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Successful entrepreneurship of a returnee from Boston in Shenzhen: Dr. Yihan Wang welcomes talents to join in

2017-12-20 Views:

[Reporter Qiang Li from www.bostonese.com in Boston] Dr. Yihan Wang has been engaged in drug R&D in the Boston area for 16 years and is one of the founders of the Chinese American Biomedical Association (CABA). Three years ago, Yihan Wang returned to China to start his own business. Now Yihan Wang is the chairman of Shenzhen TargetRx Inc. He was interviewed by us during his visit to Boston not long ago.

Above picture: Yihan Wang (middle) attended the investment promotion activity at Harvard University. (Photo by Qiang Li)

Yihan Wang was born in Shashi, Hubei in 1966. He obtained a bachelor's degree in chemistry from the University of Science and Technology of China in 1989, and then stayed on to study a postgraduate degree in polymer chemistry until 1991. Later, he went to the Department of Chemistry of New York University to study for a Ph.D., focusing on organic solid-phase synthesis, nanomaterials, etc. Related research results have been published in the top American and international chemical journals. After obtaining his doctorate, Yihan Wang joined Ariad Pharmaceuticals Inc. after graduation to engage in R&D of new drugs.

At that time, Ariad Pharmaceuticals Inc. gathered American R&D elites and was known as the leader in biopharmaceutical research, involving the most advanced research in the fields of gene therapy and biological signal transduction. In the first 8 years, Yihan Wang devoted himself to use medicinal chemistry methods to screen drugs that act on biological information transmission and discover new treatments for diseases. The main areas of drug research and development are osteoporosis and cancer. Because of his outstanding scientific research results, he was promoted 3 times, from senior researcher to chief researcher.

The team led by Yihan Wang has spent eight years of research to yield fruitful results. The new drug for the treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia was approved by the FDA at the end of 2012, which can turn blood cancer into a chronic disease. After the new drug for the treatment of chondrosarcoma was just developed, it was purchased by the global top-ranking pharmaceutical company Merck, and the upfront payment and potential milestones totaled nearly one billion US dollars. This achievement caused the company's stock price to soar more than 10 times in a short term. Yihan Wang was also appointed as the Deputy Director of Chemistry of Ariad to continue research on new targeted anti-cancer drugs.

While the career in the American workplace was in full swing, Yihan Wang resigned resolutely and returned to China to look for entrepreneurial opportunities, hoping to transform the experience accumulated in the American pharmaceutical industry for many years into anti-cancer drugs that alleviate the pain and save the lives of patients. Dr. Yihan Wang said that the number of cancer patients in China is increasing, and the patients with cancers are becoming younger and younger. The medical expenses for cancer treatment in China are generally high. For ordinary people, the biggest benefit brought by the R&D of new biopharmaceutical drugs is better therapeutic effect and fewer side effects. If there are products with China's independent intellectual property rights, the price will be relatively cheaper.

“For the anti-cancer drugs that we have worked hard to develop over the years, we also hope that Chinese cancer patients will be given priority in treatment and will benefit more Chinese cancer patients around the world. I hope to find partners in China to incubate the research results of anti-cancer drugs into products, put them into production in the Chinese market as soon as possible, and benefit Chinese cancer patients as soon as possible”, Dr. Wang said, which reflected the love of Chinese scientists for the people of the motherland.

Above picture: A group photo of Yihan Wang (middle in the back row) with the R&D staff of TargetRx.

 

Dr. Yihan Wang founded Shenzhen TargetRx Inc. in 2014, which is located in Kexing Science Park, a high-tech incubation base in the Middle Zone of Shenzhen Nanshan Science & Technology Park. At present, offices and laboratories of more than 800 square meters have been built. At present, TargetRx's business is developing rapidly, with focus on the R&D of international cutting-edge targeted new drugs, and strives to become the world’s leading R&D base of targeted new drugs.

Yihan Wang said that TargetRx's development urgently needs talents. He sincerely invites all talents who work and study in Boston to join the team and grow together with TargetRx. Those who are interested in can emailtargetrx@tjrbiosciences.com or call +86-755-86934300.