Medicilon interviewed Academician Biao Jiang | Co-founded Gluetacs Therapeutics to transform the scientific and technological achievements sleeping in the ivory tower

ADC, PROTAC, CAR-T, mRNA… Subversive innovative technologies time after time have brought hope to human beings to overcome more diseases, and made the innovative power of scientists the strongest engine to promote the biopharmaceutical industry.  However, every scientific and technological achievement is like a seed, which needs a suitable environment to germinate and be transformed and landed.

According to the data of the "2021 Chinese University Science and Technology Innovation Index Evaluation Report" and "2020 American University Patent Output Ranking" researched by the XBrain, the conversion rate of scientific research achievements in Chinese universities is about 3.5%, while the conversion rate of scientific research achievements in American universities reached about 25%.  A large number of articles, achievements, and patents are hidden in the dark, and the transformation of scientific and technological achievements is still a major obstacle to the development of the industry.

More and more scientists are embarking on the road of transformation of scientific research results, guided by the ideal of the environment, experience and research and development of new drugs.  Academician Biao Jiang is one of them.  Academician Jiang s currently a researcher at the Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, a member of the International Eurasian Academy of Sciences, a doctoral supervisor, a researcher at the Shanghai Institute for Advanced Study, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, a professor at the Institute of Immunochemistry at ShanghaiTech University, and director of the Bangkok Innovation Cooperation Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.  Academician Jiang is a scientist with a lot of research achievements such as completed more than 50 national and provincial scientific research projects, published more than 300 academic papers, and applied for more than 200 patents.  Moreover, Academician Jiang and Dr. Yang Xiaobao, who has been working in the field of protein degradation for many years, co-founded Gluetacs Therapeutics (Gluetacs).  In just two years, Academician Jiang led the team to innovate and develop the first protein degradation pipeline with oral characteristics, GT919, which obtained the implied clinical trial license from CDE and the FDA approval to enter clinical trials and the second molecular glue degradation agent pipeline GT929 applied for new drug clinical research which is accepted by CDE.

Academician Jiang Biao, who has multiple identities, devotes all his efforts to promote the development of China's scientific and technological achievements transformation.  He has won the "Tan Jiazhen Life Science Industrialization Award" and "Yang Xiong Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Award", and has deep foresight and insight into the transformation of scientific and technological achievements.

For this reason, Shanghai Medicilon Inc (Medicilon) interviewed Academician Jiang to see how he overcomes the problems of transformation of scientific and technological achievements, how to improve the efficiency of new drug research and development, and how to be a scientist and entrepreneur.  We hope this interview could find some enlightenment for the pharmaceutical colleagues who are engaged in the transformation of scientific research.

Q1 Medicilon: As a professor in a university, what advantages do you have in starting a business and transforming scientific and technological achievements, and what challenges do you encounter?

Academician Jiang: Scientific and technological innovation is a strong support for high-quality development, and basic research is the source of the scientific system. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the President Xi has placed basic research in an important position in scientific and technological innovation.  Colleges and universities have always been the places with the most abundant achievements in scientific and technological innovation.  As professors in colleges and universities, the long-term accumulation of core technologies has given us a deep insight into the frontiers of science and technology.  We know best how to transform the scientific research results in our hands, and no one is more suitable than us to push our scientific research results to commercialization step by step.

To use the power of capital to transform their own scientific research results, the first challenges faced by scientists are the recognition of capital, the formation of corporate teams, and the operational capabilities of companies and the execution of teams.  The success rate of biopharmaceutical R&D companies in Europe and the United States is only 5%, which means that entrepreneurship itself will always be accompanied by huge challenges.

Q2 Medicilon: It took Gluetacs Therapeutics just over a year to push GT919 into the clinical stage.  In more than two years, the GT919 new drug clinical research application was approved by the FDA, and the GT929 new drug clinical research application was accepted by the CDE.  Can you share your experience in efficiency regarding the research and development?

Academician Jiang: As far as I know, the entire R&D team of Gluetacs is working on weekends. The R&D team can be seen in the laboratory, office area, and conference room. Every employee is devoted to work with full enthusiasm.  The company has also introduced a high-quality consultant team for preclinical toxicology, preparation, registration declaration and clinical research to arrange sub-module exchanges on weekday evenings and weekends.  The company's management team's efficient collaboration, effective communication, and strong support from external CROs ensure the efficient implementation of target project approval, PCC verification, and registration declaration are the three main aspects allowed Gluetacs to quickly complete the declaration work of GT919 and GT929 (Signing Ceremony of Strategic Collaboration between Gluetacs and Medicilon on Protein Degradation Drug IND R&D Services).

Q3 Medicilon: In addition to new drugs GT919 and GT929, what other pipelines does Gluetacs have in development, and what is the progress?

Academician Jiang: As far as I know, in addition to the two molecular glue pipelines GT919 and GT929, which have achieved dual China-US declarations, there are also two PROTAC pipelines that are also undergoing declaration work.

Among them, GT838 has completed toxicological batch production and is currently undergoing formulation research and GT868 is undergoing scale-up work and will soon conduct pre-toxicological research.  Two molecular glue pipelines focus on malignant hematological tumors and two PROTAC pipelines focus on refractory solid tumors.

Q4 Medicilon: The transformation of scientific research results can be described as a narrow escape, with many challenges.  Based on your many years of experience in the transformation of scientific research achievements, what is the key to solving the problem of transformation of scientific and technological achievements?

Academician Jiang: Solving the problem of transformation of scientific research achievements is an eternal topic in itself. "The transformation of scientific research achievements can be said to be close to death" itself is the embodiment of the 5% success rate of biomedicine.  First of all, biopharmaceutical companies themselves must have technological advantages and break away from article-oriented scientific research. The leading idea of the establishment of the ShanghaiTech University is not to publish articles and apply for funding as the main goal, but to create a "Bell Laboratory" in the field of biological research.  Secondly, the Technology Transfer Office of ShanghaiTech University and leaders at all levels fully support the transformation of scientific research, forming a great environment for innovation and entrepreneurship.

Finally, the key point of the transformation of scientific and technological achievements is to improve the execution and centripetal force of the team to achieve a state of good timing, favorable location, and harmonious people.  This may be a powerful way to solve the difficulty of transforming scientific and technological achievements.

Q5 Medicilon: Q5 Medicilon: Now the government encourages scientists to start their own businesses, but in fact, not many have really stepped forward. What do you think are the main reasons for your success?

Academician Jiang: Now that the government encourages scientists to start a business, it is a topic worth exploring. Scientists have to face a series of problems such as technical problems, operational problems, and corporate financing problems.  Whether you can really take the first step is not important in itself, but whether you can develop in the long run is the key.  First of all, protein degradation drugs are the future trend of the R&D of small molecule drugs, so our research group set up the research direction of protein degradation at the beginning of its establishment.

Secondly, the research group immediately introduced Dr. Xiaobao Yang, a scientist in this field, and quickly and efficiently formed a team.  Furthermore, our research group carried out scientific research on relevant targets with huge unmet clinical needs, and achieved a series of achievements.

In 2019, our research group organized the first protein degradation academic conference of ShanghaiTech University, which attracted experts from various fields of science, industry, and investment to participate in the conference.  Finally, under the promotion of Shijiazhuang Pharma Group, the research team hatched Gluetacs Therapeutics, which is only the first step. Our definition of true entrepreneurial success is the launch of drugs to benefit patients.

Q6 Medicilon: What qualities do you think researchers need? What is your message to young researchers?

Academician Jiang: Scientific researchers must have great enthusiasm for the field they are engaged in, be able to devote themselves to the field they are engaged in, and have a strong spirit of exploration and criticism.  I hope that young scientific researchers will receive more support from the government, insist on innovation at the source, adhere to the orientation of solving actual needs, and actively carry out exchanges and collaboration with enterprises in their research fields, so as to realize the transformation of scientific research results.