Himalaya Therapeutics Announces Appointment of Howe Li as Chief Medical Officer

Himalaya Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on development and commercialization in Greater China of a novel class of investigational antibody therapeutics for the treatment of solid tumor cancer, which are based on the Conditionally Active Biologics ("CAB") technology platform, today announced the appointment of Howe Li, M.D., as chief medical officer.

"Dr. Li is a fantastic addition to our team.  He has a depth of understanding of not only the patient, as a medical doctor, but also both global and China clinical trial design and execution" said Brian Zhang, Ph.D., CEO of Himalaya.  "Dr. Li fills an absolutely critical role in our organization as we look to launch our clinical trials in Mainland China.  He rounds out the executive management of Himalaya for now, and will also be instrumental as we turn our focus to establishing our Mainland office and team."

Dr. Li has a track record of successfully moving product candidates through clinical development in the U.S. and China.  He is currently the CEO and founder of DeltaMed, a clinical research organization ("CRO") that specializes in pharmacovigilance, medical monitoring, medical writing, phase I study and clinical development strategy.  He was previously the founder and CEO of Tigermed-IntelliPV, and the former CMO of Tigermed.  In addition to his work on trials in China, he also held medical management roles at leading global pharmaceutical companies, including Quintiles, Abbott Laboratories, Sanofi Pasteur, BMS and Amylin.  Dr. Li also teaches at Tsinghua Medical School, the Medical School of Shanghai Jiaotong University and YeeHong Business School.  Dr. Li received his M.D. from Tongji Medical University, Peking Union Medical College, and completed postdoctoral work at the University of North Carolina, under Nobel Laureate, Oliver Smithies. 

"Himalaya has a robust pipeline of product candidates that is supported by truly novel science.  Bringing these to China will be a great opportunity, and I look forward to getting our trials set up so the patients can be benefit from these products," said Dr. Li.

About Himalaya Therapeutics

Himalaya is a global clinical-stage biotechnology company with operations in San Diego, California, and Hong Kong, S.A.R., China, China. Himalaya is advancing its pipeline of novel monoclonal antibody and other protein therapeutic product candidates, which are designed to have more selective targeting, greater efficacy, and more cost-efficient and predictable manufacturing than traditional antibodies, through clinical trials. Its product candidates have been developed using CAB technology, which is protected by more than 500 issued and pending patents.  Himalaya has two CAB programs currently in Phase 2 clinical testing in Hong Kong, S.A.R., China and Taiwan, China: BA3011, a novel conditionally active AXL-targeted antibody-drug conjugate (CAB-AXL-ADC), and BA3021, a novel conditionally active ROR2-targeted antibody-drug conjugate (CAB-ROR2-ADC). Himalaya has a co-development and collaboration agreement for an investigational CAB CTLA-4 antibody, BA3071, with BeiGene Ltd. for its development, manufacturing and commercialization in Greater China.