AI-driven strategic alliance to accelerate antibody–drug conjugate innovation and research in China

Insilico Medicine, Mabwell Bioscience and ChemExpress have entered a strategic partnership to create a novel antibody–drug conjugate (ADC) library and streamline next-generation drug discovery through artificial intelligence, advanced chemistry and antibody engineering. The collaboration integrates each company’s specialist expertise to strengthen China’s position in global ADC development

Insilico Medicine, Mabwell Bioscience and ChemExpress have announced the signing of a strategic cooperation agreement. The partnership was founded on the principles of complementary strengths, resource sharing, collaborative innovation and mutual trust. The three companies will jointly develop a novel antibody–drug conjugate (ADC) compound library covering hundreds of targets, identify and advance ADC candidates and accelerate the development of ADC therapies.

The collaboration emphasises collective core expertise across the ADC development value chain and establishes an integrated innovation system from target discovery to clinical development. Mabwell Bioscience, a China-based biopharmaceutical company with end-to-end capabilities, has a clinically validated, industry-leading ADC development platform that demonstrates both strong research and development capacity and commercialisation potential. Mabwell will provide technical support through its proprietary ADC technology platform and contribute hundreds of monoclonal and multi-specific antibodies directed at diverse targets in oncology and autoimmune disease.

Insilico Medicine – a global biotechnology company headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts but with a presence in Hong Kong – is driven by generative AI, will use its Pharma.AI platform to design novel payload-linkers with innovative structures and high levels of selectivity. The design process will analyse disease mechanisms, target properties and toxicological characteristics. The platform was validated during the development of Rentosertib, regarded as the first drug designed using AI.

ChemExpress, a China-based global contract research and manufacturing partner with a US centre in New Jersey, will provide a large library of molecular building blocks and reference compounds, together with technical expertise in linker payload synthesis. Working together with Mabwell Bioscience and Insilico Medicine, it will deliver end-to-end services that cover the range of discovery to preclinical research and clinical development and commercialisation.

This partnership represents a significant advance in China’s ADC sector. It combines AI technology with established drug-development disciplines to pioneer a model that integrates AI-based prediction of potency and safety during the molecular design stage. This approach is expected to shorten optimisation timelines that traditionally take several years and to improve overall research efficiency. The alliance therefore achieves synergy across the entire ADC value chain, linking AI-driven design, antibody discovery, payload-linker synthesis and clinical development.

“ADCs – [often referred to] as ‘magic bullets’ – demonstrate tremendous potential in cancer therapy through their high targeting specificity,” said Dr Feng Ren, co-chief executive officer and chief scientific officer of Insilico Medicine.

“Through our three-way collaboration with Mabwell and ChemExpress, we have pioneered a new model for ADC drug development, integrating AI power, biopharmaceutical expertise and manufacturing implementation.

“We believe this approach will continue to accelerate ADC drug development and deliver safer and more effective treatment options to patients worldwide,” he added.

Dr Liu Datao, chairman and chief executive officer of Mabwell, said that the collaboration reflects Mabwell’s strategy of innovation in the ADC field. He noted that Mabwell’s extensive experience in antibody development, combined with Insilico’s capabilities in AI-assisted design and ChemExpress’s chemical synthesis expertise, will accelerate the creation of ADCs with superior clinical performance.

The goal, he said, is to establish a broad payload compound library to support faster and more efficient development, ultimately providing better treatment options for cancer patients around the world.

Dr Baofu Zheng, chief executive officer of ChemExpress, described the partnership as an important step in the evolution of ADC drug development. He stated that integrating ChemExpress’s strength in payload-linker chemistry with Mabwell’s antibody platform and Insilico’s AI drug-discovery capabilities would enable faster and more precise candidate selection. He added that the collaboration exemplifies ChemExpress’s open and cooperative philosophy and demonstrates a shared commitment to advance global drug innovation through the joint exploration of frontier technologies.

About Insilico Medicine

Insilico Medicine, a global clinical stage biotechnology company powered by generative AI, is connecting biology, chemistry, medicine and science research using next-generation AI systems. The company has developed AI platforms that utilize deep generative models, reinforcement learning, transformers, and other modern machine learning techniques for novel target discovery and the generation of novel molecular structures with desired properties. Insilico Medicine is developing breakthrough solutions to discover and develop innovative drugs for cancer, fibrosis, central nervous system diseases, infectious diseases, autoimmune diseases, and aging-related diseases. www.insilico.com

About Mabwell

Mabwell (688062.SH) is an innovation-driven biopharmaceutical company with capabilities spanning the entire pharmaceutical value chain. The company is committed to providing more effective and accessible therapies to meet global medical needs, with a focus on oncology and aging-related diseases. Mabwell’s mission is “Explore Life, Benefit Health” and its vision is “Innovation, from Ideas to Reality.” For more information, please visit www.mabwell.com/en.

About ChemExpress

Founded in 2006, ChemExpress specializes in offering CRO & CDMO services for pharmaceutical and biotech companies, focusing on small molecules, biologics and new modalities such as ADCs/XDCs, peptides and PROTACs. Our comprehensive platform is engaged in the research and development, manufacturing and supply of regulatory starting materials, novel building blocks, intermediates, reference compounds, APIs and drug products. We support our clients' projects from early drug discovery, process development to commercialization. Over the past 19 years, we have established a state-of-the-art QC/QA system aligning with ICH guidelines for pharmaceutical manufacturing. We provide our clients with high-quality products and CMC services across the entire life-cycle of drug development. For more information, please visit: www.chemexpress.com