Shanghai, China, September, 30th, 2020 - Shanghai Henlius Biotech, Inc. (2696.HK) announced that Dr. Scott Shi-Kau Liu has tendered his resignation from the position as an executive director and the chief executive officer of the company due to a change in personal business priorities. After resignation, Dr. Liu will serve as a head of the strategic advisory committee of the company, focusing on the directions of the company’s R&D works, the formulation of the company’s strategies, and the team construction and development of the company. Mr. Wenjie Zhang has been nominated as an executive director of the second session of the Board and appointed as the chief executive officer of the company. Mr. Zhang will lead the senior management team on the company’s day-to-day management and oversee the operation of the company and its subsidiaries.
Mr. Zhang has more than 25 years of commercial operation and management experience in the pharmaceutical industry. Since he joined Henlius, he has been responsible for the operation management of the company, focuses on building the innovative commercial operation mode and creating an international strategic layout, and successfully promotes the commercialisation of Henlius trastuzumab biosimilar 汉曲优. Prior to joining the company, Mr. Zhang has previously served in various roles including the general manager at Amgen China, the vice president, oncology business unit 2 of Shanghai Roche Pharmaceuticals, China, and the head of specialty therapeutics & oncology unit-Bayer Schering Pharma, China.
Mr. Qiyu Chen, Co-CEO of Fosun International, Chairman of Fosun Pharma and Chairman of Henlius, said, hereby I represent the board of directors of Henlius to express sincere gratitude to Dr. Liu for his dedication and contribution to the company in the past years. With the efforts of Dr. Liu and the excellent management team, Henlius has grown from a R&D focused biotech company into a relatively mature biopharma company with integrated R&D, manufacturing and commercialization capabilities. The board of directors and the senior management team of Henlius has a highly uniform opinion about this strategic transition. We believe that it will have a confirmative and positive affect on the future of Henlius.
As an innovative biopharmaceutical company, Henlius is committed to providing high-quality, affordable and innovative biologics for patients worldwide with a focus on oncology and autoimmune diseases. Since its inception in 2010, with the effort of Dr. Liu and the outstanding senior management team, Henlius has built an integrated biopharmaceutical platform with core capabilities of high-efficiency and innovation embedded throughout the whole product life cycle including R&D, manufacturing and commercialization. Henlius has proactively built a diversified and high-quality product pipeline covering over 20 innovative monoclonal antibodies (mAb). Henlius has successfully launched China’s first biosimilar 汉利康®（HLX01，rituximab）and 汉曲优®（trastuzumab, EU brand name: Zercepac）, which is the first China-developed mAb biosimilar approved both in China and in the EU. In the meantime, the company is also developing immuno-oncology combination therapies with proprietary anti-PD-1 mAb HLX10 as backbone.
As of today, Henlius has grown from a team of two persons into an international biopharmaceutical company with near 2,000 staffs. Among them, over 100 staffs have oversea experience. In recent years, attracted by the mission and vision of Henlius, many leading talents in the functions of R&D, quality, commercialization, etc. in top international biopharmaceutical companies have chosen to join Henlius, including Dr. Simon Hsu (SVP of Technical Operations), Ms. Wei Huang (SVP of Manufacturing & Engineering), Mr. Kurt Yu (VP of Marketing and Commercial Operation), Mr. Wallis Zeng (VP of sales) and Dr. Ningshu Liu, who recently joined Henlius as Co-CSO. The senior management team of Henlius is strong and experienced.
Co-founder of Henlius, Dr. Scott Liu, said, I have accompanied Henlius for more than a decade and have seen its growth from a startup to a well-established company. Now Henlius has already built a diversified product pipeline and launched two epoch-making products and keeps developing more high-quality and innovative drugs. I am excited and feel grateful that Henlius has become a leading biopharmaceutical company step by step through our continuous effort. I would especially like to thank Fosun Pharma and Fosun for their long-term support and thank all Henlius staffs for their hard work and great contribution. I believe that in the future, with the support from our shareholder and under the leadership of senior management team led by Wenjie, Henlius will keep being innovative and excellent and never stop making new records.
Mr. Wenjie Zhang, Henlius President and CEO, said, in the future, Henlius will consistently pursuit its core values of "Affordable Innovation · Reliable Quality", and keep seeking breakthroughs in technique and innovation to lead the development and upgrade of the biopharmaceutical industry and to provide high-quality and affordable innovative biologics to patients. Henlius will strive to become the most trusted innovative biopharmaceutical company in the world.