Ascentage Pharma Breaks Ground on Global Headquarters, R&D Center and Manufacturing Base in Suzhou Industrial Park

Suzhou, China and Rockville, Maryland, USA, November 20, 2019 – Ascentage Pharma (6855.HK), a China-based, globally oriented innovative drug development company, announced that the groundbreaking ceremony for its global headquarters, R&D center, and industrial base (hereinafter referred to as the “Headquarters Groundbreaking Ceremony”) was grandly held today in the Suzhou Industrial Park, marking another significant milestone in Ascentage Pharma’s innovative drug development. Attendees at the ceremony included Wu Qingwen, Member of the Standing Committee of the Suzhou Municipal Party Committee and Secretary of the Party Working Committee of Suzhou Industrial Park; Yang Xiaomin, Member of the Party Working Committee and Deputy Director of the Administrative Committee of Suzhou Industrial Park; and Jiang Weiming, Deputy Secretary of the Party Working Committee and Director of the Administrative Committee of Dushu Lake Science and Education Innovation District in Suzhou.

The successful holding of the groundbreaking ceremony for Ascentage Pharma’s headquarters marks another significant milestone for the company, following its successful listing on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on October 28. Ascentage Pharma settled in the Suzhou Industrial Park in 2016, and this headquarters groundbreaking represents a deepening of the company’s comprehensive layout within the park. It is understood that the company’s headquarters covers an area of 95 mu. In the future, the Ascentage Pharma Global R&D Center will primarily focus on expanding the team responsible for the design and optimization of innovative drugs targeting novel early-stage targets, thereby further enriching the product pipeline; conducting in-depth translational medicine research to explore biomarkers, clinical pharmacology, precision medicine, and combination therapies, so as to improve the success rate of clinical drug development. Meanwhile, a global production base will be established in accordance with international cGMP standards, providing strong support for the company’s subsequent expansion into the global pharmaceutical market.

Ascentage Pharma is dedicated to developing innovative drugs in therapeutic areas such as oncology, hepatitis B, and age-related diseases, maintaining a global leading position particularly in the research and development of novel apoptosis-targeting therapies. The company currently has eight Class 1 new drug candidates in clinical development, with 28 Phase I/II clinical trials underway in China, the United States, and Australia. Notably, HQP1351, a third-generation BCR-ABL inhibitor for the treatment of drug-resistant chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), is expected to file for New Drug Application (NDA) approval next year and is poised to become the company’s first marketed product.

Dr. Yang Dajun, Chairman and CEO of Ascentage Pharma, stated, “The continuous policy investment and strong talent clustering effect in Suzhou and its Industrial Park have provided the most significant impetus for the development of our innovative pharmaceutical enterprise. The groundbreaking and construction of Ascentage Pharma’s global headquarters, R&D center, and industrial base in Suzhou Industrial Park will inject new momentum into the company’s growth, marking the beginning of our transition from an R&D-focused enterprise to a fully integrated, end-to-end pharmaceutical company. We look forward to accelerating the commercial launch of our products and truly expanding from Suzhou to the global stage, thereby benefiting more patients.”

Ascentage Pharma (6855.HK) is a China-based, globally oriented clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to developing innovative drugs in the therapeutic areas of oncology, hepatitis B, and age-related diseases. The company possesses a proprietary protein-protein interaction (PPI) targeted drug design platform. On October 28, 2019, Ascentage Pharma was successfully listed on the Main Board of The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited.

Ascentage Pharma’s R&D pipeline primarily focuses on inhibitors of key proteins in the apoptosis pathway, such as BCL-2, IAP, and MDM2-p53, to reactivate apoptotic programs in tumor cells; it also includes second- and third-generation inhibitors targeting kinase mutants that emerge during cancer treatment. The company currently has eight Class 1 novel drugs in clinical development, with 28 Phase I/II clinical trials underway in China, the United States, and Australia.