SAN FRANCISCO and SUZHOU, China, Oct. 15, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Innovent Biologics, Inc. ("Innovent") (HKEX: 01801), a world-class biopharmaceutical company that develops, manufactures and commercializes high-quality medicines for the treatment of oncology, metabolic, autoimmune and other major diseases, today announces the appointment of Dr. Yong Jun Liu, a renowned world class scientist and successful leader in biopharmaceutical industry, as the president of the group. Reporting to Dr. Michael Yu, founder, chairman and CEO of the group, Dr. Liu will be mainly responsible for group's global R&D, portfolio strategy, business development as well as international operation.
As a world renowned scientist in immunology, oncology and translational medicine, Dr. Liu has over 30 years' experiences in both academic institutions and top global pharmaceutical companies. Dr. Liu received his MD's degree in internal medicine from Bethune Medical University in 1984 and Ph.D. degree in Immunology from University of Birmingham, UK in 1989. After two years postgraduate training in the same laboratory at University of Birmingham, he joined multinational pharmaceutical company Schering-Plough in 1991 as a Senior Scientist at Schering-Plough Lyon France. In 1997, he moved to the DNAX Research Institute, a biotech company owned by Schering-Plough in Palo Alto, California, as a Principal Staff Member. In 2002, Dr. Liu was recruited by the University of Texas (UT), MD Anderson Cancer Center, as the Vivian Smith Distinguished Chair Professor, Chairman of the Department of Immunology and the founding Director of the Center for Cancer Immunology Research (CCIR). In 2011, Dr. Liu was recruited by the Baylor Research Institute as the Chief Scientific Officer and the Director of the Baylor Immunology Research Institute. After more than 10 years at the academia, Dr. Liu was recruited by Medimmune, a biopharmaceutical subsidiary of AstraZeneca, as Chief Scientific Officer and global Head of Research in 2014. Before joining Innovent, Dr Liu served as the global Head of Research at Sanofi from 2016 to 2020.
Dr. Liu has remarkable academic achievements and rich experience in research institutions. As one of the top cited scientists in Immunology with over 94,000 citations, Dr. Liu published over 260 scientific papers in Nature, Science and other top academic journals. These studies provide a number of key targets for drug development in the area of inflammation, autoimmune diseases, allergy and oncology, such as thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP), OX40 (CD134), plasma cell like dendritic cells (pDCs).
As key executive R&D leader in multiple global pharmaceutical companies for nearly a decade, Dr. Liu has made remarkable achievements in strengthening drug research capability and enriching early stage innovative pipelines in major therapeutic areas, especially in the fields of immunology and oncology. His leadership skill and strategic thinking guided R&D functions to effectively develop first-in-class and best-in-class drugs during his tenure in various global pharmaceutical companies.
"Warmly welcome Dr. Liu and we are more than excited to have him join Innovent," said Dr. Michael Yu, founder, chairman and CEO of Innovent. "Dr. Liu is not only a renowned scientist with strong academic background but also a powerful manager with extraordinary leadership and rich experience in drug research and development. His successful experience in strengthening the drug research capability and enriching innovative pipeline is an ideal fit to Innovent's strategic goal of developing a first-in-class pipeline for the global market. We believe that Dr. Liu's leadership will bring added benefits to further strengthen our R&D capability and solidify our efforts in building a global R&D platform and developing a more innovative pipeline."
"Innovent is a rapid growing and innovative biopharmaceutical company," said Dr. Liu. "I'm very pleased to join such a company with strong emphases on science and innovation, high execution capability and so many talented and passionate people. I look forward to working with our global team to develop innovative life changing medicine that benefit patients of the world."
About Innovent
Inspired by the spirit of "Start with Integrity, Succeed through Action," Innovent's mission is to develop and commercialize high quality biopharmaceutical products that are affordable to ordinary people. Established in 2011, Innovent is committed to developing, manufacturing and commercializing high quality innovative medicines for the treatment of cancer, metabolic, autoimmune and other major diseases. On October 31, 2018, Innovent was listed on the Main Board of the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited with the stock code: 01801.HK.
Since its inception, Innovent has developed a fully-integrated multi-functional platform which includes R&D, CMC (Chemistry, Manufacturing, and Controls), clinical development and commercialization capabilities. Leveraging the platform, the company has built a robust pipeline of 23 valuable assets in the fields of cancer, metabolic, autoimmune diseases and other major therapeutic areas, with four products, TYVYT® (sintilimab injection), BYVASDA® (bevacizumab injection), SULINNO® (adalimumab injection), HALPRYZA® (rituximab injection) officially approved for marketing in China, four assets in Phase III or pivotal clinical trials, and additional 15 molecules in clinical trials. TYVYT® has been the only PD-1 inhibitor included in the NRDL since 2019.
Innovent has built an international team with expertise in cutting-edge biological drug development and commercialization. The company has also entered into strategic collaborations with Eli Lilly, Roche, Adimab, Incyte, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Hanmi and other international partners. For more information, please visit: www.innoventbio.com.
