BeOne Medicines, a global drug company that originated in mainland China, plans to launch more cancer drugs in Hong Kong and expand production in Guangzhou to tap greater market opportunities arising from local drug-approval reforms two years ago.

The company has brought three types of cancer medications to Hong Kong so far and intends to seek approval from local health authorities to cover additional medical indications by the end of this year.

“The Guangzhou facility, which now produces large molecule therapies, such as PD-1 inhibitor, supplying mainland China, Macau and Southeast Asia, is expected to further expand its production capacity and begin supplying Hong Kong in the future,” said Richard Cheng, associate commercial director for Hong Kong and Macau.

BeOne’s plant in Suzhou, in eastern China’s Jiangsu province, mainly handled small‑molecule production and was “committed to providing a steady supply to meet demand from Hong Kong”, Cheng said.

Large-molecule drugs are more difficult to develop than small-molecule medicines, as well as more complex and costly to make, and most are administered intravenously. A PD-1 inhibitor is a type of cancer immunotherapy drug commonly used to treat solid tumours, including lung, gastric and oesophageal cancers.

The facility in Guangzhou, in southern China’s Guangdong province, spans 158,000 square metres (about 1.7 million sq ft) and has an annual production capacity of 65,000 litres. The drug developer also has a manufacturing site in the US.

Its flagship product, a small-molecule drug known as a BTK inhibitor, sells across global markets including the US and Europe. It helped drive the company to its first-ever profitable six months in the first half of this year.