METiS Pharmaceuticals, an innovative biotechnology company focusing on "AI + drug delivery," announced the appointment of Dr. Wei Xu as Chief Scientific Officer. Dr. Xu will lead drug discovery and translational efforts to advance the mRNA-based therapeutics to the clinical stage. Dr. Xu will also work with the management team to establish high-value pipeline.
Dr. Wei Xu, CSO of METiS Pharmaceuticals
Dr. Xu possesses a strong academic and industrial background in various therapeutic fields including immunology, oncology, and cell therapy. He has held positions at multiple renowned companies, demonstrating a wealth of experience in research and development management.
His academic career began at Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands, where he obtained his doctoral degree in Immunology in 2007. Subsequently, he joined the Baylor Institute for Immunology Research (Dallas) as a postdoctoral fellow. During his tenure at Roche Innovation Center Zurich (Switzerland), he has enabled 4 immunotherapy NMEs into clinical development. From 2018 to 2022, Dr. Xu served as Vice President and Head of New Drug Biology & Translational Medicine at Innovent Biologics (Suzhou), where he built teams focused on novel biologics and translational medicine. He led the transformation of the company’s R&D capabilities from “me-too” drugs to FIC and BIC drugs and even built cell therapy capability from scratch. He then returned to Switzerland and joined Numab Therapeutics as CSO, responsible for driving and executing the overall strategy in research and development pipeline, where he managed Drug discovery, Antibody discovery, CMC, and translational science teams.
Dr. Xu Wei stated, "I am extremely honored to join METiS Pharmaceuticals, a team full of vitality and innovative spirit. METiS has created the world's first and best-in-class AI-driven drug delivery platform, tissue targeted lipid nanoparticles (LNP), opening up immense possibilities for the next generation of mRNA-encoded immunotherapy. I look forward to working with METiS’ Team to build innovative drug pipelines that are globally competitive."
Hongming Chen, Sc.D., President and Head of R&D warmly welcomes Dr. Xu 's joining, "Dr. Xu is a world-class expert in drug discovery. His extensive experience and outstanding abilities will bring new impetus and vitality to our research and development efforts. We believe that under his leadership, our Drug Discovery Department will achieve greater breakthroughs, accelerating the development of the mRNA pipeline and developing more effective therapeutic drugs for patients worldwide."
Dr. Chris Lai, co-founder & CEO of METiS Pharmaceuticals, also expresses great anticipation for Dr. Xu's joining, "Dr. Xu's joining infuses METiS with formidable research and development capabilities. As an innovative biotechnology company committed to advancing AI drug delivery and discovery, we have made significant progress in the field of small molecule drugs, with the fastest in Phase III clinical trials. Additionally, mRNA pipelines constitute our next strategic focus. We look forward to achieving greater achievements in drug development under Dr. Xu's leadership at METiS."
About METiS Pharmaceuticals
METiS Pharmaceuticals is an innovative biotechnology company driven by AI that harnesses targeted drug delivery and discovery technology to develop more effective drugs for patients. Through the integration of cutting-edge AI technology and traditional pharmaceutical R&D, METiS aims to accelerate the R&D of innovative drugs in a more efficient and precise way, while leveraging the core technology platforms to support the entire pharmaceutical ecosystem and lead industry innovation.
METiS was founded and led by Hongming Chen, a member of the National Academy of Engineering; Dr. Chris Lai and Dr. Wenshou Wang, top scientists from MIT. On top of drug development experts from major pharmaceutical companies such as Regeneron, Amgen, and Novartis, we also host young talents in AI and computing.
METiS has built 3 unique core-technology platforms: AiLNP (AI-driven RNA Delivery Design Platform), AiRNA (AI-driven mRNA design and synthesis platform), and AiTEM (AI-driven Small Molecule Formulation Design Platform). Based on these platforms, METiS has developed a portfolio of over 10 drugs, including small molecule and RNA drugs. Going forward, METiS will focus on RNA drugs and other innovative therapies with more challenging drug-delivery requirements to drive technological breakthroughs.
