On June 27, 2024, Elpiscience Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. (referred to as "Ke Wang Medicine") from Shanghai submitted a prospectus to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and plans to go public on the Hong Kong main board. Ke Wang Medicine Prospectus Link: https://www1.hkexnews.hk/app/sehk/2024/106577/documents/sehk24062702244_c.pdf Ke Wang Medicine, established in 2017, is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to using next-generation therapies to innovate cancer treatments worldwide. With a deep understanding and pioneering research of the tumor microenvironment (TME), it strives to cover innovative and promising targets and pathways in cancer biology with a systematic approach, leading the next wave of innovation in immuno-oncology. Ke Wang Medicine's strategic focus is to eliminate inhibitory factors in the TME, induce higher immune responses across tumor types, and achieve more powerful anti-tumor activity. Global industry leaders (including Ke Wang Medicine's co-founders Drs. Ji Xiaohui and Lu Hongtao) have a deep understanding of tumor biology and immunotherapy. Led by them, Ke Wang Medicine has developed a highly differentiated clinical and preclinical pipeline with strong R&D capabilities and strategic cooperation with leading biopharmaceutical companies worldwide. As of June 19, 2024, Ke Wang Medicine's innovative pipeline includes six major assets, four of which are in clinical stages and two are in preclinical stages.

Ke Wang Medicine Prospectus Link: https://www1.hkexnews.hk/app/sehk/2024/106577/documents/sehk24062702244_c.pdf

https://www1.hkexnews.hk/app/sehk/2024/106577/documents/sehk24062702244_c.pdf

Main Business

Ke Wang Medicine, established in 2017, is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to using next-generation therapies to innovate cancer treatments worldwide. With a deep understanding and pioneering research of the tumor microenvironment (TME), it strives to cover innovative and promising targets and pathways in cancer biology with a systematic approach, leading the next wave of innovation in immuno-oncology. Ke Wang Medicine's strategic focus is to eliminate inhibitory factors in the TME, induce higher immune responses across tumor types, and achieve more powerful anti-tumor activity.

By transforming "cold" tumors into "hot" tumors, Ke Wang Medicine is completely changing cancer treatment methods. Increasing evidence has shown that the state of the TME is a major factor leading to limited efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI). "Cold" tumors characterized by suppressive TME and lack of T cell infiltration not only have weak responses to ICI, but also develop resistance to ICI after initial treatment. Ke Wang Medicine's strategic focus is to eliminate inhibitory factors in the TME, induce higher immune responses across tumor types, and achieve more powerful anti-tumor activity.

Global industry leaders (including Ke Wang Medicine's co-founders Drs. Ji Xiaohui and Lu Hongtao) have a deep understanding of tumor biology and immunotherapy. Led by them, Ke Wang Medicine has developed a highly differentiated clinical and preclinical pipeline with strong R&D capabilities and strategic cooperation with leading biopharmaceutical companies worldwide. As of June 19, 2024, Ke Wang Medicine's innovative pipeline includes six major assets, four of which are in clinical stages and two are in preclinical stages.

Ke Wang Medicine's core product ES102 is an advanced clinical six-valent OX40 activating antibody designed to treat cancer patients who do not respond well to ICI. In clinical trials, ES102 has shown good safety and anti-tumor activity, including non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) patients who are resistant to PD-1 checkpoint inhibitors, whether as a monotherapy or in combination with programmatic cell death protein 1 (PD-1) antibodies. Since its authorization introduction from Inhibrx (INBX.US) in 2018, the company has completed two phase 1 clinical trials of ES102 for late-stage solid tumor patients in China.

Other clinical stage assets include ES014 (the world's first clinical stage CD39/TGFs bsA), ES104 (a differentiated bsAb, one of the only two VEGF/DLL4 bsAbs in the world and the only one in clinical development in China), and ES009 (a differentiated mAb targeting LILRB2 with the best potential in its class).

In addition to clinical stage assets, Ke Wang Medicine currently develops multiple promising preclinical drug candidates, including ES028 and other assets, using a systematic research approach and integrated technical platforms to cover new target point treatments for major cancer types such as gastric cancer (GC), pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and colorectal cancer (CRC).

Shareholder Structure

According to the prospectus, Ke Wang Medicine's shareholder structure before listing includes:

Dr. Ji Xiaohui, holds 10.18% of the shares.

Dr. Lu Hongtao, holds 8.96% of the shares.

Dr. Shen Wenyang, holds 1.77% of the shares.

LAV USD, holds 17.27% of the shares through LAV Epoch, LAV Biosciences, LAV Amaranth, and LAV Azure respectively.

LI YI Investment, holds 10.59% of the shares through Shanghai Lii.

Hillhouse Capital, holds 9.51% of the shares through HH SPR-XVI.

Greater Bay Area Fund, holds 5.38% of the shares through Poly Platinum.

Dr. He Xin's controlled Huiding, holds 2.95%, 0.04%, and 1.93% of the shares through Huiding Dacheng, Huiding Share, and Hyfinity Medicare respectively.

Tencent (00700.HK), holds 4.09% of the shares through imGAGINE Architecture Investment.

DH Fund, holds 2.93% of the shares through Elm Tree.

Goterajia Investment Group holds a 2.66% stake in Jiangsu Jiequan Goteraja;

Deyi Capital holds a 1.52% and 0.92% stake in Deyi Runrong and Deyi Changqing respectively;

Cormorant holds a 0.01% and 2.30% stake in Cormorant Global Healthcare and Cormorant Private Healthcare respectively;

Juming Investment holds a 1.66% stake in Juming Zhonghong Fangren;

Fengshuo Venture Capital holds a 1.64% stake in Zhiyuan Xinxing;

Yuexiu Jinchian holds a 1.64% stake;

Yuanhe Holdings holds a 1.30% stake through Huayuan Management Consulting (Hong Kong);

Suzhou Shengshan holds a 0.94% stake;

MS Splendid holds a 0.77% stake;

Everjoy Fortune holds a 0.77% stake;

Parkway holds a 0.33% stake;

Pluto Connection holds a 0.31% stake;

Qingdao Gandao holds a 0.46% stake;

Superstring Capital Master Fund LP holds a 0.15% stake;

Superstring Private Opportunities Fund I LP holds a 0.31% stake;

HongZhong holds a 0.46% stake;

Nanjing Yidao holds a 0.31% stake;

Calor holds a 0.15% stake;

Shanghai Wenru holds a 0.14% stake;

Management Team

The board of directors of Kewang Medicine consists of seven directors including:

• Two executive directors: Dr. Ji Xiaohui (Chairman of the Board and CEO) and Dr. Lu Hongtao (Chief Scientific Officer);

• Two non-executive directors: Dr. Xu Hansen and Dr. He Xin;

• Three independent non-executive directors: Mr. Tan Guoxian, Ms. Liu Yuwen, and Dr. Tan Xuehai.

In addition to the executive directors, the management team includes Ms. Tu Shuli, head of operations and finance, Ms. Zhang Xuying, head of human resources, and Mr. Wang Guanhui, head of chemistry, production, and control.

Corporate Performance

According to the prospectus, in the past 2022 and 2023, SciPharm had no revenue, R&D expenses were RMB 351 million and RMB 108 million respectively, and net losses were RMB 771 million and RMB 853 million respectively.

Intermediary Team

The intermediaries for SciPharm's IPO mainly include: CITIC Securities as its sole sponsor; Ernst & Young as its auditor; Jingtian & Gongcheng and K&L Gates as its China and Hong Kong-based legal counsel respectively; JunHe and Conyers as its brokerage legal counsel respectively; and ZhuaShi Advisory as its industry consultant.