shanghai-biotech
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Cataya Bio Is Betting the Hard Part of Biotech Isn't Discovery - It's the Factory
The Shanghai startup is building a bench-to-tank ingredient business - pairing engineered biology with its own production capacity. Its lesson for biotech founders is simple: design for the factory before the experiment becomes precious.
Joan Shen
Joan Huaqiong Shen is the founder and CEO of NeuShen Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotech with R&D centers in Shanghai and Boston that develops treatments for psychiatric and neurological disorders. A physician-scientist trained in psychiatry and neurology, she spent decades leading central-nervous-system drug programs at Eli Lilly, Wyeth, Pfizer, Hengrui and Johnson & Johnson before running R&D and serving as CEO at I-Mab Biopharma, where she took the company public on Nasdaq and struck a global partnership with AbbVie. In 2026 NeuShen closed a Series A+ round led by Lilly Asia Ventures as its lead compound NS-136 advanced into Phase 2 trials.
Lyvgen Biopharma
Lyvgen Biopharma is a Shanghai-based clinical-stage immuno-oncology company founded in 2016 by veteran oncology scientist Dr. Jieyi Wang. It builds agonist antibodies - drugs that switch the immune system on rather than release its brakes - using a proprietary xLinkAb platform designed to concentrate immune activation inside tumors while limiting toxicity elsewhere. Its lead program, the CD137/4-1BB agonist antibody LVGN6051 (exlinkibart), is in Phase Ib/II trials in the US and China, including combinations with Merck's Keytruda, alongside a CD40 agonist (LVGN7409), a PD-1 blocker (LVGN3616), and bispecific candidates. Backed by IDG Capital and others through a Series C, Lyvgen runs R&D in Shanghai, a CMC/manufacturing center in Suzhou, and clinical and business development teams spanning China and the US.