Suzhou Ribo Life Science Co., Ltd. recently announced the Prof. Li-Ming Gan, the former Vice President and head of global clinical development for cardiovascular, renal and metabolism area at AstraZeneca CVRM R&D headquarter in Sweden, has joined Ribo and will serve as the President of Global R&D and Chief Medical Officer since 1st of Jan 2022.

Prof Gan. brings his unique longitudinal experience of innovative first-in-class drug development life cycle from target ideas, through preclinical, translational and clinical development to successful launch. Prof. Gan was also actively involved and pioneering development of many non-small molecule modalities, including peptide, antibody, ASO, cell therapy, as well as mRNA. He has lead the world′s first first-in-patient trial using therapeutic mRNA approach 2016, which crucially contributed to the later explosive development of the platform. During the days at AstraZeneca, Prof. Gan was responsible for building the cardiovascular pipeline between 2007-2011. Between 2011 and 2013, with increasing emphasis on translational science, he became the Translational Science Director to help bridging the early projects into the human setting. Since 2013, Prof. Gan has been leading the global clinical development work initially for the cardiovascular area, and later also included renal and metabolism areas. 

In addition to 20 years of extensive strategic and hands-on experience from big pharma, Prof Gan. also brings up-to-date academic research and clinical knowledge to Ribo. Throughout his career, he has been able to combine pharmaceutical career with his academic and clinical work at Sahlgrenska University Hospital at Sahlgrenska Academy, where he, since 2009, holds a professor position in translational cardiovascular research and drug discovery, combined with a chief physician position at the department of Cardiology.

“Over a dozen of year of growth, it could be clearly foreseen that Ribo is going to have a leap - forward development in the next few years.” said Dr. Zicai Liang, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer at Ribo, “We are excited to have such an experienced and outstanding scientific leader helping the Company in various aspects for example advancing global R&D strategy and product portfolio, leading the global clinical development and international business development, based on his excellency in leading the innovative drug R&D with global view.” 

To accelerate its globalization, Ribo has established the first global R&D centre, Ribocure Pharmaceuticals AB, based in Gothenburg Sweden. This unit will be devoting to developing innovative drugs on the global arena through close collaboration with Scandinavian and European academia and biotechs, global project leadership, as well as innovative clinical development approaches. Prof. Gan has been appointed CEO for Ribocure Pharmaceuticals AB, and will be accountable for development and integration of this new unit going forward.