet medical need for these drugs.\u00a0 If you look at the Gulf region, which generally has a good level of healthcare, lung cancer is the second most common cancer in men, and it is the leading cause of death by cancer in men.\u00a0 Up to 80 percent of cases are diagnosed at advanced stages, and the five-year survival is as low as 10 to 20 percent.\u00a0<\/p>\n This is why it is absolutely critical to massively expand access to these therapies.\u00a0 That\u2019s the vision that we\u2019re trying to implement.<\/p>\n MN: <\/strong>We recognized that to make a real difference, you need a significant portfolio, or catalog, of medicines. \u00a0This allows you to offer many choices for treating chronic or life-threatening diseases and enables you to make the greatest impact. \u00a0Instead of starting with one or two drugs, we wanted to start with 10, 20, 30, focusing on critical areas like oncology and immune-inflammatory diseases.<\/p>\n We are also coming at the problem from a different perspective, from the basis of a shared objective with prescribers and payers. \u00a0Normally a manufacturer will launch a great new drug, but they keep the price high to maximize their profits and keep their shareholders happy. \u00a0Prescribers want to offer this drug to their patients, while payers \u2013 like health insurers or national health schemes \u2013 want to make it available to their members and communities. \u00a0The problem is, the cost is so high they can only afford to prescribe to a certain number of people, otherwise it would blow their budget. \u00a0This means they have to restrict who can benefit from these drugs.\u00a0 In effect, the objectives of the manufacturers, the prescribers\/payers and the patients are at odds with each other.<\/p>\n Our approach is to work towards a shared objective<\/em> of making these medicines as widely available as possible. \u00a0To do this, we intend to make our pricing\u00a0 transparent, simple and radically lower. \u00a0We will benefit from selling more of our medicines, prescribers and payers benefit from offering these treatments to more people without breaking their budgets, and patients benefit from having access to life-enhancing healthcare.<\/p>\n MN: <\/strong>The potential benefits are enormous.\u00a0 Our mission is to offer life-changing medicines at radically lower prices.\u00a0 By radically lower, we\u2019re talking a quarter, a third, a half lower.\u00a0 That makes a significant difference.\u00a0 For example, say there is a total global spend for a specific drug of US$ 10 billion, which isn\u2019t inconceivable for many immune-inflammatory diseases.\u00a0 Our drug might be priced at a third of the price of the current drug, so in a market of US$ 10 billion, there is immediately a potential saving of over US$ 6.6 billion.\u00a0 Of course, we\u2019re never going to own 100% of a market, but even if we only had 15% of the market \u2013 US$ 1.5 billion \u2013 by offering our drug at one-third of the price, that\u2019s still US$500 million in revenue for us and a saving of US$ 1 billion for the health system.\u00a0 So you can see how we can potentially build a great business yet also generate significant value for all of the other stakeholders in our ecosystem, not least the patients, who will have access to treatments that may have been previously unavailable to them.<\/p>\n MN: <\/strong>There are three core pillars in our business model that we believe will enable us to do this. \u00a0The first is that, right from day one, we have had a laser-sharp focus on creating a completely different cost structure.\u00a0 We are a new business, so we\u2019ve been able to create that structure from the ground up right across the organization.\u00a0 Second, we are creating operational processes that leverage everything we have at our disposal as an industry to lower the cost of developing the medicine. \u00a0For instance, you can use remote approaches to monitor patients during a clinical trial, which means you can conduct trials much faster and more efficiently, which reduces costs.\u00a0 Lastly, because of this unique business model, we don\u2019t need the typical salesforce-driven, high-promotion approach to selling drugs.\u00a0 Our partners should be creating the pull-through and the access to our medicines, as opposed to us sending hundreds of salespeople to persuade people to buy them.\u00a0 This kind of market-driven model has not existed before in the global healthcare sector.<\/p>\n AB<\/strong>: As we were looking to become an investor in EQRx, we found a great alignment with the vision, the values and the overall purpose of EQRx. \u00a0Abdul Latif Jameel Health aims to be a bridge to accelerate access to innovative therapies in the global south. \u00a0\u00a0The two key words there are \u2018accelerate’ and \u2018access\u2019.\u00a0 We want to get vital medicines \u00a0to people faster and make them accessible to more people.\u00a0 Affordability is a key part of that, but price is not the only factor preventing medicines reaching those who need them.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been in situations in my career where we have donated tons of drugs to treat infectious disease to countries where prevalence rates were very high, but unfortunately the drugs never made it to the patients who needed them. \u00a0So, there is more than just an affordability issue to address.<\/p>\n The other thing we really liked with the EQRx approach is that we saw a great alignment with the innovative business model they are building, the way they\u2019re focusing on the right stakeholders for the future. \u00a0It is a vision and a strategy that we very much support and look forward to implementing in our part of the world.<\/p>\nMelanie, can you tell us about your mission at EQRx?<\/h2>\n
![\"Mellanie](\"https:\/\/media.alj.com\/app\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Mellanie-Nalicheri-CEO-EQRx-221x300.jpg\")
\nCEO, EQRx<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n
Why are the issues of accessibility and affordability such big problems in the pharmaceutical industry?<\/h2>\n
![\"Dr.](\"https:\/\/media.alj.com\/app\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Dr.-Akram-Bouchenaki-CEO-Abdul-Latif-Jameel-Health-273x300.jpg\")
\nCEO, Abdul Latif Jameel Health<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nThis isn\u2019t a new problem, so what is different about EQRx\u2019s approach to addressing it?<\/h2>\n
How big a difference could this make for health systems as well as for patients?<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/media.alj.com\/app\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Alexis-Borisy-Executive-Chairman-Board-of-Directors-Melanie-Nallicheri-Chief-Executive-Officer-EQRx.jpg\")
\nPhoto credit \u00a9 Fierce Biotech.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nHow has EQRx been able to overcome the barriers that have stopped someone doing this before?<\/h2>\n
Akram, what was it about EQRx that convinced you they would be good partners for Abdul Latif Jameel Health?<\/h2>\n
Melanie, your first two products are both cancer drugs – aumolertinib and sugemalimab. Why did you choose to start with these two?<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/media.alj.com\/app\/uploads\/2022\/02\/ALJ-Health.jpg\")
<\/p>\n