Simcere Pharmaceutical Group Announces Sponsored Research Agreement with Boston-based Mass General Brigham

• Research funding in Oncology, Autoimmune and CNS disease areas

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Simcere Pharmaceutical Group Limited (2096.HK) (Simcere) announced a Sponsored Research Agreement with Mass General Brigham. With more than 80,000 employees, 13 Nobel laureates and an annual research budget of $2 billion, Mass General Brigham is one of the largest and most prestigious academic medical centers in the United States. Under the agreement up to eight research groups at Mass General Brigham will be funded on select projects over the course of two years.

The agreement aims to establish a mutually beneficial partnership that will advance scientific research and create new treatment options for patients with cancer, autoimmune and CNS diseases. By partnering with Mass General Brigham, Simcere gains access to cutting-edge research and leading clinical capabilities which will help accelerate the company's global R&D efforts. In return, this collaboration will support the biopharma community by providing additional resources for medical research and clinical trials.

"We believe that this Sponsored Research Agreement with Mass General Brigham represents a significant step forward in our efforts to develop innovative new treatment options for patients around the world,” said Zhou Gaobo, Chief Investment Officer, Simcere Pharmaceutical Group. “This partnership underscores our commitment to advancing drug development and building long-term partnerships that benefit not only Simcere but also the broader medical community and ultimately, the patients."

“The discoveries resulting from this agreement could further advance potentially game-changing technology to the front lines of care in three areas of rapid clinical advancement and high patient need -- neurology, oncology, and inflammation and immunology,” said Chris Coburn, chief innovation officer at Mass General Brigham. “We’re excited to collaborate with industry partners such as Simcere, whose expanding presence in the Boston area is reflective of our region’s continued growth as a biotech hub.”

The presence of Simcere’s Boston Innovation Center (BIC) in the Cambridge area will provide opportunities for local collaboration and partnerships, leading to further synergies between participating research groups. Additionally, Simcere’s Project X, which aims at providing highly talented scientists with funding and employment, will further contribute to the local medical research community.

Overall, the Sponsored Research Agreement with Mass General Brigham, announced at the World Medical Innovation Forum 2023 in Boston, is an exciting development for Simcere and represents a substantial step forward in the company's efforts to further enhance its global R&D capabilities and develop innovative therapeutics for patients around the world.

In separate announcement today, Simcere Pharmaceutical Group also announced the company is continuing its global footprint as Zaiming has established a subsidiary, Simcere Zaiming, Inc., in Massachusetts, USA.

About Mass General Brigham

Mass General Brigham is an integrated academic healthcare system, uniting great minds in medicine to make life-changing impact for patients in our communities and people around the world. Mass General Brigham connects a full continuum of care across a system of academic medical centers, community and specialty hospitals, a health insurance plan, physician networks, community health centers, home care, and long-term care services. Mass General Brigham is a non-profit organization that is committed to patient care, research, teaching, and service to the community. In addition, Mass General Brigham is one of the nation’s leading biomedical research organizations and a principal teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School. For more information, please visit massgeneralbrigham.org.

About Simcere Pharmaceutical Group

Simcere Pharmaceutical Group Limited (2096.HK) is an innovation and R&D-driven pharmaceutical company. The Company focuses on three therapeutic areas, oncology, neurology and autoimmune diseases, with a forward-looking vision toward disease areas that have substantial clinical needs, aiming to achieve the mission of "providing today's patients with medicines of the future." Leveraging its R&D capability and commercialization excellence, Simcere has built a market-leading product portfolio in China. Its vigorous in-house R&D efforts and extensive R&D and commercial stage collaborations have made it a strategic alliance partner with world leading innovative companies and research institutes. For more information, please visit: https://en.simcere.com.

Forward Looking Statements:

The above information contains certain "forward-looking statements", relating to the company's business, which can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "estimates", "believes", "expects", "may", "are expected to", "will", "will continue", "should", "would be", "seeks", "pending" or "anticipates" or similar expressions, or by discussions of strategy, plans or intentions. Such statements include descriptions of the company's investment and research and development programs and anticipated expenditures in connection therewith, descriptions of new products expected to be introduced by the company and anticipated customer demand for such products and products in the company's existing portfolio. Such statements reflect the current views of the company with respect to future events and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Many factors could cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the company to be materially different from any future results, performances or achievements that may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein as anticipated, believed, estimated or expected.

Media Contact:
Tyler Gagnon
Simcere Pharmaceutical Group Limited
Director, Corporate Communications & Public Affairs
Tyler.Gagnon@SimcereGroup.com

MGB Media Contact:
Tracy M. Doyle
Marketing and Communications Director
Mass General Brigham Innovation
t.doyle5@mgb.org