Akeso Biopharma Co., Ltd. has developed what it calls the world's first approved bispecific antibody for immunotherapy — a type of drug designed to attack cancer cells from two angles at once. Li Baiyong, Co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of the company, said the therapy has already been included in China's national medical insurance scheme in the same year it was approved, dramatically lowering costs for patients.

Li described the thinking behind the drug's design. "When we decided to develop this bispecific antibody, we thought it was immensely meaningful," he said. "We couldn't say for sure it would outperform existing treatments, but we believed it had that potential."

Beyond drug discovery, the firm has embedded artificial intelligence into its manufacturing and research processes from the start, aiming to generate new antibody candidates that conventional methods cannot produce.