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Interview with Lidi Biotech Wen Danyi: In the CRO industry in the cold winter of capital, each company has its own way of survival

 Last Update: 2023-02-03
 Source: Internet
 Author: User

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2022 is a turning year
for the domestic biomedical industry.
As this field enters the deep water area of development, this year, we have seen heated discussions in the industry on domestic innovative drugs going overseas, experienced the survival and self-help battle of many biotech companies, and witnessed the large-scale financing events
of many excellent innovative pharmaceutical companies under the capital winter.

Unlike the ups and downs of biotech companies, the CXO industry, which serves and supports the research and development of new drugs by innovative pharmaceutical companies, has maintained a high prosperity
.
Many CDMO companies focusing on the CGT field have sprung up, and some biotech companies have begun to choose to transform and layout CDMO business.
The performance of CMO and CRO companies has also shown a continuous growth trend
.

In 2022, in addition to the much-watched CDMO companies, what is the development status of the domestic CRO industry? How affected are they affected by the capital winter? At the 2023 New Year Party hosted by the New Drug Founders Club, Arterial New Medicine and Dr.
Wen Danyi, CEO of Lidi Biologics
, chatted on this topic.

What is the development status of the domestic CRO industry? How affected are they affected by the capital winter? At the 2023 New Year Party hosted by the New Drug Founders Club, Arterial New Medicine and Dr.
Wen Danyi, CEO of Lidi Biologics
, chatted on this topic.

After 11 years of hard work, Lidi Biotech has now developed into a domestic preclinical CRO head enterprise
.
In today's capital "cold wave", the top priority of Lidi Biotech is to actively carry out strategic separation and planning
of key businesses.
At present, after a series of adjustments, some of the original businesses that could not be disassembled from Lidi Biotech are now clearer and more explicit, mainly divided into two sectors: First To the B side, do preclinical CROs of pharmacological efficacy, and support the translational research and new drug research and development of pharmaceutical companies; The second is To The C-end is mainly aimed at personalized precision medicine, which not only supports the detection of biomarkers of pharmaceutical companies, but also supports personalized precision medicine and scientific research
in hospitals.
The new round of adjustment has brought stronger impetus to the development of Lidi Biotechnology, and has walked out of a differentiated development path
different from the current domestic CRO enterprises.

In today's capital "cold wave", the top priority of Lidi Biotech is to actively carry out strategic separation and planning
of key businesses.

In Wen Danyi's view, under the cold winter of capital, every domestic CRO company has its own way of survival, and in the future, the CRO industry will show a development trend
of cross-integration with biotech, CDMO and other enterprises from all walks of life.

Arterial New Medicine: How is the revenue of Lidi Biotech in 2022?

Wen Danyi: The first half of the year may have been quite difficult for everyone
.
Because of the pandemic, we To C's business was still affected, because foreign patients could not come to Shanghai, resulting in a lot of resistance to our cooperation with hospitals, so according to the original plan, the target was only half
.
However, our CRO business exceeded the planned targets, and the overall situation of the company is still good
.

Wen Danyi:

Arterial New Medicine: What kind of year do you think 2022 will be for Lida Biologics?

Wen Danyi: 2022 is a turning point for Lidi Biologics, which is the first year that we have completely split
the business of Lidi Biologics.
We used to focus on conversion, so To B and To C's businesses are not completely separated
.
Later, after Liwen Laboratory moved to Zhoupu Medical Park, we independently established AAALAC certified animal rooms and cell rooms, as well as GMP for IVD diagnosis The production plant completely separates the entire diagnostic-related business from the CRO business and is self-contained
.
This is equivalent to Lidi Biotech to some extent to make a relative split, the original inseparable business, now more clear
.

Wen Danyi: 2022 is a turning point for Lidi Biologics, which is the first year that we have completely split
the business of Lidi Biologics.

Arterial New Medicine: What new businesses did Lidi Biotech carry out last year?

Wen Danyi: After the company did a split, from In terms of ToB business, in addition to traditional CRO services, we now focus more on how to do target innovation
at the source.
The biggest achievement of Lidi Biotech last year was to make a lot of special drug-resistant PDX models and build paired cell lines
.
At present, how to overcome drug resistance is a rigid need for new drug research and development of pharmaceutical companies, and we have made a special target The technology platform of identification and validation, which uses RNAi and CRISPR for screening to identify key genes
for tumor drug resistance.

Wen Danyi: Focus more on how to do target innovation at the source

At the same time, the business model of Lidi Biotech is also changing
.
Since we find all drug-resistant targets independently and have unique resources, we will use these targets to cooperate with biotech companies for risk sharing
.
If the target is successfully transferred in the end, it will also receive additional financial support
from the customer.

Arterial New Medicine: Affected by the epidemic and the cold winter of capital, has Lidi Biotech made some strategic adjustments?

Wen Danyi: We basically rely on our own funds for development, so we must earn money with our left hand and spend money
with our right hand.
The more money earned by the left hand, the more you can develop something new and invest more
.
Now in the case of capital winter, Lidi Biotech is also meticulous, and with the adjustment of customers' projects and needs, the projects that spend pure money are doing less and less
.
Of course, when developing something new, if it is the first time, we are willing to develop it together with the customer and share the risk
.

Wen Danyi:

Arterial New Medicine: Will Lidi Biotech be affected by the capital winter in 2022?

Wen Danyi: The capital winter has an impact on us, and it also has an impact
on many customers.
We signed some orders with customers, and later some customers said that we cut the budget internally, and the project could not be done
.

Wen Danyi:

However, under the cold winter of capital, we can see that the state and capital are encouraging pharmaceutical companies to innovate
at the source.
Recently, Lidi Biotech is applying for some projects of the Science and Technology Commission, and we can clearly feel that when applying in previous years, as soon as we get clinical approval, we can get funding funds
.
But now there are new policies to encourage target discovery
at the source.

Arterial New Medicine: Under the cold winter of capital, have you found that the needs of Lidi Biologics have undergone some changes?

Wen Danyi: When the early capital is strongly supported, various fields will be set in the industry, but preclinical is not regarded as a very important stage
.
At that time, the milestone set by the pharmaceutical company began with the completion of the first patient dosing in clinical phase I, which they believed was a reflection
of the company's development to another watershed.
So in the case of particularly sufficient capital, you will find that many projects are immediately clinical
.
However, many preclinical trials, including the selection and confirmation of product indications, are not valued by many pharmaceutical companies
.
When we work with some experts, we have received feedback from them, and in fact, some of the oncology projects they are doing are in the stage I or IIa stage of early development, 90% It's
all impossible to go on.
Coupled with the fact that it is now a capital winter, many clinical trials have actually stopped after advancing to two or three patients
.

Wen Danyi: Many preclinical experiments, including the selection and confirmation of product indications, are not valued by many pharmaceutical companies
.
90% of those in early stage I or IIa It's
all impossible to go on.
Coupled with the fact that it is now a capital winter, many clinical trials have actually stopped after advancing to two or three patients
.

In this case, many pharmaceutical companies will return to reflect on whether they have strong evidence and whether they need to supplement preclinical data
.
Therefore, the capital winter makes these companies more willing to carry out new drug research and development in a down-to-earth manner, and will no longer blindly promote clinical trials
.
I think this is to do new drug research and development
from a scientific point of view.

In this case, many pharmaceutical companies will return to reflect on whether they have strong evidence and whether they need to supplement preclinical data
.

Arterial new medicine: Lidi Biotech is the head enterprise of preclinical CRO, have you paid attention to clinical CRO or CDMO and other other areas of enterprise development?

Wen Danyi: CDMO has developed rapidly in recent years, and we will also meet some CDMO companies to cooperate
with us.
For example, some pharmacological efficacy testing may not be their specialty, and they will become our partners
.
Especially like recent cell therapy, these therapies are not traditional ways of doing medicine, and there will be a lot of cooperation and intersection
.

Wen Danyi:

There will also be business model innovation
.
Now there will be biotech companies that license their original technology to CDMO companies, and every time CDMO companies produce this technology to customers, the biotech will make money from it, which is equivalent to a disguised financing method
.
You will see the intersection and convergence
of different fields.
Therefore, the development of the CXO industry to the end must be interdisciplinary, which will also give birth to innovation
in business models.

There will also be business model innovation
.
Now there will be biotech companies licensing their original technology to CDMO companies.

Arterial Medicine: Did you mention that biotech is licensing its original technology to CDMOs, a new way the industry has been exploring recently?

Wen Danyi: Everyone is exploring new ways, such as some selling product pipelines overseas, and some licensing and cooperating
with others for their original technology.
Every company has its own way of living, and if it has its own original things on hand, it must be thinking about how to monetize these things, which is also the way
of survival in nature.

Wen Danyi:

Arterial New Medicine: Although 2022 is the trough of the biomedical industry, the CRO industry is very prosperous, how long do you think this trend will continue?

Wen Danyi: After the capital winter, those who will eventually remain are definitely powerful companies
.
The CRO industry is tied to innovative drug companies, and as long as their projects move forward, there is room for CRO to survive
.
In this industry, in the end, it will definitely be you with me and I have you
.
As long as what we do doesn't conflict with our business model, everyone has room
to grow.

Wen Danyi:

Arterial New Medicine: What challenges will the CRO industry face as it continues to develop?

Wen Danyi: The entire CRO industry is in flux, and its boundaries and biotech boundaries are interspersed, so in this state, if you only do traditional CRO, the development space will be lower and lower, because you can do what others can do, customers will definitely shop around, get you into the towel to squeeze water, it will be difficult to have higher profits
.
Therefore, it is necessary to develop a high value-added business
.

Wen Danyi:

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