During this year's Spring Festival, DeepSeek became popular worldwide, sparking widespread attention to AI technology. Today, we reprint an interview article from the WeChat official account of Cuiheng New District, Zhongshan City, focusing on the entrepreneurial story and innovative practice of Dr. Wen Xiaoyan, the chairman of Zebra Pharmaceutical (Zhongshan) Co., Ltd. As an international leader in the field of zebrafish drug development, Dr. Wen Xiaoyan's company focuses on various diseases that are "most difficult to treat" globally through technological innovation and achievement transformation. He proposed to build an advanced innovative pharmaceutical company within 5 years, participate in international competition, and hope to become DeepSeek in the field of biomedicine.
After this year's Spring Festival holiday, Dr. Wen Xiaoyan, the chairman of Zebra Pharmaceutical (Zhongshan) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Zebra Pharmaceutical"), has been traveling around Zhongshan and actively connecting with various resources to accelerate the transformation of new drug research and development achievements. Just finished a business trip, recently Wen Xiaoyan returned to the laboratory of Zebra Pharmaceutical located in Zhongshan Life Science Park, Cuiheng New District, Zhongshan.
ZebraPeutics is based on the globally leading high-throughput screening and development platform for zebrafish new drugs. After ten years of research, it has developed multiple small molecule new drug technology patents for the treatment of ALS, hemorrhagic stroke, severe sepsis, etc., filling the gap in related fields at home and abroad. Wen Xiaoyan is the founder of Zebra Pharmaceutical and a leader in scientific research and achievement transformation. He is an international leader in the field of zebrafish modeling and new drug screening, and founded the internationally renowned "Zebrafish New Drug Research and Development Center".
From "conducting scientific research" to "creating markets", Dr. Wen is completing the transformation from a scientist to an entrepreneur. He stated that his original intention of promoting the landing of innovative drugs and benefiting humanity has never changed.
Little fish, big effect
Walking into the zebrafish laboratory of Zebra Pharmaceutical located in Zhongshan Life Science Park, a warm breeze swept in. In order to provide a comfortable growth environment for zebrafish, the laboratory environment needs to be maintained at 28 degrees Celsius. "Looking at the rows of zebrafish breeding tanks in the laboratory, Dr. Wen Xiaoyan explained in detail the" special role "of zebrafish in the development of new drugs.
These small fish, which are only a few centimeters long and have zebra stripes on their bodies, are no different from the ornamental fish in the aquarium at home, but they are a "good helper" in the experiment.
Dr. Wen stated that zebrafish have characteristics such as in vitro fertilization, rapid development, transparent early embryos, and high egg production, and have become commonly used model animals in laboratories, known as "water mice". By constructing different disease models, zebrafish can become the best observation body for different drug studies, which helps researchers quickly screen for new drugs, with results as early as 2-3 weeks. In the laboratory of ZebraPeutics, tens of thousands of zebrafish are raised simultaneously, which greatly increases the cost and research and development efficiency compared to using mice.
Dr. Wen Xiaoyan was a professor at the University of Toronto School of Medicine in Canada. She has been engaged in biomedical research overseas for over 30 years and founded the globally renowned Zebrafish Centre for Advanced Drug Discovery. The center has hosted an international zebrafish precision medicine conference every two years since 2013, and has a significant influence in this field. It has received tens of millions of dollars in funding support in Canada, established more than 20 zebrafish disease models for drug screening, and obtained international patents for small molecule drugs for the prevention and treatment of major human diseases such as hemorrhagic stroke and severe sepsis.
These are all original drugs that have achieved a breakthrough from '0 to 1', with internationally leading technology and filling the gap in both domestic and international markets. Dr. Wen Xiaoyan said that ZebraPeutics' zebrafish new drug screening technology platform has cooperated with international pharmaceutical companies such as Johnson&Johnson and Eli Lilly to develop drugs abroad. Now, the zebrafish new drug screening technology platform established in Cuiheng New District has been further upgraded and is expected to achieve greater breakthroughs.
Strive to build a 'leading enterprise' within 2-3 years
Having been engaged in research and development work for many years, Dr. Wen Xiaoyan's willingness to participate in the transformation of research and development achievements has become increasingly strong. As early as 2017, he founded ZebraPeutics Inc. in Canada, mainly engaged in early research and development of innovative drugs.
In 2022, Dr. Wen led his team to participate in the "Science and Technology Innovation China" Science and Technology Innovation Competition, winning third place in the Zhongshan branch and advancing to the national competition, ultimately achieving the top 100 in the country. Subsequently, Cuiheng New District extended an invitation to Dr. Wen Xiaoyan's team. Zebra Pharmaceutical was registered and established at the end of 2022, and successfully landed in Zhongshan Life Science Park.
Compared to ZebraPeutics, ZebraPeutics not only focuses on research and development, but also emphasizes the industrialization of new drug products.
Over the past two years since settling down, Zebra Pharmaceutical has built a main laboratory of over 1000 square meters and attracted a group of key talents from relevant fields at home and abroad. In 2024, Zebra Pharmaceutical completed an angel round of financing and received support from the Zhongshan Innovation Research Team project. In the same year, the 5th International Zebrafish Precision Medicine Conference and the first Zhongshan Biomedical Industry Forum, hosted by ZebraPeutics, were successfully held in Cuiheng New Area.
In terms of drug development, the company has established four small molecule new drug pipelines, including ALS, hemorrhagic stroke, and severe sepsis.
ZebraPeutics targets the world's' most difficult to treat 'diseases, "said Dr. Wen. ZebraPeutics' first innovative drug pipeline is a small molecule new drug for the treatment of ALS.
ALS is known as the top of the world's "Five Deadly Diseases" and currently lacks effective medication. ZebraPeutics has integrated global research and development resources, signed a preclinical cooperation agreement with Cai Lei's ALS research team, and collaborated with a well-known ALS clinical research team in Canada to establish an international multi center clinical research alliance, striving to obtain IND clinical approval for this small molecule drug within one year, bringing good news to patients. At the same time, based on the latest research results and new targets on the pathogenesis of ALS, Zebra Pharmaceutical has developed a new inducible zebrafish ALS model for the screening of new generation innovative drugs. Our ultimate goal is to find a way to reverse the disease and completely cure ALS, which is our great dream, "said Wen Xiaoyan.
Dr. Wen Xiaoyan has a clear plan for the future of the company, which he summarized as a "three-step approach": the first step is to build advanced laboratories and zebrafish drug screening platforms, which has been basically completed; The second step is to build a leading enterprise in zebrafish new drug research and development within 2-3 years, and obtain IND new drug approvals for several original new drugs for major diseases; The third step is to build an advanced innovative pharmaceutical company within 5 years, strive for IPO listing to accelerate development, participate in international competition, and hope to become DeepSeek in the field of biomedicine.
