From June 16 to 19, 2022, the 4th Academic Annual Conference of the Vascular Surgery Physicians Branch of the Chinese Medical Association was held as scheduled. The conference was jointly organized by the Chinese Medical Association and the Vascular Surgery Physicians Branch of the Chinese Medical Association, and hosted by Beijing Anzhen Hospital affiliated with Capital Medical University. Experts from various fields were invited to attend the conference. Given the severe situation of epidemic prevention and control, participants gathered virtually to share in this academic feast.

        At the special session on lower-limb arterial disease, Professor Changwei Liu from the Department of Vascular Surgery at Peking Union Medical College Hospital, the session chair, provided a comprehensive introduction to the application of our company’s “Hepatocyte Growth Factor Naked Plasmid Injection” (code-named NL003) in the treatment of severe lower-limb ischemia. The presentation highlighted the clinical challenges in treating lower-limb ischemic diseases, gene-therapy-based strategies for promoting angiogenesis, the mechanisms of action of the drug, and typical cases observed in the blinded phase of the NL003 Phase III clinical trial. NL003 is a Class 1 innovative biological drug primarily indicated for the treatment of lower-limb ischemic diseases. Currently, there are no effective therapeutic drugs available in clinical practice; some patients can benefit from surgical interventions or interventional procedures. The Phase I and Phase II clinical studies have preliminarily demonstrated the safety and efficacy of NL003. The results of the Phase II clinical study were published in 2019 in the journal Molecular Therapy and received high acclaim: “The findings of this study on HGF naked plasmid gene therapy offer hope to patients who currently lack suitable clinical treatment options.”

        The experts attending the conference engaged in a lively discussion on clinical trials of gene therapy drugs. Professor Xu Xin, Director of Vascular Surgery at Zhongshan Hospital affiliated with Fudan University in Shanghai, stated: “Gene therapy has opened up new opportunities for patients who are not suitable for surgical treatment. It can relieve patients’ pain and promote ulcer healing, providing a promising direction for modern treatments and effectively addressing previously unmet therapeutic needs and various challenges.”

        Our company is mobilizing various resources and making every effort to accelerate the clinical trial process, striving to achieve high-quality results. We look forward to seeing the clinical research findings applied to clinical treatment at an early date, thereby enriching the therapeutic options for lower-limb ischemic diseases and alleviating patients’ suffering.