China's BD King Enters AI Drug Discovery: Announces First-in-Class AI-Designed Antibody LET003 to Challenge Lilly's Obesity Blockbuster

On May 18, Hong Kong Stock Exchange-listed pharmaceutical companyHarbour BioMed（02142.HK）Announce the first utilization ofHu-mAtrIx™ Artificial Intelligence Platform-Developed Next-Generation ACVR2A/2B-Targeting Monoclonal Antibody Drug LET003 Preclinical Research Data.

The results showed,LET003 exhibits superior pharmacokinetic characteristics compared to multiple competing molecules; when combined with semaglutide, it significantly enhances fat reduction effects and effectively protects lean body mass.

Moreover, at a lower dose, LET003 can achieve a comparable effect on promoting lean body mass increase as the higher dose of Eli Lilly's weight-loss star drug bimagrumab, showing potential to become a Best-in-Class drug in obesity treatment.。

As early as 2021, Harbour BioMed partnered with AI pharmaceutical companies.BioMapReach Cooperation, toFully Human Transgenic Mouse PlatformBased onExplore AI Antibody Drugs.

But the large-scale advance into AI pharmaceuticals will be in 2025, with significant progress made in both external collaborations and internal development.

In February, Harbour BioMed announced its collaboration with AI pharmaceutical companyInsilico MedicineCooperation，And disclosed for the first timeMentioned the collaboration on early drug discovery projects for novel specific antibodies.

In October, Harbour BioMed announced the first fully human antibody generated by the Hu-mAtrIx™ AI platform.Source AI HCAb Generation Model——Fully Human HeavyHeavy Chain Antibody (HCAb) Generation and Screening Model, achieving AI design,Closed-loop process of intelligent screening and wet experimental validation, andSame PeriodLaunch the establishment of the AI + Biomedical Ecosystem Alliance.

ThisThe Hu-mAtrIx™ AI platform comes from Harbour BioMed's wholly-owned subsidiary established in 2022.Harbour BioMed，The company'sThe core service is the fully human antibody transgenic mouse platform Harbour Mice, which has also become the foundation for a series of subsequent AI pharmaceutical achievements.

It is worth mentioning that the company appointed at the end of last yearZengRenGreat Bay BioAI CTO andTianrang IntelligenceDr. Miao Hongjiang, the head of XLab, serves as the Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer.

Tianrang XLab TeamZengIn the birthplace of the AlphaFold2 Nobel Prize-winning achievementOfCASP(International Protein Structure Prediction Competition)Achieved the second-best results worldwide in the protein test set, with significant influence in the AI protein field.

At the end of November last year, Harbour BioMedHarbour BioMedDownAstraZenecaAI+CRO Company under its umbrellaEvinova China's AI strategic cooperation,Join Hands to Accelerate AI-Driven Drug Development.

In the 2025 annual report, Harbour BioMed stated outright that it aims to build its subsidiary, Harbour BioMed (Suzhou) Co., Ltd., intoAI-Driven Global Antibody Drug Discovery "New Infrastructure".

And indicated that AI applications canGuide the discovery, enrichment, and optimization of antibody sequences,Bispecific antibody structure design, developability/immunogenicity/pharmacokinetics (PK) evaluation, and patient biomarker research.

Traditional pharmaceutical companies are collectivelyTurn toAI

From the perspective of the global pharmaceutical industry,AI The role in drug research and development has changed. In the past,AIMore regarded as a tool,NowadaysAIIs gradually becoming a companyInfrastructure for scaled innovation.

Not only Harbour BioMed, but also many veteran pharmaceutical companies have collectively bet on AI platforms in the past two years to accelerate the R&D process.

CSPC GroupAndAstraZenecaAchieveIt's done.Advance payment up to12Billion US dollarsStrategyCooperation, utilizing ownSustained-Release Drug Delivery Technology PlatformAndPeptide DrugsAI Discovery Platform, jointly develop innovative long-acting peptide drugs。

Fosun PharmaThenInvesting a large amount of resources into the research and development introduction based onChatGPTEfficientAIToolPharmAID, creating a smarter and more efficient work environment, while deeply cooperating with Insilico Medicine and othersAIR&D enterprise.

BeiGeneAs the only pharmaceutical company in China that has established a functional genomics platform, it integratesCRISPRScreening andAITarget Prediction Technology for Gene Editing Therapy Development。

PharmaronThenCompletedHaixin ZhihuiHoldings，Achieve High QualityPatient Data &AITechnical platform, and promote the digital and intelligent upgrading of Pharmaron's innovative drug R&D service capabilities and systems.。

Dongyangguang PharmaceuticalInvestInvest billions of yuan into AI pharmaceutical enterprisesXtalPiJointly establish a joint ventureCoupling the company's real-world data assets with XtalPi's "quantum physics + AI + robotics" advantages.

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