Tagline: Empowering Global Innovative Biologics R&D through Ecosystem Strength
SHANGHAI, Feb. 12, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — On February 8, at the 2026 China New Drug Source Innovation Forum in Shanghai, Lang Guojun, Founder & CEO of Sanyou Biopharmaceuticals, shared the story of a vision that began ten years ago.
A decade ago, China’s biopharmaceutical innovation ecosystem was still taking shape. Biologics R&D was largely seen as the arena of global pharmaceutical giants. The industry faced significant constraints – immature technologies, limited capital exploration, and high technical barriers.
Against this backdrop, Lang Guojun led a team of three and began in a modest 107-square-meter laboratory, guided by a simple but determined belief: making quality antibodies accessible.
Ten years later, Sanyou Biopharmaceuticals has served nearly 2,000 clients worldwide, built a 10-trillion-scale intelligent molecule library, and advanced more than ten collaborative projects into clinical development.
Lang Guojun stated that drug development is a difficult endeavor, but more importantly, it is the right thing to do. The raison d’être of Sanyou Biopharmaceuticals is precisely “to make this endeavor less difficult.”
A Decade of Staying True to the Original Aspiration
Today, the global biologics industry is undergoing unprecedented transformation. Demand continues to grow, with nearly 2 billion patients worldwide still facing unmet clinical needs. The rising burden of non-communicable diseases remains a major driver of biopharmaceutical innovation.
Industry forecasts project that global biologics sales will reach approximately $1.4 trillion, accounting for 57% of the pharmaceutical market, while annual R&D investment by global pharmaceutical companies exceeds $3 trillion.
China’s biopharmaceutical innovation has also achieved a leap from “following” to increasingly “defining” global trends. In 2025, the total value of license-out deals by Chinese pharmaceutical companies exceeded $130 billion. The share of antibody drugs in comparable global transactions rose from 18% in 2020 to 67% in 2024.
However, innovative drug R&D is not a sprint but a marathon. It cannot rely solely on a single spark of inspiration or an isolated breakthrough. Instead, it requires a comprehensive system engineering approach: from target to molecule, from process to quality, from laboratory research to clinical development. Each step demands strong support from talent, systems, and integrated platforms.
For this reason. Sanyou Biopharmaceuticals chose to build an open platform model designed to collaborate with and empower partners in accelerating the drug discovery process. Its vision extends beyond completing individual projects to addressing a more fundamental challenge of producing core source molecules. The company is committed to building a continuous source of innovation capable of continuously nurturing breakthroughs. Through ongoing innovation in molecular formats, we aim to significantly improve both the quality and quantity of candidate molecules, thereby enhancing overall development efficiency and success rate.
At the core of Sanyou Biopharmaceuticals’ philosophy is the belief that innovation should not depend on chance, but on cumulative capabilities, nor on sporadic opportunities but on scientific mechanisms and data-driven approaches.
A Decade of Cultivation, Initial Fruits Bearing
Sanyou Biopharmaceuticals’ R&D and GMP facilities have expanded to over 20,000 square meters. The team has grown to more than 200 members, and the company has obtained over ten authoritative qualifications and certifications, including the National High-Tech Enterprise Certification, the Shanghai Specialized, Sophisticated, Unique and Innovative Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) Certification, and the Shanghai Technology Giant Enterprise Certification.
On the business front, its network now spans China, North America, and Europe, serving nearly 2,000 clients worldwide. We have successfully delivered over 2,000 projects, signed over 60 collaborations, of which 10 have completed IND submissions, 8 are clinically active projects, and 3 have progressed to Phase III or confirmatory clinical stages.
The Marathon
Looking back at Sanyou Biopharmaceuticals’ journey, several core themes have consistently defined its growth.
The company has remained focused on a fundamental challenge in drug R&D: how to efficiently discover high-quality source molecules. Its solution has been the development of a world-class intelligent ultra-trillion-scale molecule library.
Since establishing its technological foundation in 2015, Sanyou Biopharmaceuticals has successively launched a hundred-billion-scale fully human antibody library, a ten-billion-scale Natural Single-Domain Antibody Library, and a billion-scale Common Light Chain Antibody Library. In 2021, the company completed three trillion-scale antibody libraries. After the platform went online in 2022, its capacity exceeded seven trillion. In 2023, it surpassed ten trillion, alongside the development of high-efficiency discovery platforms such as the “21-Day Rabbit/Canine mAb” platform.
Today, Sanyou Biopharmaceuticals has entered a new phase driven by the dual engines of “AI + Trillion-Scale Library,” focusing on the development of a Generative Intelligent Drug Screening System and advancing toward the automated future of “lights-out laboratories.”
The industry widely recognizes that the deep integration of AI technology and biotechnology represents a key direction for the future of pharmaceutical R&D. In response, Sanyou Biopharmaceuticals is committed to building an intelligent Dry-Wet Integration R&D Platform.
This integration goes beyond a simple “computer + lab bench” model; it reflects a fully digitized R&D system built on the integration of computational modeling, AI-driven optimization, and high-throughput experimental capabilities. The platform integrates multi-omics databases and AI predictive functions, aiming to enhance both predictability and efficiency. It enables key decisions to be computable, verifiable, and iterative, thereby establishing a robust framework for data-driven development.
In the survival and development of a startup, balancing survival pressure with building core competencies are two key priorities. Sanyou Biopharmaceuticals’ strategy is described as “R&D innovation in the left hand, commercial operation in the right hand.”
Lang Guojun compares R&D and business to the two ends of the same value chain: one end connects real clinical needs and market trends, while the other connects feasible technological pathways and molecular solutions.
Currently, Sanyou Biopharmaceuticals has incubated more than 100 early-stage projects across nine major disease areas, covering critical fields like oncology, autoimmune diseases, and metabolic disorders. This allows the platform’s capabilities to be continuously validated and refined through real-world projects.
Ultimately, the company’s development depends on its people. Sanyou Biopharmaceuticals has established a structured talent and culture system built around value creation, long-term orientation, people-oriented development. This framework defines clear competency standards and growth expectations. Through structured documents such as “Talent Development White Papers” and “Position Work Blue Papers,” the company provides transparent career pathways for every employee.
Lang Guojun believes that only by striving to create an environment where top talents can wholeheartedly innovate and grow sustainably can the grand mission be sustained.
The Relay Race
The difficulty of drug development represents the ultimate test of a company’s intellectual endurance, financial strength, and perseverance.
Real-world data shows that while over 6,800 companies globally maintain active R&D pipelines, the probability of breaking into the industry’s top 50 is less than one percent, highlighting the industry’s intense competition and low overall success rates.
Greater challenges arise from overall probabilities and costs. Even for biologics, which have a relatively higher success rate, nearly 80% of projects fail between clinical entry and final market approval. A new drug begins with thousands of candidate molecules, undergoes multiple rounds of screening, and ultimately, only one typically gains approval. When accounitn for the cost of failures, the median cost of successfully bringing a new drug to market is estimated at $1.1-1.6 billion and often takes more than a decade.
In Lang Guojun’s view, the difficulty of developing new drugs lies in the necessity to simultaneously pursue extreme speed and top-tier quality; to maintain strategic focus while strengthening core capabilities and embracing bold transformation, and to translate long-term vision into tangible improvements in patients’ lives.
Facing the industry’s inherent challenges, a new vision is emerging: transforming drug development from a solitary “marathon” into a collaborative “relay race.” The core idea is to enable different capability modules, partners, and resource elements to seamlessly connect and continuously accelerate, like passing a baton, making each stage more professional and efficient.
In this context, Sanyou Biopharmaceuticals proposes a collaborative innovation model. The “Innovative Drug Foundry,” a scalable, platform-based ecosystem that integrates advanced technologies, standardized workflows, and cross-industry partnerships to accelerate the discovery and development of innovative biologics.
This is not a closed laboratory but an open, intelligent, and collaborative new drug R&D ecosystem driven by the dual engines of the “Intelligent Ultra-Trillion-Scale Molecule Library” and the “Dry-Wet Integration Platform.” Within this system, the R&D process is structured into standardized, modular functional units that can be rapidly deployed and combined at different stages.
This ecosystem aims to achieve several major goals:
First, to build a mutually empowering network that brings together diverse stakeholders such as pharmaceutical companies, upstream/downstream industry partners, research institutions, clinical centers, and investors to enable efficient integration and value creation across the innovation chain.
Second, to establish an open and modular R&D platform that integrates critical capabilities from early discovery through preclinical development, transitioning from project-based services to scalable platform collaboration.
Ultimately, to connect novel targets, global pharmaceutical partners, and unmet patient needs at scale – accelerating the translation of scientific breakthroughs into real-world impact.
As a core strategic initiative, Sanyou Biopharmaceuticals will advance its Fifth Five Year Plan through two key drivers: the AI-powered multi trillion molecule library (AI-STAL) and the Innovative Drug Foundry. Through platform-based operations and standardized processes, the company aims to reduce marginal costs, improve delivery efficiency, and ultimately enhance the overall success rate of innovation through ecosystem collaboration.
Conclusion
A decade of sharpening a single blade marks the beginning of a new journey today.
Over the past 10 years, Sanyou Biopharmaceuticals’ ten years has grown alongside China’s biopharmaceutical innovation. It has been a decade of transition – from technological exploration to ecosystem building and, more importantly, a decade defined by staying true to its original aspiration and continuous cultivation. Standing at the beginning of a new decade, the global wave of biologics innovation continues to accelerate, and China’s innovation capabilities are stepping into the world stage with confidence and vision.
“Making innovative biologics R&D easy for clients worldwide” is no longer merely the mission statement of one company. It represents a shared commitment to advancing healthcare and shaping the future, co-created by an entire ecosystem.
From this point forward, each day marks the first step of the next chapter in this journey.
About Sanyou
Sanyou Biopharmaceuticals is a high-tech biopharmaceutical enterprise driven by its super-trillion molecule library and artificial intelligence technology, with the mission of “making innovative biologics R&D easy for clients worldwide”.
Sanyou Bio has been dedicated to developing a world-class innovative biological drug R&D hub. The company is centered on its AI-driven super-trillion antibody library (AI-STAL) and supported by its world-leading, integrated and intelligent R&D platform for innovative biologics development that seamlessly combines in silico and wet-lab capabilities. Sanyou drives the global development and industrialization of innovative new drugs through diversified business models.
Headquartered in Shanghai, China, Sanyou has established global business centers across Asia, North America, and Europe, forming an international business network. The company currently operates and has planned over 20,000 square meters of R&D and GMP facilities.
Sanyou has established strong collaborations with more than 2,000 pharmaceutical and biotech companies worldwide, empowering over 1,200 new drug discovery and development projects. It has completed more than 50 collaboration projects, over 10 of which have advanced to IND approval and clinical development stages.
The company has filed over 130 invention patents, with more than 30 granted. It has also obtained over 10 national and international qualifications and system certifications, including National High-Tech Enterprise, Shanghai “Specialized and Innovative” Enterprise, ISO9001, and ISO27001.
