SHANGHAI & PRINCETON, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- LianBio, a biotechnology company dedicated to bringing paradigm-shifting medicines to patients in China and other major Asian markets, today announced Yizhe Wang, Ph.D., has been named Chief Executive Officer and appointed to the Board of Directors, effective May 17, 2021.

“Yizhe is a strategic leader with decades of experience developing, launching and managing the product lifecycle of transformative drugs in China, the U.S. and Europe,” said Konstantin Poukalov, Managing Director, Perceptive Advisors and Executive Chairman, LianBio. “With his proven leadership guiding late-stage assets to market in China, LianBio is well positioned for our next phase of growth as we continue to advance our pipeline and partner with leading global biopharmaceutical companies to expand their reach into China and other Asian markets.”

Throughout Dr. Wang’s career as a pharmaceutical executive in China and the United States, he has built and overseen high-growth business units and played a key role in the development, approval and commercialization of more than 25 innovative medicines. With past experience spanning commercial, R&D and strategic leadership roles at Eli Lilly and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), he brings to LianBio expertise in accelerating drug development and executing commercial launches.

“I am honored to join LianBio to scale the company’s next-generation approach to sourcing, developing and commercializing innovative drugs in the region,” said Dr. Wang. “As LianBio continues to advance a portfolio of world class programs across therapeutic areas, I look forward to partnering with the founding team to address the medical needs of patients in China and throughout Asia.”

Dr. Wang joins LianBio from Eli Lilly, where he most recently served as Global Brand Development Leader, Lilly Oncology. In 2020, Dr. Wang served as Global Platform Lead for anti-COVID Therapy, Lilly Research Lab, where he led a new operating model integrating discovery, development and launch resulting in the EUA of bamlanivimab. Previously, Dr. Wang was SVP, Head of BioMedicines and Oncology Businesses, Lilly China, where he was a member of the Global Oncology and Biomedicines Business Unit lead teams, and China Executive Committee. In this role, he oversaw a 1,000-person organization, delivered double digit sales growth and launched multiple new products, including Tyvyt, Elunate, Taltz and Olumiant. Prior to Eli Lilly, Dr. Wang was at GSK for 15 years where he held product and commercial strategy roles of increasing responsibility in the U.S. (2003-2012), U.K. (2012-2014) and China (2014-2018), ultimately serving as Head of GSK China Pharmaceuticals’ Respiratory Business Unit. Earlier in his career, he was a researcher at Bristol Myers Squibb.

Dr. Wang received a doctorate in organic chemistry from Yale University. He also earned a master’s degree in business administration from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Ramapo College of New Jersey.

About LianBio

LianBio’s mission is to catalyze the development and accelerate the availability of paradigm-shifting medicines to patients in China and major Asian markets through partnerships that provide access to the best science-driven therapeutic discoveries. LianBio collaborates with world-class partners across a diverse array of therapeutic and geographic areas to build out a pipeline based on disease relevance and the ability to impact patients with transformative mechanisms and precision-based therapeutics. For more information, please visit www.lianbio.com.

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