Victor Li’s CK Life Sciences teams up with Chinese AI pharmaceutical firm XtalPi to develop cancer vaccines
- The Hong Kong-listed healthcare company and XtalPi aim to use an AI platform to discover and design preclinical tumour vaccine candidates
- It is the latest partnership between an artificial intelligence-powered innovator and a traditional healthcare company, as AI adoption in the drugs sector accelerates
CK Hutchison Group’s healthcare unit has joined forces with Chinese medical technology company XtalPi to develop a platform for cancer vaccine research and development.
In the last three years, such collaborations have jumped in China, according to research by the Boston Consulting Group in April. There was one strategic tie-up in 2019, two in 2020 and four in 2021, BCG said.
XtalPi recently announced it will provide services to Xi’an Jassen Pharmaceutical, owned by the American giant Johnson & Johnson. XtalPi, established in 2015, is one of the rising Chinese AI drug discovery companies trying to catch up with their international peers which were founded as early as a decade ago.
Tumour vaccines work by activating an immune response against specific molecules expressed in tumour cells.
The segment holds promise, as cancer cases worldwide increase amid a lack of fast and effective treatments. The global cancer vaccine market will rise by a compound annual growth rate of 11.53 per cent to US$12 billion in 2026 from 2022, according to the press release, which cited Mordor Intelligence.
The partnership between CK Life Sciences and XtalPi came as Hong Kong and Shenzhen are working to deepen their collaboration in areas of technical innovation such as biotech. The neighbouring cities are co-developing the Hetao Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation Zone, where XtalPi is based, an area of 4 square kilometres encompassing parts of the Futian district of Shenzhen and some areas of neighbouring Hong Kong.
“As a company headquartered in the Hetao Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation Zone, XtalPi is committed to realising the synergies between Shenzhen and Hong Kong by creating a new paradigm for innovation in the Greater Bay Area,” said Shuhao Wen, co-founder and chairman of XtalPi. “We are confident that this collaboration will significantly facilitate the scientific research exchange in the Greater Bay Area.”