Akeso Launches Construction of Shanghai Global R&D Center to Accelerate Its Innovation Globalization Strategy

HONG KONG, Nov. 28, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The groundbreaking ceremony for Akeso (9926.HK)  Shanghai Global R&D Center was successfully held at the Zhangjiang headquarters park in Shanghai. The establishment of the Akeso Global R&D Center signifies a crucial step in Akeso's innovative globalization strategy, as it plays a crucial role in driving the company's sustained and high-speed innovative development, enabling the company to enhance its global competitive edge in the field of new drug development.

The Akeso Global R&D Center project is situated in Shanghai's Zhangjiang headquarters park (Youchuang Park), spanning an area of 14,454.90 m², with a total construction area of 66,568.86 m². The planned investment for the project is estimated to be RMB850 million.

Leveraging Akeso's internationally advanced drug innovation and development system, the Akeso Global R&D Center will align with the group's R&D strategy and proactively track/lead the latest global research trends. It will focus on cutting-edge areas like gene therapy, cell therapy, neurological diseases, and anti-aging, establishing a leading pipeline for ongoing research while establishing platforms and teams dedicated to tumor microenvironment big data analysis and translational research. Additionally, the Akeso Global R&D Center will utilize Zhangjiang as a gateway, leveraging China's strengths to connect with global resources, fostering the development of a world-class biopharmaceutical industry cluster in Zhangjiang while facilitating the global expansion of China's domestic innovative drugs.

For the past 11 years, Akeso has consistently prioritized independent research and development, leveraging advanced research and efficient innovation as a foundation for its growth. The company has effectively carved out a unique and independent path towards development, attaining a remarkable prowess in innovation that is on par with global standards in the biopharmaceutical industry.

"Shanghai serves as China's gateway to reform and opening-up, as well as the starting point for the international expansion of China's pharmaceutical industry," said Dr. Yu Xia, Founder, Chairwoman, President, and CEO of Akeso. " The establishment of Akeso's global R&D center marks a significant milestone in our unwavering commitment and confidence to expedite the implementation of our global expansion strategy. I eagerly anticipate collaborating with industry partners to enhance the global competitiveness of Akeso's innovative drug research and speed up commercialization. By doing so, we can assist Zhangjiang in Shanghai in constructing a world-class biopharmaceutical industry cluster, facilitate the internationalization of China's domestic innovative drugs, and ultimately benefit Chinese and global patients."

About Akeso, Inc.

Akeso (HKEX: 09926) is a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company committed to discovering, developing, manufacturing, and commercializing innovative medicines that address significant medical needs globally. Since our inception, we have established a distinctive and integrated R&D innovation system with the comprehensive end-to-end drug development platform (ACE Platform) and bi-specific antibody drug development technology (Tetrabody) as the fundamental components, a GMP-compliant manufacturing system and a commercialization system with an advanced operation mode.

Akeso is actively developing a diverse pipeline of over 30 innovative assets in areas such as cancer, autoimmune disease, inflammation, metabolic disease, and other therapeutic fields. Among these, 19 assets have entered the clinical stage, with 3 innovative drugs already approved, 13 Phase III studies ongoing. Utilizing its proprietary Tetrabody technology, Akeso has successfully developed the first-in-class PD-1/CTLA-4 bispecific antibody drug for the market. Additionally, the company has five other innovative bispecific antibody drugs in the clinical stage, including ivonescimab (PD-1/VEGF), PD-1/LAG-3, TIGIT/TGF-Beta, PD-1/CD73, and claudin18.2/CD47 bispecific antibodies.

In June 2022, cadonilimab was approved by the NMPA and became the first commercialized bispecific IO drug globally. Another Akeso internally discovered and developed oncology product, penpulimab (a PD-1 antibody), was granted marketing approval in China in August 2021. In December 2022, Akeso entered into a collaboration and license agreement for up to US$5 billion with Summit Therapeutics to accelerate global development and commercialization of ivonescimab. In August, the NDA submission of ivonescimab was accepted by China's NMPA with priority review. Akeso is listed on the Main Board of the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited.

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SOURCE Akeso, Inc.