XtalPi and Gan & Lee Pharmaceuticals have further elevated their strategic collaboration, with the 'AI-Powered Peptide Delivery Laboratory' officially designated as a 'Beijing Key Laboratory.'

Recently, XtalPi (2228.HK) and Gan & Lee Pharmaceuticals (603087.SH), a leader in the field of metabolic diseases, jointly established “the AI-Powered Peptide Delivery Laboratory”(Beijing Key Laboratory for Artificial Intelligence-Driven Design and Delivery Systems of Peptide Therapeutics),has been officially designated as a "Beijing Key Laboratory"and formally inaugurated. This marks another significant milestone following the establishment of a strategic partnership between the two parties in November last year, signifying that their collaboration in AI-enabled peptide drug development has entered a phase of comprehensive deepening, and further validatingthe sustained industrial translation and scalable application potential of XtalPi’s AI-powered peptide development platform, PepiX™。

Academician Ma Guanghui of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and The World Academy of Sciences, Academician Andrei K. Yudin of the Royal Society of Canada, Dr. Lai Lipeng, Co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer of XtalPi, Dr. Gan Zhongru, Founder of Gan & Lee Pharmaceuticals, and Dr. Chen Wei, Chairman and CEO of Gan & Lee Pharmaceuticals, attended the inauguration ceremony along with other experts and guests.

Beijing Key Laboratories are a critical component of Beijing’s scientific and technological innovation ecosystem, tasked with attracting top-tier innovative talent, conducting high-level research, and driving breakthroughs in key technologies. The successful approval of this laboratory reaffirms authoritative recognition of XtalPi’s capabilities in both fundamental innovation and engineering implementation. Leveraging this high-caliber innovation platform, XtalPi will work closely with its strategic partner Gan & Lee Pharmaceuticals and its research collaborator, the Institute of Process Engineering at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, to accelerate R&D breakthroughs and clinical translation of next-generation peptide therapeutics.

Currently, driven by the explosive growth of GLP-1-based therapeutics, the peptide drug sector is entering a golden era of development, with research increasingly focused on multi-targeting, oral bioavailability, and long-acting formulations. However, challenges such as rapid in vivo degradation of peptide molecules, low delivery efficiency to target sites, and long-standing overseas monopolies over advanced delivery systems and core manufacturing processes have constrained domestic translation of novel peptide drugs. In response to these hurdles, XtalPi and Gan & Lee Pharmaceuticals—building on a solid foundation of prior collaboration—have jointly established the "AI-Powered Peptide Delivery Laboratory," focusing primarily on metabolic disorders,with the goal of building an end-to-end technology platform spanning "molecular design–delivery development–clinical translation", accelerating the development and clinical translation of domestically developed novel peptide therapeutics.

The joint laboratory will focus its technical efforts on three key directions: first, building an AI-driven integrated platform combining 'virtual screening + wet-lab validation' to advance the design and drug-likeness optimization of peptide molecules for treating metabolic chronic diseases; second, developing novel oral delivery systems to enhance gastrointestinal stability, transmembrane transport efficiency, and bioavailability of peptide drugs; and third, exploring ultra-long-acting delivery and sustained-release formulation technologies to extend dosing intervals.

XTAL's proprietary AI-powered peptide drug discovery platform, PepiX™, integrating three core capabilities—precision AI design, high-throughput wet-lab screening, and automated synthesis—to establish an efficient closed-loop R&D workflow that combines in silico design with experimental validation,compressing the traditional peptide drug development timeline from several years to just a few months. Gan & Lee Pharmaceuticals, a leading Chinese company in the field of metabolic diseases, brings deep industrial expertise and strong clinical translation capabilities to the partnership. It has already established a complete capability loop covering 'peptide molecular design – delivery system development – translational research for metabolic chronic diseases,' enabling the lab to efficiently validate the entire pipeline from target identification to commercialization. This powerful collaboration is expected to打通 the full chain linking 'R&D – clinical development – commercialization,' accelerate the clinical translation of safer and more effective next-generation peptide therapeutics, and further widen both parties’ technological moats through real-world drug development scenarios.

Currently, XTAL’s PepiX™ platform has achieved multi-indication technical implementation and is actively advancing the development of several high-potential peptide therapeutics, including those targeting brain delivery, ocular delivery, and oral peptides, with multiple benchmark achievements already realized. Among these,the food-grade oral functional peptide Tensotide, developed by PepiX™, has officially received U.S. Self-affirmed GRAS (Generally Recognized As Safe) certification, allowing its lawful use in the U.S. food and dietary supplement markets. Leveraging the newly approved 'AI-Powered Peptide Delivery Laboratory,' XTAL and Gan & Lee Pharmaceuticals will deepen their strategic synergy based on prior successful collaboration, jointly building a deeply integrated innovation ecosystem that unites government, academia, research institutions, industry, and end-users,accelerating the translation of original peptide drug candidates from design and development through to industrial-scale commercialization., driving critical breakthroughs for domestically developed innovative peptide therapeutics in the field of metabolic chronic diseases and offering better treatment options to patients worldwide.

Chen Wei, Chairman and CEO of Gan & Lee Pharmaceuticals, stated,："This laboratory, jointly established by Gan & Lee Pharmaceuticals, XtalPi, and the Institute of Process Engineering at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, brings together complementary strengths to create an innovative model that deeply integrates AI-driven problem solving, fundamental research, and industrial expansion—an essential ecosystem integration required for China’s biopharmaceutical industry to transition from 'fast follower' to 'first-in-class.'"

Lai Lipeng, Co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer of XtalPi, stated,："The designation of the 'AI-Powered Peptide Delivery Laboratory' as a Beijing Key Laboratory marks a new phase in the strategic collaboration between XtalPi and Gan & Lee Pharmaceuticals. We look forward to leveraging this laboratory as a platform to fully harness XtalPi's end-to-end early-stage R&D capabilities in AI-driven peptide molecular design, automated synthesis, and high-throughput wet-lab screening, combined with Gan & Lee’s decades of industrial expertise and outstanding clinical translation capabilities in metabolic peptides, to jointly tackle key industrial challenges in long-acting modification and intelligent delivery systems, and accelerate the advancement of more differentiated peptide therapeutics into clinical development."

● About Gan & Lee Pharmaceuticals ●

Gan & Lee Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd. (short name: Gan & Lee Pharmaceuticals; stock code: 603087.SH) is China’s first high-tech biopharmaceutical company to master industrial-scale production technology for recombinant insulin analogs and maintains a comprehensive insulin R&D pipeline.

In China’s second round of centralized volume-based procurement for insulin, Gan & Lee secured the highest allocated volume among winning companies for its insulin analogs, further solidifying its domestic market position. Meanwhile, the company continues to steadily advance its global expansion: its insulin glargine injection, insulin lispro injection, and insulin aspart injection have all received marketing authorization from the European Commission (EC), positioning Gan & Lee as an emerging core player in the global metabolic disease therapeutics market.

Rooted in China and with a global vision, Gan & Lee Pharmaceuticals remains committed to delivering higher-quality medicines and services to patients worldwide.

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