I-Mab Biopharma

Jingwu Zang, former chief of R&D at GlaxoSmithKline in China, founded I-Mab Biopharma in late 2014 and officially launched it in 2016. Joan Shen, the company's current CEO, came in 2017 after working in R&D at Johnson & Johnson's Janssen, Jiangsu Hengrui, and Pfizer. With its top two executives coming from Big Pharma, I-Mab's goals are not limited to China. Soon after Shen joined, it established its US subsidiary as a global R&D hub. It is also one of only a few Chinese corporations that has chosen Nasdaq for its stock listing.

The lead candidate in I-Mab's China pipeline is felzartamab (TJ202/MOR202), a CD38 antibody licensed from German biotech MorphoSys in 2017 for $20 million upfront. I-Mab chose the medicine because of its shorter infusion time—two hours or less, vs up to 6.5 hours for Johnson & Johnson's CD38 drug Darzalex. Sarclisa, a recently approved competitor from Sanofi, has a 200-minute infusion period in the first treatment cycle, then decreases to 75 minutes in the third cycle and thereafter.

I-Mab is conducting two registrational trials for felzartamab: a phase 2 trial with dexamethasone in third-line relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma patients, and a phase 3 trial with Revlimid as a third component for second-line patients. Shen told investors on a conference call in August that the company intends to apply for Chinese permission in the second or third quarter of next year.

Headquarters: 555 West Haiyang RoadNew Bund Center, Floor 55Shanghai, China

CEO: Joan Huaqiong Shen

Founded: 2016

Website: https://www.i-mabbiopharma.com/