Evinova China and Harbour BioMed Form Strategic AI Partnership to Advance Biologic Drug Development and Global Innovation
During the 8th China International Import Expo (CIIE), two global leaders in the life sciences and biopharmaceutical industries—Evinova, a digital health and technology company, and Harbour BioMed (HKEX: 02142), a biopharmaceutical firm specializing in antibody therapeutics—announced a landmark strategic collaboration centered on artificial intelligence (AI). This partnership aims to harness the power of AI and digital innovation to accelerate biologics discovery, streamline clinical research, and advance breakthrough therapies from China to global markets.
A New Era for AI in Biopharmaceutical Innovation
The collaboration marks a major step in the evolution of China’s biopharmaceutical landscape, particularly in the field of AI-enabled research and development. Both Evinova and Harbour BioMed share a common vision of building a more efficient, connected, and data-driven drug development ecosystem that can bridge the gap between scientific innovation and real-world patient outcomes.
Evinova, a global health-tech subsidiary of AstraZeneca, has rapidly positioned itself as a leader in digital transformation for the life sciences industry. Its mission is to leverage cutting-edge technology to enhance clinical development processes, improve healthcare delivery, and help biopharma organizations optimize the path from discovery to commercialization. By collaborating with Harbour BioMed, Evinova China is expanding its presence in Asia’s dynamic biotechnology sector and demonstrating its commitment to accelerating digital health innovation globally.
Harbour BioMed, on the other hand, has built its reputation as a research-driven global biopharmaceutical company with deep expertise in immunology and oncology. The company’s proprietary Harbour Mice® technology platform—one of the most advanced systems for generating fully human monoclonal antibodies—forms the backbone of its drug discovery capabilities. Through strategic collaborations with technology partners like Evinova, Harbour BioMed aims to integrate AI into every stage of its research and clinical workflows to improve accuracy, shorten timelines, and enhance success rates in drug development.
Building an AI-Driven Drug Development Ecosystem
Under the new collaboration, Evinova China and Harbour BioMed will work together to apply AI and digital technologies to enhance the efficiency of biologics R&D, including drug discovery, preclinical modeling, clinical trial design, and data analytics. The goal is to create a new open and collaborative ecosystem for AI-driven drug research, combining the strengths of computational technology, biological insights, and real-world evidence.
According to Nate Zhang, General Manager of Evinova China, the partnership reflects a shared commitment to transforming how breakthrough therapies are developed and delivered:
“Evinova leverages the digital transformation insights of top global pharmaceutical companies to design our AI-powered clinical development solutions and digital strategy consulting services, so that we can accelerate the delivery of better health outcomes,” Zhang said. “To realize our mission, Evinova China needs to partner with innovative companies like Harbour BioMed, which are rooted in China while harboring global ambitions. Together, through our world-class AI technology platforms and deep therapeutic expertise, we can help take China-originated breakthrough assets from the laboratory to the world.”
This collaboration will involve multiple layers of digital integration. Evinova will provide advanced AI analytics, data integration, and cloud-based platforms to streamline and automate Harbour BioMed’s biologics R&D processes. The companies will explore how machine learning algorithms can be used to analyze massive datasets from genomics, proteomics, and clinical studies, identifying novel therapeutic targets more efficiently than traditional methods.
Additionally, the partnership will examine ways to apply predictive modeling and simulation tools to optimize clinical study design—helping researchers predict patient responses, determine optimal dosing strategies, and select ideal trial populations. This not only reduces development time but also minimizes costs and increases the probability of clinical success.
Advancing the Application of AI in Biotherapeutics
For Harbour BioMed, this collaboration comes at a pivotal moment in its journey toward global expansion and scientific leadership. The company’s founder, chairman, and CEO, Dr. Jingsong Wang, emphasized how the integration of AI will reinforce the company’s core mission of developing next-generation therapies that address major unmet medical needs.
“We are pleased to collaborate with Evinova to advance the application of AI in biotherapeutic development,” Dr. Wang stated. “Harbour BioMed has built a robust and differentiated product pipeline based on our industry-leading Harbour Mice® technology platform. Through this collaboration, we look forward to applying AI to improving clinical study efficiency and accelerating the delivery of innovative therapies to patients around the world.”
Harbour BioMed’s Harbour Mice® platform has already been instrumental in generating high-quality human antibody candidates with exceptional precision. By integrating Evinova’s AI and data-driven tools, the company expects to further enhance the design, optimization, and validation of its biologics pipeline. The partnership may also explore using AI for molecular design and optimization, enabling scientists to model antibody structures, predict binding affinities, and evaluate potential drug candidates before moving into the laboratory phase.
Moreover, AI-based predictive analytics could help Harbour BioMed improve patient recruitment and trial management, one of the most challenging aspects of biopharma research. Leveraging Evinova’s digital solutions, the company aims to adopt decentralized and hybrid clinical trial models, using digital biomarkers, remote monitoring, and real-time data analysis to enhance trial quality and efficiency.
Strengthening China’s Position in Global Drug Innovation
China has emerged as a rapidly growing hub for life sciences innovation, with the country’s biopharmaceutical sector attracting global attention for its scientific breakthroughs and regulatory advancements. The Evinova–Harbour BioMed collaboration reflects the broader trend of China’s transition from a manufacturing base to a global innovation powerhouse in biopharma and health technology.
By focusing on AI-driven R&D, both companies are contributing to a new wave of scientific and technological integration that supports China’s ambitions to lead in digital health and precision medicine. Their partnership aligns with national goals to enhance innovation capacity, accelerate the development of first-in-class and best-in-class therapies, and improve patient access to advanced medicines.
Furthermore, the collaboration demonstrates how international companies like Evinova are increasingly recognizing China’s potential as both an innovation hub and a launchpad for global market expansion. Through partnerships with local biotech leaders, Evinova aims to support the globalization of China-originated therapies, ensuring that discoveries made in Chinese laboratories can benefit patients worldwide.
The Broader Impact: AI as a Catalyst for Global Health
Artificial intelligence has already begun transforming the pharmaceutical industry, from molecule discovery to post-market surveillance. AI systems can analyze vast volumes of biomedical data, identify patterns invisible to human researchers, and accelerate hypothesis generation. As biopharma companies adopt these tools, they are achieving major improvements in productivity, precision, and patient outcomes.
The Evinova–Harbour BioMed collaboration is part of a larger movement in which AI is redefining how drugs are discovered and developed. According to industry analysts, AI could reduce the time and cost of new drug development by up to 50%, helping companies bring more therapies to market faster and more efficiently. These technologies also hold promise for personalized medicine, enabling treatments tailored to individual genetic profiles and disease pathways.
By combining Evinova’s AI expertise with Harbour BioMed’s biologics innovation, the two companies are positioned to create a powerful model for the future of pharmaceutical R&D—one that unites computational intelligence with scientific creativity.
About Evinova
Evinova is a global health-tech business, accelerating the delivery of better health outcomes by propelling the life sciences sector forward in digital health, from the inside. Through our application of science-based expertise, evidence-led rigour, and human experience-driven insight, our digital solutions are deliberately designed so that everyone can reach better health outcomes together. Evinova is a separate health-tech business within the AstraZeneca Group. Please visit evinova.com or follow the company on social media @Evinova.
About Harbour BioMed
Harbour BioMed (HKEX: 02142) is a global biopharmaceutical company committed to the discovery and development of novel antibody therapeutics in immunology and oncology. The company is building a robust and differentiated pipeline through internal R&D capabilities, strategic global collaborations in co-discovery and co-development, and selective acquisitions.
Harbour BioMed’s proprietary antibody technology platform, Harbour Mice®, generates fully human monoclonal antibodies in both the conventional two heavy and two light chain (H2L2) format and the heavy chain-only (HCAb) format. Building upon HCAb antibodies, the HCAb-based immune cell engagers (HBICE®) bispecific antibody technology enables tumor-killing effects that traditional combination therapies cannot achieve. Additionally, the HCAb-based bispecific immune cell antagonist (HBICATM) technology empowers the development of innovative biologics for immunological and inflammatory diseases. By integrating Harbour Mice®, HBICE®, and HBICATM with a single B-cell cloning platform, Harbour BioMed has built a highly efficient and distinctive antibody discovery engine for developing next-generation therapeutic antibodies. For more information, please visit www.harbourbiomed.com.
