北京时间 4 月 9 日晚，美国权威生物医药媒体 Endpoints News 对晶泰科技（2228.HK）全资控股的生物技术公司 Ailux 进行了独家报道。
（以下为中文译文）
Ailux加速人才布局, 阿斯利康资深
高管出任首席科学官, 2027年临床在望
一位前阿斯利康科学家即将加入 Ailux——这家鲜为人知的上海初创公司已成长为中国 AI 生物科技领域的领军企业。
Endpoints News 独家获悉，Ailux 已聘请 Maria Belvisi 出任公司首席科学官。Belvisi 此前在阿斯利康的生物制药研发部门担任呼吸与免疫领域的高级副总裁，领导约 500 名科学家。加入 Ailux 后，她将主导公司管线的整体方向，公司预计将于 2027 年提交首批三项 IND 申报。
Ailux 于 2021 年作为晶泰科技的独立业务板块成立。晶泰科技是一家中国 AI-for-science 科技企业，目前市值 54.6 亿美元。虽然目前 Ailux 的运营资金全部来自晶泰科技，但 CEO 李一透露，公司计划下个月启动首轮外部融资，目标在今年第三季度完成。他未透露具体目标金额或估值，只说 “我们在密切关注这个赛道其他公司的融资情况”。
Ailux 的核心研发方向是用 AI 设计蛋白质类药物，这一赛道目前是全球 AI 生物领域最炙手可热的方向之一，吸引了众多玩家入局。头部玩家包括：Flagship Pioneering 旗下的 Generate:Biomedicines，今年 2 月 IPO 融资 4 亿美元；Isomorphic Labs，去年融资 6 亿美元；以及 Xaira Therapeutics，2024 年一亮相就宣布拿到逾 10 亿美元的承诺资本。
Belvisi 常驻伦敦，同时也在帝国理工学院担任教授。她成为 Ailux 在英国的首位员工，未来将继续在英国办公。目前 Ailux 约 150 名员工中，有 130 余人在上海，但公司计划年底前在英国再组建一支 10 至 20 人的团队。过去两年间，Ailux 员工人数已翻了一倍多。目前公司正在美国物色首席医学官，目标是在启动一期临床试验前搭建临床开发团队。
李一说，他在招聘上一直讲究务实，眼光也始终放眼全球。上海有很强的药物早期研发人才池，但他更希望把 Ailux 打造成一家全球化的生物制药公司，对标再生元和百济神州这样的领军企业。
“百济神州的发展模式是我一直在对标的方向，”李一在采访中说，言及百济神州如何从中国起步，成长为全球肿瘤药物领域的行业标杆。“打造真正的全球多元化团队，是我矢志不渝的目标。”
将商业重心转向管线
在成立最初的两年，Ailux 团队将主要精力放在打磨AI平台上，这套平台是实验室科学家和 AI 专家深度协作的产物。李一介绍说，目前的研发团队中，湿实验背景科学家占三分之二左右，计算专家约占三分之一。公司的 AI 模型覆盖面很广，可以预测从抗体-抗原复合物结构、结合亲和力，到热稳定性、多反应性等药物性质。
2023 年，Ailux 开始提供药物研发服务，与数十家药企广泛开展合作，广积项目经验。李一表示，此举意在以真实的工业场景检验平台的实际效能。五年间，Ailux 累计完成逾百个生物大分子药物发现与优化项目。约一年前，公司主动收缩对外合作规模，将战略重心转向自研管线建设。李一坦言，他始终预判公司将在适当时机告别单纯的研发服务模式。
“我们始终清楚，这不会是 Ailux 的终点——我们在创新上的投入力度，单靠提供研发服务根本无法持续，”李一表示，“但正是这段经历，让我们将平台打磨得更加扎实，也从真实项目中充分验证了它的价值。”
李一表示，Ailux 目前仍保留少数精选合作项目，但遴选标准已大幅提升，去年 11 月宣布的与礼来的研发合作即为典型案例。
Belvisi 的加入，是 Ailux 完成这次转型的关键一步。她有过从头到尾操盘药物研发项目的完整经历，包括主导阿斯利康 tozorakimab 的开发——这款 IL-33 抗体近期在两项三期慢阻肺（COPD）临床试验中取得了成功。
Ailux 希望借助 Belvisi 的深厚经验，有力推进公司自研管线的建设。据公司资料显示，其在研管线涵盖：靶向 CD19 和 BCMA 的 T 细胞衔接器（适应症为免疫与炎症疾病）、用于自身抗体介导疾病的长效 FcRn 阻断剂，以及靶向 TL1A 和 IL-23p19 的双特异性抗体（适应症为炎症性肠病）。
Exclusive: China's Ailux adds AstraZeneca vet as CSO
in hiring spree while eyeing clinic in 2027
By Andrew Dunn, Senior Biopharma Correspondent
A former AstraZeneca scientist is joining Ailux, a little-known Shanghai-based upstart that has grown into a leading force in China’s AI-focused biotech industry.
Ailux has hired Maria Belvisi as its chief scientific officer, Endpoints News exclusively reports. Belvisi was most recently AstraZeneca’s senior vice president of respiratory and immunology in biopharma R&D, where she oversaw a team of about 500 scientists. She will help shape Ailux’s pipeline, as the biotech expects its first three IND filings in 2027.
Ailux started in 2021 as a subsidiary of XtalPi, an AI-for-science company in China now valued at $5.46 billion. So far, XtalPi has single-handedly bankrolled the company, but Ailux CEO Alex Li said he plans to kick off its first external fundraise next month, aiming to finish the round by the end of the third quarter. He declined to disclose a target size or valuation for the raise, but said “we’re paying close attention to what other companies have raised in this space.”
Li didn’t name names, but Ailux has specialized in using AI for designing protein-based drugs, which has become one of the hottest and most competitive areas in the AI bio space. The biggest companies in the area include Flagship Pioneering’s Generate:Biomedicines, which raised $400 million in an IPO in February, Isomorphic Labs, which raised $600 million last year, and Xaira Therapeutics, which debuted in 2024 with over $1 billion in committed capital.
Belvisi, who is based in London and is also a professor at Imperial College London, is Ailux’s first hire in the UK, and will remain there. More than 130 of Ailux’s 150 employees are based in Shanghai, according to the company, but it plans to hire a UK-based team of 10 to 20 people by year’s end. Ailux, which has more than doubled its headcount over the past two years, is also looking to hire a chief medical officer, likely in the US, to build out its clinical development team before starting human trials.
Li said he has focused on thinking pragmatically and globally on hiring. Shanghai has a strong talent pool for early R&D work, but he envisions Ailux as a global biopharma, inspired by companies like Regeneron and BeOne Medicines (formerly BeiGene).
“The BeiGene model is what I strive for,” Li said in an interview, referring to the company’s growth into an industry leader in cancer drugs. “I’m very determined in building that global diversity.”
Shifting the business to focus on pipeline
For its first two years, Ailux built out an AI platform that resulted from close collaboration between laboratory scientists and AI experts. Today, Ailux’s R&D team is about two-thirds wet lab scientists and one-third computational experts, Li said. Its AI models help make a range of predictions on everything from antibody-antigen structures to binding affinity to drug properties like thermostability and polyreactivity.
In 2023, Ailux adopted a service business model, working with dozens of drugmakers on as many projects as possible. Li said the goal was to see how its models performed in the real world. All told, Ailux has run over 100 biologics projects over the past five years. About a year ago, Ailux’s leaders decided to sign fewer partnerships and focus on building its own pipeline. Li said he always anticipated the company would eventually move away from being a purely service business.
“We always knew that wouldn’t be the ultimate plan, because the scale we invest in innovation isn’t sustainable for just a service model,” Li said. “But it really helped hone and validate our platform.”
Ailux is still carrying on with a few partners, Li said, but it is far more selective, like an R&D deal announced in November with Eli Lilly.
Belvisi’s hiring will be a key addition in making that pivot. She has overseen drug programs from start to finish, including leading the development of AstraZeneca’s tozorakimab, an IL-33 antibody that recently succeeded in Phase 3 COPD trials.
Ailux is hoping Belvisi’s experience will boost its own pipeline, which includes a CD19xBCMA T cell engager in immunology and inflammation, a long-acting FcRn blocker for autoantibody-mediated diseases, and a TL1AxIL-23p19 bispecific antibody in inflammatory bowel disease, according to its corporate slides.
原文链接：https://endpoints.news/china-based-ai-biotech-ailux-hires-cso-eyes-clinic-in-2027/
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