00:00So talk to us. I believe you guys have an announcement to make. Just help us understand what that is.
00:06Thank you for having me. So last week we entered into a licensed collaboration with
00:11Air and Access. So this is actually a new company backed by several blue chip
00:17U.S. investors, including Freezer Life Science, Orbe Matt, and Goldman Sachs. So by entering
00:24into this partnership with Air and Access, ISCO is enabled to receive a solid upfront of over
00:31100 million U.S. dollars. And also the total deal value can come up to over $1 billion plus equities,
00:39plus equities, royalties, and also the sub-license income. So to us, it's a quite encouraging
00:45collaboration or partnership we look forward. Yeah, Air and Access, this is, as you mentioned,
00:51a so-called new co, which is a newly formed VC backed sort of startup. Can you tell us a bit
00:58more about the rationale of choosing to use them as a partner versus a more established biotech or
01:04farmer name? So this time we collaborated with Nexus and also the blue chip investors I just mentioned
01:13with the asset, which is HSK-39004. So it's a dual PD-3 and 4 inhibitor. We have both formulations,
01:22the nebulizer and the DPI. So other than a traditional pure our licensing deal, under the
01:28new co model that High School is entitled to 19.9% of the new co stake. So in which we believe that we
01:35are more closely involved in the product development in the future. And also we are able to share the
01:42upside with our partners and with our stakeholders. So that's kind of the main difference, which is
01:48different from the traditional licensing deals. And does this tell us anything that's more specific
01:55on your plans in terms of overseas expansion, Lindsay? So through this, because High School is
02:03really an innovation and driven company from China and with collaboration, we think that signals the,
02:10you know, the premier investors in the US, they recognize and also has a great confidence in the
02:15data we generated in China. So also in light of this trend, we were hoping that High School is step
02:22on to a more partnership led globalization with our company. So we were seek for a more strategic fit
02:30and active partners to globalize and to do the global development of our assets.
02:37Yeah, can you tell us more about what it could be on your radar in terms of future licensing deals?
02:43Tell us a little more about your overseas ambitions.
02:45So for now, within High School, we have 48 research programs ongoing and among them,
02:54we have around 30 active pipelines. So I would say all those assets, we are eager
03:01and actively looking for partnerships. So regarding, we definitely will focus more on the more matured
03:07pipelines such as, for instance, we have a PD4B inhibitor, which is completing the phase two in China.
03:14And for that, we are looking for the partners with the capabilities in IPF and also multiple
03:20autoimmune disorders. And other than that, we also have a, we believe, which can be a potential
03:26bloodbuster is oral IO-23 peptide. So for this one, we have already entered into phase two development
03:34for psoriasis and also IBD indications. So for that one, we also are looking to a active partnership
03:41on those two assets. And speaking for early stage assets, we are looking for the discovery
03:48platform collaboration and also the platform collaboration.
03:52And we don't see many, I think that the point you're making that you're open to collaboration
03:58on many fronts, multiple. In fact, I think it's an understatement, just judging by the tone, Lindsay.
04:03We don't see many Chinese companies going at it on their own, especially overseas and late stage.
04:09Do you think that's a trend that we should expect to continue? And what do you think the challenges
04:13are for that to change longer term? I think the reason why still the biotech or pharma players in China,
04:24we look for a partnership-led strategy instead of doing our commercializations in the U.S. and Europe,
04:30is that the commercial success is built on accumulation. So that cannot happen without years of experience
04:37and the track record in accumulating the right people, having the right team to promote the product
04:43in the U.S. and Europe. So, so far, maybe while speaking for high school, we don't have that
04:48infrastructure established. So, so far, so far, recognized the limitation. So we still root for
04:55a partnership-led strategy. But on the other hand, I think high school has invested heavily into our R&D.
05:05So definitely our pipeline and our R&D capability is more on the mainstays. So that one, we try to
05:11leverage the existing capability and complement with our partners' capabilities to provide our drugs
05:18to serve the patients worldwide.
05:23I'm just wondering, in terms of domestically in China, obviously, we've been seeing some of your peers
05:28dealing with issues like discounts and the intense competition in the pharma side of things. I mean,
05:35how are you looking at the domestic market overall and maybe some of the key challenges that you're
05:39focusing on for 2026 now?
05:41Yes, there's definitely a very heavy pricing pressure in the industry. I think that's also the reason why
05:51high school transitioned itself from a more generic-focused business to an innovative-focused business.
05:58So for now, we've launched for our proprietary innovative medicines. So to conquer or how to
06:05face the severe competition is that when we orchestrated our pipeline, we try to avoid a highly
06:11competitive segment, you know, those on the red oceans segments. And I try to focus more on the, for
06:18instance, we have built a pipeline on anesthesia drugs and many pulmonary fibrosis, and many
06:26specifically on chronic diseases in renal and the liver disease area. So the, well, the strategy
06:33high school is rooting for it is try to avoid the red ocean and orchestrated differentiated pipeline.
Comments