Zhao Chunlin

Founder of Anlong Biotech

In 2019, when Zhao Chunlin founded Anlong Biotech, he was no longer a novice entrepreneur.

A graduate of Tsinghua University, with a Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, an MBA from the University of Chicago, work experience at Pfizer, the successful founding and sale of an agency company, a decade of investment experience, and the establishment of Anlong Gene and Anlong Fund—this resume would stand out in any context. Yet, deep down, he always felt a sense of unease.

"A fund is ultimately a capital intermediary—the funds are not your own, and the companies are not your own. It's a cycle of endless fundraising and investing, without a long-term venture to call your own."

What he wanted was a "long-term venture" that could carry his life's ambitions.

At the time, China's biopharmaceutical innovation wave was surging, transitioning from generic drugs to innovative medicines, from small molecules to large molecules. The industry was urgently searching for the next breakthrough. Zhao Chunlin set his sights on gene therapy—a field many regarded as the "next-generation paradigm of drug development."

"Gene therapy is truly a form of 'dimensional reduction strike,'" Zhao Chunlin explained. "If small molecules and antibodies work at the protein level, gene therapy operates directly on DNA and RNA, solving problems at their root."

Back then, gene therapy was also gaining momentum in the United States, with "myths" of companies going public as soon as their products entered clinical trials becoming increasingly common.

Anlong Biotech quickly became a favorite among investors, securing 60 million yuan in funding just a year after its establishment, followed by another massive 180 million yuan round in 2021. Some investors even approached Zhao Chunlin privately, hoping to secure additional investment shares.

Those were the company's most prosperous days—ample funds, promising prospects, a pipeline of gene therapy products targeting conditions like wet age-related macular degeneration, hemophilia, Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), and Huntington's disease, and a 5,000-square-meter GMP facility built downstairs.

According to Zhao Chunlin's plan, the company would raise another $100 million in 2022, and as soon as their products entered clinical trials in 2023, they would file for an IPO. At the very least, Anlong Biotech would go public by 2024.

However, the turning point came unexpectedly.

In 2022, the capital market took a sharp downturn. The sudden outbreak of the pandemic prevented employees from entering the workshops and laboratories, while U.S.-China trade tensions brought all financing efforts to an abrupt halt, completely shutting down investment channels.

To make matters worse, several clinical safety incidents in the gene therapy field in 2021 led to tightened regulations. After discussions, the FDA determined that, aside from ophthalmology, gene therapy would be limited to rare diseases. Meanwhile, China's economic situation and healthcare policies signaled that "there is no future for rare disease drugs in China."

Overnight, the gene therapy sector rapidly cooled down. Looking around, almost no gene therapy companies in China secured any funding after 2022.

"During the toughest times, we couldn't even access the factory—everything was essentially rendered useless. We couldn’t raise any funds, yet we were spending nearly 10 million yuan every month. Every morning, as soon as I opened my eyes, over 300,000 yuan was gone. And we still had over 100 employees to support."

Anlong Biotech stood on the edge of a cliff.

Zhao Chunlin did not wait for policies to improve. Instead, he swiftly adjusted the company's strategy, making small nucleic acid drugs the core breakthrough.

In fact, as early as 2020, driven by a deep understanding of technological trends and clinical needs, Anlong Biotech had already ventured into the field of small nucleic acid drugs. At the time, however, the spotlight was so firmly on gene therapy that this strategic move went largely unnoticed.

Pivoting is never easy. Investing in a new direction is challenging enough, but the psychological hurdle is even greater—having to face the consequences of earlier misjudgments, discontinuing projects you once championed, all while dealing with investor skepticism and team unease.

Zhao Chunlin still vividly remembers the internal conflict of that period.

"I needed to find a new direction for the company, but I couldn't simply discard everything we had built. Our AAV ophthalmology pipeline had just received IND approval, and conducting clinical trials would require significant funding, while the small nucleic acid field demanded continuous investment. I had to force myself to make a decisive break and act quickly."

After careful consideration, he resolutely "cut the arm to save the body," shutting down all gene therapy projects except for the major ophthalmology indications. He transferred the production line to Xiji Biotech (with Anlong becoming a shareholder and client of Xiji), downsized the team from over a hundred to just over twenty, retaining only core technical personnel to pivot toward small nucleic acid drug development.

Simultaneously, the remaining ophthalmology gene therapy pipeline underwent a strategic technical adjustment.

In April 2021, Adverum, a prominent company in the field, faced a major medical incident with its core product: severe inflammatory reactions caused by intravitreal injection of the viral product led to patient blindness. The clinical trial was halted by the FDA, and its stock price plummeted for days, with market capitalization dropping from $1.3 billion to under $100 million. This unexpected event cast a shadow over the prospects of major ophthalmology indications in gene therapy.

"For major ophthalmology indications, unlike rare diseases, there are already mature treatment options available. Safety is far more critical than efficacy. If gene therapy cannot demonstrate its safety advantages, breaking through will be difficult."

Anlong Biotech once again found itself at a strategic crossroads. After extensive research and evaluation, the company decisively shifted to suprachoroidal space delivery—a route that significantly reduces inflammation risk but had no established precedent in China at the time.

"We collaborated with medical device companies to customize specialized needles and redesigned the delivery protocol. Many saw it as risky, but I believed that if this issue wasn't resolved, the entire field of ophthalmology gene therapy might not go far."

In hindsight, this approach not only significantly reduced the incidence of inflammatory reactions and improved the safety profile of the treatment but also offered cost advantages, making it particularly suitable for the Chinese market. Subsequently, companies like Hengrui Pharmaceuticals and Kanghong Pharmaceutical have also begun developing related products.

After its transformation, Anlong Biotech seemed to disappear from the industry's radar.

There were no financing announcements, no press releases. In silence, the team dedicated itself to one goal: transforming the small nucleic acid platform from a supporting unit into the company's core engine.

With limited self-funded investment for cultivation, Anlong Biotech's small nucleic acid business charted a differentiated path: instead of pursuing capital-intensive, full-chain R&D, it adopted a lightweight model of "technology platform + collaborative development."

From its inception, the department secured its first contract with Kaiyin Technology, which not only provided an upfront payment but also promised milestone payouts. "This gave us immense confidence—enterprises truly recognized our small nucleic acid technology and were willing to pay for it."

Subsequently, more collaborations followed. Anlong Biotech signed a series of small nucleic acid drug development cooperation agreements with companies such as Salubris, China Resources Pharmaceutical, Sunhoo Pharmaceutical, and Lukang Pharmaceutical. Driven by technology licensing and joint R&D, the company effectively distributed R&D costs and risks.

These collaborations not only alleviated the company's cash flow pressure but also honed the team's R&D capabilities and project management skills. Through practical experience, a standardized, modular small nucleic acid drug development platform was gradually established.

Recently, Anlong Biotech achieved another milestone: signing a cooperation agreement worth hundreds of millions of dollars with a U.S. Nasdaq-listed company, while retaining the market rights for its products in Greater China.

This collaboration marks the international recognition of Anlong Biotech's independently developed technology and lays a solid foundation for its global strategic layout. It also drives technological iteration in the small nucleic acid field and aligns it with international standards.

Today, Anlong has established multiple delivery systems, including intrahepatic and extrahepatic systems, and has developed over ten small nucleic acid products covering disease areas such as antiviral, cardiovascular, hematology, metabolism, ophthalmology, and central nervous system disorders.

"We shifted to small nucleic acid drugs with a total investment of less than 40 million yuan, yet we developed over ten product pipelines and secured multiple collaborations," Zhao Chunlin reflected, his tone now carrying the calmness that comes with experience. "Sometimes, constraints can spark creativity."

Standing at a new starting point, Zhao Chunlin has a clearer positioning for Anlong Biotech: it will not be a "trend-chasing company," but rather a "platform-based enterprise" capable of navigating industry cycles.

He has a clear benchmark in mind—Innovent Biologics. "Innovent has evolved from monoclonal antibodies to bispecific antibodies, ADCs, and cell therapies, continuously crossing technological platforms while consistently aligning with market rhythms."

Based on this, Zhao Chunlin has set short-, medium-, and long-term goals for Anlong Biotech:

• Short-term: Advance the ophthalmic gene therapy product toward market approval to demonstrate commercial capabilities, while leveraging China's "engineer dividend" to develop differentiated small nucleic acid products—"whether through unique targets, innovative delivery systems, or micro-innovations."

• Medium-term: Continue expanding partnership agreements. As collaboration amounts and milestone payments materialize, steadily increase revenue and seize opportunities to list on the Hong Kong stock market, propelling the company to the next level.

• Long-term: Build Anlong into the "Innovent of China's gene therapy field," actively participate in the rise of Chinese multinational pharmaceutical companies, and ultimately become China's Pfizer or Novartis.

"This may take decades," Zhao Chunlin says calmly. "But China has a population of 1.4 billion—the world's largest patient pool—and rapidly growing payment capabilities. There's no reason China shouldn't produce its own Pfizer or Novartis."

Reflecting on the transformation journey, he distills three survival principles for Chinese biotech companies:

1. Cross-platform capability. "Overseas companies might bet everything on a single technology—winning big if it succeeds, accepting losses if it fails. But the Chinese market favors companies with cross-platform capabilities—those with a diverse pipeline and the agility to pivot across different technology cycles."

2. Extreme execution. "Many know the right directions, but those who can execute faster and iterate at lower costs are the ones who survive."

3. Deep localization. "Returnees bring valuable technical perspectives, but the ultimate winners are those with a profound understanding of the Chinese market, its healthcare policies, and patient needs."

Zhao Chunlin uses his own experience as an example: "My first company after returning to China was in sales—carrying a bag and promoting products everywhere. This 'down-to-earth' experience taught me that in China's pharmaceutical industry, beyond science, there are many non-scientific factors at play."

Today, Anlong Biotech has not only survived but also completed its technological accumulation and platform development during the trough. Just as the small nucleic acid sector surged in popularity due to applications in weight loss, chronic diseases, and neurological disorders, Anlong Biotech had quietly secured a favorable position.

"What doesn't kill you makes you stronger," Zhao Chunlin states calmly yet firmly. "Once you've climbed one mountain, you want to climb an even higher one. Regardless of success or failure, you always hope to have the choice to pursue something more challenging or grander."

Turning back from the edge of the cliff, reconstructing in the face of adversity, and growing in silence—the story of Anlong Biotech vividly illustrates how, at the boundaries where hard knowledge fails, entrepreneurs rely on intuition, courage, and that "incalculable" soft knowledge to make life-altering decisions.

This is not only the path to Anlong Biotech's rebirth but also a microcosm of China's innovative pharmaceutical companies seeking their place in this grand era.

In an age of rapid technological change and intertwined cycles, those who ultimately navigate through the fog are likely the entrepreneurs who can calmly reconstruct a path forward in moments of despair and accumulate strength with strong execution in silence.

Their stories are now redefining the possibilities and boundaries of innovation in China.