Genuine Biotech Establishes Strategic Cooperation with Zhongyuan Bank

On Oct. 20, the Medical and Health Conference, one of the serial events celebrating the 10th anniversary of Zhongyuan Bank, was successfully held in Zhengzhou. At the conference, Genuine Biotech entered into a strategic cooperation agreement with Zhongyuan Bank, which signifies deepened bank-enterprise cooperation and anticipates to energize the innovation and development in the pharmaceutical industry with technology finance, thereby facilitating scientific & technological innovation and high-quality development of the industry. The Conference was hosted by Liu Kai, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and President of Zhongyuan Bank. The experts in medicine from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of Engineering, officials from Health Commission of Henan Province, Department of Finance of Henan Province, and Pingdingshan Municipal People's Government, heads from Zhongyuan Bank and Genuine Biotech, and a number of representative pharmaceutical enterprises attended the Conference.

Biopharma, a strategic industry influencing national welfare, economic growth, and national security, constitutes the cornerstone for the construction of a healthy China and the very foundation for the formation of new quality productive forces. With the theme of "A healthy future driven by science & technology and empowered by finance", this Medical and Health Conference aimed to assemble all social forces from government departments, professional authorities, and technology finance-related institutions and enterprises to jointly explore new trends and opportunities in the innovation and development of the medical and health industry, seek new modes and approaches for the empowerment of the same with technology finance, and promote the realization of a sound and interactive cycle of "Industry-Science and Technology-Finance".

Innovative drug R&D is a cutting-edge field and novel track in the biopharmaceutical sector. This year, the term "innovative drugs" appeared in the government work report for the first time, highlighting the strategic position of innovative drugs as an important constituent of the future emerging industries. Experts and entrepreneurs from the pharmaceutical industry shared their professional views on the current development status and front-line trends of innovative drugs at the Conference.

Li Peng, Academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences and President of Zhengzhou University, gave a keynote speech titled "Thoughts on the Future Development of Biopharmaceutical Industry in China". She reviewed the course of development of life science around the world and in China, and pointed out that the development of life science is full of vitality, and the biopharmaceutical industry as an essential industry linked with life science, has a bright prospect in the future society, yet is also faced with challenges from six aspects, including pharmaceutical innovation, cross-disciplinary development, satisfaction of social demands, enhanced diversified social engagement, and construction of a good ecosystem for the innovation culture in the society. She said that universities, especially those specializing in high-level research, serve as a key force of innovation, and mainly provide support in technical solutions, talent teams, and research platforms in the process of facilitating industry development. Zhengzhou University, listed in the World First-Class Universities Construction Initiative and co-constructed by the Ministry of Education and Henan Province, has unique advantages in the field of medical innovation, and takes indispensable responsibilities in accelerating the development of life science and medicine and serving the biopharmaceutical industry. Medicine is a traditional and advantageous discipline of Zhengzhou University, which has brought together resources of the best quality in medical services and scientific & technological innovation within Henan Province. Zhengzhou University will leverage the advantages of a comprehensive university with large talent and innovation pools, engage in collaborative biopharmaceutical innovation through Tianjian Laboratory of Advanced Biomedical Sciences and other platforms, promote achievement transformation with higher quality and efficiency, lead and support the continuous development of the biopharmaceutical industry to a new level, and contribute to the construction of a healthy China and healthy central plains.

Jiang Jiandong, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and head of Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, gave a keynote speech titled "Diversified Innovative Drugs in China". Jiang mentioned that innovative drugs are characterized by high technology, high investment, high risk, and high return. "When it comes to high return, most people might think of it as an economic return. However, the return here is not just economic, more importantly, a return to human health by means of eradicating diseases." He introduced the clinical application of drugs such as ephedrine, artemisinin, retinoic acid + arsenic trioxide, butylphthalide, berberine and Azvudine, "All these drugs prove that China has its own innovative drugs which have been widely used in clinical practice for a long time." Jiang gave a detailed introduction to the process of Azvudine clinical study carried out by his team and focused on the pharmacology of Azvudine for both symptomatic and curative treatment of COVID-19 infection, "The antiviral effect of Azvudine relieves the symptoms while its effect on immunity improvement provides a cure (for COVID-19)". The R&D of Western medicine focuses on targets, while the R&D of novel drugs in China conveys more profound wisdom. It does not simply address the outer symptoms, but reflects systematic approaches such as the combination of symptomatic and curative treatment as well as “monarch, minister, assistant and envoy” principle.

Wang Zhaoyang, founder of Genuine Biotech, made a keynote speech titled "Exploring the Secret of Life with Genuine Science & Technology" from the perspectives of R&D talents, industry layout, R&D progress and achievement highlights. He said that as a biotech company driven by innovative R&D, only by focusing on breakthrough research can Genuine Biotech truly satisfy clinical and market demands and secure continuous development of the Company in the long run. In order to attract talents and utilize local resources, the Company locates itself in Henan, Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen with strategic considerations of all the local conditions. Genuine Biotech thinks highly of talent team construction and has now built an R&D management team composed of scientists who have successfully developed global blockbuster drugs such as Emtricitabine, Sofosbuvir, and Azvudine, which can efficiently advance the drug R&D process. The core product pipelines of Genuine Biotech are all self-developed innovative drugs. Azvudine is not only a pandemic-combating hero drug curing more than ten million patients with COVID-19, but also the world's only dual-target anti-HIV NRTI backbone drug. The efficacy of Azvudine for "both symptomatic and curative treatment" proposed by Academician Jiang has greatly inspired Genuine Biotech. Wang Zhaoyang said that the R&D management team of Genuine Biotech is now exploring other indications of Azvudine from the direction of immunity reconstruction, and an exciting news is that, the IND application of Azvudine has recently been approved by the NMPA as a monotherapy for advanced solid tumors.

Dr. Tian Wenzhi, founder, chairman, and general manager of ImmuneOnco Biopharmaceuticals (Shanghai) Inc., has accumulated rich and in-depth research experience in the field of anti-tumor antibody drug development, especially for drugs targeting CD47. In his speech, he shared strategies for antibody drug development, emphasizing the importance of a science-driven drug development approach. Tian believed that new drug R&D must rely on a deep understanding of the disease mechanism and comprehensive knowledge of the drug target so as to guarantee the safety and efficacy of the drug designed.

Epigenic Therapeutics, Inc. is China's first frontier biotechnology company dedicated to epigenetic therapy, which focuses on areas including metabolic diseases, cardiovascular diseases, viral hepatitis, ophthalmology, oncology, and rare diseases. Dr. Zhang Baohong, co-founder and CEO of Epigenic Therapeutics, shared at the Conference that the regulation of epigenetic genome, as a brand new gene regulation technology, owns three key advantages: First, it utilizes endogenous gene regulation pathways, resulting in low biological costs and high gene regulation efficiency; second, it does not change DNA sequences, providing a good safety profile; third, it mimics the biological regulatory effects of "imprinted genes" and has long-lasting efficacy. "There still exist many unmet clinical demands in chronic diseases. This patient population will be truly benefited if the chronic diseases can be treated via direct, safe, and precise intervention of the pathogenic genes using novel technologies," said Zhang.

Insilico Medicine is a leading company in artificial intelligence (AI)-driven pharmaceutical R&D. Dr. Ren Feng, Co-CEO and Chief Scientific Officer of Insilico Medicine, introduced how AI redefines drug R&D from three perspectives: the limitations of traditional drug R&D, the development of AI in the field of new drug R&D, and Insilico Medicine AI drug development platforms and the achievements thereof. He introduced in detail the history of and the world's latest progress in AI-driven pharmaceutical R&D, and pointed out that AI empowers drug R&D through multiple links such as target discovery, molecular generation, and clinical trials. He believed that the most crucial role of AI in new drug R&D is to shorten the R&D cycle, reduce the R&D cost, and help accelerate the marketing of new drugs.

Guo Hao, Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Zhongyuan Bank, said in his speech that technology finance, as the first and foremost element of the "five major articles", is particularly important in the transformation of China's old and new economic forces, and is indispensable in achieving original and breakthrough "0 to 1" innovation.  "Take human body as an example, if an industry is the backbone of the body, science & technology are the brain, and finance is the blood vessels. Industry, science & technology, and finance together drive the development and circulation of the ecosystem of economy," said Guo.

Focusing on technology finance, Zhongyuan Bank has taken multiple measures to innovate the financial service system. According to Guo, Zhongyuan Bank has now launched 43 financial products of 4 categories catering to the whole life cycle of science & technology enterprises including the incubation phase, start-up phase, growth phase, and maturity phase. The star products, "loans for professional, refined, special, and novel enterprises" and "science & technology loans", rank among the top in Henan Province. The Bank is now serving 12,000 science & technology enterprises, and the balance of loans to science and technology enterprises amounts to RMB75.6 billion. In addition, in terms of supporting the development of the medical and health industry, Zhongyuan Bank has been committed to the construction of a healthy Henan and has lent out a total of RMB73 billion in this sector.

Banks play a crucial role in exerting direct financing advantages, directing financial resources to emerging high-tech enterprises, and fostering new quality productive forces. Xiang Junjie, co-founder of Saibailan, a leading media in the pharmaceutical industry, said that the synergy of bank-enterprise cooperation will provide potent financial support for the development of the enterprises and the improvement of quality and efficiency of the pharmaceutical industry, and facilitate the optimization of the ecosystem for innovation in the pharmaceutical industry. Shi Xiaotian, Deputy Mayor of Pingdingshan Municipal People's Government, highly appreciated this strategic cooperation, and said in her speech: "The strategic cooperation between Genuine Biotech and Zhongyuan Bank marks another milestone in our effort in deepening the bank-enterprise cooperation, and will be a strong driver to the quality development of the pharmaceutical industry." Dr. Du Jinfa, Chairman of the Board, CEO, and Chief Scientific Officer of Genuine Biotech, said in a media interview that, "For biopharmaceutical enterprises, financial support is the blood for innovation and R&D. Sufficient funding helps the rapid advancement of new drug R&D and ensures the continuity and stability of R&D activities. Banks have inherent advantages in financial empowerment. The strategic cooperation with Zhongyuan Bank will accelerate the transformation and industrialization of the Company's R&D and innovation achievements, drive the Company in continuous and stable development, help shape a bigger and stronger innovative drug industry in Henan Province, and contribute to the construction of a healthy China and a healthy future."