May-Jul 2021 “Hong Kong Industrialist”

2020 YIAH AWARDEE SERIES | 2020「香港青年工業家」專訪系列 港兩地的優勢，集團能夠利用全球研發，並 將其快速工業化，以加速新藥上市。 「疫」境中展示強大韌性 2020年初新冠肺炎疫情爆發，中國各地 採取封城、停工停產等嚴密人流管制措施， 聯康集團的營運狀況難免受到衝擊，但同時 帶來轉型契機。Kingsley表示：「疫情改變了 人們不少的生活習慣，網上問診及購藥的需 求亦應運而生。有見及此，我們與成都醫雲 科技首度合作，以『金因肽 ® 』為試點，開拓 互聯網醫藥平台，擴大銷售渠道。」隨著四 月底國內大部份城市解封，產品銷售量亦逐 步回升，金因肽 ® 的營業額更超越去年同期 表現，展現內銷市場的強大韌性。 「未來100年內的技術突破，將超越 人類歷史總長的兩倍。」 傳統藥業研發流程需時長，投資金額高 昂。Kingsley直言以往的研發方式已經不 合時宜，他表示：「超過一半的傳統製藥 公司有可能在二十年後便消失，生物醫藥 企業必須要善用技術結合 (convergence of technology)，將不同的核心技術結合使用， 在短時間內取得突破性的進展。例如說，許 多科學家和企業現正研究應用人工智能(AI) 輔助新藥研發，摒棄以往Trial-and-error的方 式，醫藥發展將會是一日千里。」 除了改革製藥模式外，Kingsley亦追求發 展新領域。最近，Kingsley創辦了一家名為 大灣生物(Great Bay Bio) 的初創公司，獲得 了包括阿里巴巴創業者基金在內的許多知名 投資者的投資。該初創公司將AI應用於傳統 生產工藝開發或CMC(化學、製造、控制)， 以縮短和降低CMC開發的風險，用於藥品 are established in Shenzhen and Beijing, while the Headquarters of the Group remains in Hong Kong. Kingsley explained that the Headquarters' main purpose was originally for investor relations matters, while the rest of the business units, i.e. R&D, manufacturing, sales and other business functions, are in China. Considering that the HKSAR Government’s commitment to Innovation and Technology (I&T) development and the rollout of favourable measures, the Group relocated part of its upstream R&D activities to Hong Kong. “R&D talent in Hong Kong excel in co-ordinating various R&D projects with international partners. Plus, Hong Kong has stronger intellectual property protection laws.” Since the move, the Group established a partnership with Singapore-based DotBio Pte Limited to co-develop the next- generation therapeutics for retinal diseases. “By leveraging on the best of both the mainland and Hong Kong, the Group is able to take global R&D and industrialise it quickly to accelerate new drug launches in the market.” Building Remarkable Resilience amid the Pandemic In face of COVID-19 outbreak at early 2020, country-wide prevention measures such as lockdowns, manufacturing suspensions and traffic control were put in place. Although the Group’s business was also impacted, Kingsley also saw opportunities amid the crisis. He said, “Uncontestably, the pandemic has changed our living habits in many ways, thereby giving rise to the popularisation of online medical consultations and pharmacy. To further expand our business on this front, we partnered with a pharmaceutical e-commerce platform called Chengdu Medlinker Technology last year to co-promote our GeneTime ® product to online dermatology hospitals.” As lockdowns and other restrictions were lifted later in April, the volume of product sales increased significantly. In particular, the GeneTime ® recorded a year- on-year sales growth, demonstrating strong resilience of the Mainland’s market. 32 | 5-7/2021