On 29 August 2023 Yingyi Qian, chairman of the Westlake University board and a renowned economist, visited Westlake Pharmaceuticals with his delegation and held a discussion with the company’s researchers.
Westlake Pharmaceuticals, incubated by Westlake University and Westlake Laboratory, is exploring how university research can be transferred through solid industrial practice. It has grown quickly: its first original drug, the oral small molecule Mprosevir®, was close to completing Phase 3 trials.
The company has built a research team led by leading scientists; more than 75% of employees graduated from key universities in China and abroad.
The delegation toured the company’s R&D facilities — biology, chemical synthesis and AI drug design departments — and learned how the team works closely together to take an innovative drug from 0 to 1.
Yingyi Qian took a particular interest in the first product, Mprosevir®. He noted the industry’s “rule of thirty”: ten years, USD 1 billion and a success rate below 10%. The Westlake Pharmaceuticals team moved an original drug from first discovery to Phase 3 trials in about three years, breaking that rule — a development he praised.
Dr. Dongdong Liang, head of R&D, described the discovery process in detail: “Led by several leading scientists, Westlake Pharmaceuticals can turn frontier research into practical use. That is the key to breaking the rule of thirty.”
Mr. Yingyi Qian closed by encouraging the team to keep pushing and to develop more and better original medicines.