“Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily”, May 16 (Reporter Huang Xiumei) “We will continue to actively promote the development and capacity building of 'DEL+AI' projects in the discovery and optimization of new drugs. The company independently designed and built a comprehensive compound synthesis platform in 2023.” In response to a number of investors asking about the company's plans for “AI+ Pharmaceuticals,” Li Jin, chairman and general manager of Chengdu, said at the 2023 and 2024 first quarter results briefing held today (May 16).

Chengdu Xiandao is a CRO company focusing on small molecules and new nucleic acid drugs. It has four core technology platforms, including: DEL technology platform (synthetic DNA coding compound library technology), drug design platform based on molecular fragments and three-dimensional structural information (FBDD/SBDD), oligonucleic acid drug development platform (STO), and targeted protein degradation platform (TPD).

At the performance briefing held today, in response to investors' questions about the performance of the company's four major platforms, Li Jin said that the revenue of the four core technology platforms in 2023 was: DEL technology platform revenue of 184 million yuan, up 25.45% year on year; drug design platform (FBDD/SBDD) revenue based on molecular fragments and 3D structural information (FBDD/SBDD) was 91.7783 million yuan, down 11.13% year on year.

The revenue of the New Oligonucleic Acid Drug Development Platform (STO) was 34.377,800 yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 10.62%. Excluding revenue from the transfer of small nucleic acid self-development pipelines, STO's service revenue achieved a year-on-year increase of 60.16% in 2023; the revenue of the Targeted Protein Degradation Platform (TPD) was 18.525 million yuan, an increase of 111.85% over the previous year.

Li Jin also mentioned that in the first quarter of this year, Chengdu Pioneer achieved revenue of 107 million yuan, an increase of 54.35% over the previous year; achieved net profit of 139.40 million yuan, net profit after deducting net profit of 819.42 million yuan. Compared with the same period last year, net profit indicators all changed from negative to positive.

The “Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily” reporter noticed that at the performance briefing, many investors asked about Chengdu Pioneer's progress in the “AI pharmaceuticals” field and the company's competitive advantage in the increasingly fierce “AI pharmaceuticals” competitive landscape.

“In terms of 'DEL+AI', combined with the construction of a high-throughput chemical synthesis and high-throughput compound detection platform within the company, it aims to accelerate the discovery and optimization process of pre-clinical drug candidates through the construction of an iterative 'design-synthesis-testing-analysis' (DMTA) cycle model.” Li Jin said, “Compared with other companies using traditional compound optimization methods, and AI that collects Internet and literature data for training, the difference is that it applies DEL's advantages in constructing and discovering new molecules.”

“Currently, Chengdu Pilot has real experimental data with over 53 target types and close to 400 DEL screening options. These data cannot be obtained in the public domain. These data have the following characteristics: they are all high-quality experimental data generated under standard procedures; the experimental data do not depend on the three-dimensional structure of proteins; the screening targets are all targets under development in the pharmaceutical industry, and are rich in diversity.” Lee further stated.

It is worth mentioning that in addition to the “AI pharmaceuticals” that the market is concerned about, Li Jin said that Chengdu Pilot will continue to promote the expanded application of DEL technology, that is, launch the “DEL For” series and the “DEL Plus” series in response to customer application needs.

Among them, DEL For Protein Degrader (DEL For Protein Degrader Development) focuses on the discovery of target proteins and E3 ligands to obtain highly active and selective ligands, and dual-target screening realizes the optimization of PROTAC molecules and the discovery of molecular gels; “DEL Plus” includes DEL+Protein, DEL+assay, and DEL+AI/ML (machine learning) to provide seamless connections for partners in the fields of protein acquisition, compound evaluation, and screening molecule expansion.

It should be noted that whether at the performance briefing held today or on the company's investor interaction platform recently, another major focus for investors is “whether to get involved in the synthetic biology business” of Chengdu Pioneer.

In response, Li Jin said, “Synthetic biology and technology cover a wide range of topics. As a separate section, the company is currently maintaining continuous attention. Some specific methods in the field of synthetic biology, such as recombinant protein expression and bioconversion enzymes for structural changes of compounds, are common techniques in the biomedical industry, and we also use them.”