Harbour BioMed Announces Strategic Partnership with Viva Biotech to Collaborate on Incubating Innovative Biotech Start-ups

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. and ROTTERDAM, Netherlands and SUZHOU, SHANGHAI, China, July 30, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Harbour BioMed (HBM), a global clinical stage biopharmaceutical company and Viva Biotech (Shanghai) Ltd. ("Viva Biotech"), a world-leading structure-based drug discovery platform today announced a strategic partnership under which both parties will collate their respective expertise in drug discovery and development to promote the incubation of innovative biotech startups.

HBM will combine its leading Harbour Mice^® platform H2L2 and its experience in global research and development of innovative molecules, with Viva Biotech's structure-based early stage drug discovery services. This complementary partnership will offer innovative biotech startups access to next generation technologies that create synergies to accelerate the path between ideation to product. The incubated startups will operate thorough scientific research and EFS (equity for service) model.

HBM has made significant progress since its establishment in late-2016, through strategic collaborations and partnerships with leading academic institutions and pharmaceutical and biotech companies across the world. The company has successfully built a robust portfolio of early and late stage assets in immune-oncology and immunology, through organic R&D as well as in-licensing strategic assets that address high unmet medical needs across the world. Its internally discovered next generation ani-CTLA-4 antibody HBM4003 for solid tumors, based on its HCAb platform is already in phase 1 clinical trials.

Viva Biotech provides world-leading structure-based drug discovery services to its biotechnology and pharmaceutical customers worldwide for their pre-clinical stage innovative drug development. The Group covers the full spectrum of the customers' needs for early stage drug discovery, including biological target protein expression and structure research, drug screening, lead optimization, and clinical candidate selection. The Group also provides discovery and incubation services to biotechnology start-ups with high potential under its EFS (equity for service) model.

"We are excited to combine our capabilities with those of Viva Biotech's to offer innovative startup companies' access to our next generation technology platforms and unique R&D capabilities. We are always on the lookout for innovation that can positively impact human life, and this partnership will allow us to enable the translation of such ideas to products that have global impact," said Dr. Jingsong Wang, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Harbour BioMed. He also pointed out that "Some of these innovative startups may become the next big biotech in the industry. We look forward to supporting them in multiple ways, including mentoring, alongside HBM's and Viva Biotech's management teams."

Dr. Delin Ren, the president of Viva Biotech, said that "The strategic partnership between Viva Biotech and Harbour BioMed makes up for Viva Biotech's deficiency in transgenic mouse platforms for generating fully human monoclonal antibodies, and will further enhance the scalability of Viva Biotech's business model, thereby strengthening its ability in attracting and incubating more innovative startups."

About Harbour BioMed

Harbour BioMed is a global, clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing innovative therapeutics in the fields of immuno-oncology, immunologic diseases, and COVID-19. The company is building its proprietary pipeline through internal R&D programs, collaborations with co-discovery and co-development partners and select acquisitions. The Company's internal discovery programs are centered around its two patented transgenic mouse platforms (Harbour Mice^®) for generating fully human monoclonal antibodies: heavy chain only antibodies (HCAb), and H2L2 for conventional antibodies. The Company integrates several next generation technologies including Harbour Mice^®, HBICE^TM immune engager, and the Beacon^® Optofluidic System to significantly accelerate its discovery efforts for novel molecules. Harbour BioMed also licenses the platforms to companies and academic institutions. The company has operations in Cambridge, Massachusetts; Rotterdam, The Netherlands; and Suzhou & Shanghai, China. 

For more information, please visit www.harbourbiomed.com

About Viva Biotech

Viva Biotech operates a leading structure-based, integrated drug discovery platform, providing drug discovery services to biotechnology and pharmaceutical customers worldwide. They actively combine conventional cash-for-service (CFS) and unique equity-for-service (EFS) approaches to realize a combination of short and long term innovation-driven returns. CFS covers the full spectrum of our customers' needs for early-stage drug discovery, including target protein expression and structure research, hit screening, lead optimization, and drug candidate determination. Till the end of 2019, Viva Biotech has served 438 pharmaceutical customers worldwide, worked on over 1,200 independent drug targets, delivered approximately over 13,700 protein structures, and invested/incubated in 46 early-stage biotech startups.

Visit www.vivabiotech.com for more information.

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SOURCE Harbour BioMed