Biotech Values

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Himalayan Fungus Boosts Mitsubishi Tanabe Sales With MS Drug Gilenya

Tetsuro Fujita’s eureka moment about a Himalayan fungus in 1985 may mean part of a $5 billion payout for Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corp. a quarter-century later.

While the scientist drove over a bridge between Japan’s Shikoku and Honshu islands on his way to take up a research post for traditional herbal remedies, Fujita realized the fungus, used in a Chinese medicinal soup, must be suppressing the immune system of the insects on which it grew.

His research at Kyoto University not only helped yield Gilenya, a new treatment for multiple sclerosis -- the debilitating condition afflicting more than 2 million people worldwide -- it also promises to bring Mitsubishi Tanabe its biggest money earner. Annual sales of the pill, the first for the autoimmune disease, may exceed $5 billion, UBS AG said.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-02/himalayan-fungus-aids-mitsubishi-tanabe-sales-with-multiple-sclerosis-drug.html

Larva Invader

With the help of another researcher, Fujita partnered with Yoshitomi Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. and Taito Co., now respectively part of Mitsubishi Tanabe and Mitsui Sugar Co. The scientists began studying in 1986 the Cordyceps fungus known in Chinese and Japanese as “winter insect, summer plant,” so called because it invades insect larva during winter and grows out of the host by summer.

Fujita said he was inspired by the discovery of ciclosporin, also derived from a fungus, which spurred research into how the immune system may be subdued in transplant patients. Fujita, now a professor emeritus at Kyoto University, said he was unaware the immune-modulating properties of Cordyceps could eventually help multiple sclerosis patients.

“I knew from reading the Chinese medicinal encyclopedia that the fungus feeds off the larva, lives in a symbiotic relationship for a year, and comes out of the ground in summer by growing out of the carcass,” he said. “That made me think the fungus must be suppressing the larva’s immune response.”

Centuries-Old Remedy

Used as an herbal remedy for centuries, the fungus contains an insoluble, toxic compound called myriocin, said Kenji Chiba, who worked on the project at Yoshitomi. It took scientists at least three more years before they could modify the compound into a usable form, creating fingolimod, or Gilenya.

Novartis licensed the overseas rights to fingolimod from Mitsubishi Tanabe in 1997.

“Although it took a quarter of a century, I’m happy it’s become a drug while I’m still alive,” Fujita said. “It makes me happy that something I did is making others happy.”