Jim Wu
Chief Executive Officer Ark Biosciences
Dr. Jim Wu is founder and CEO of Shanghai Ark Biopharmaceutical Co. (ArkBio). ArkBio is a commercial stage biotech company, focusing on R&D in the respiratory and lung disease areas, especially acute respiratory viral infection by RSV and influenza, COPD and lung fibrosis. Dr. Wu is a biochemist by training and has worked in pharma and biotech industries in the past 30 years, including Schering-Plough and Roche. He is a co-inventor of several drugs and have published more than 70 papers on drug discovery and development work.
Seminars
Thursday 17th September 2026
Discovery & Development of New Generation of Neutrophil Elastase Inhibitor AK0705 for Treatment of Acute Exacerbation COPD
2:00 pm
- Discovery and optimization of AK0705 as a reversible covalent neutrophil elastase inhibitor, originally identified by Scripps Research Institute, followed by a strategic collaboration for preclinical and clinical development
- Exploring the pharmacological and efficacy profile across COPD and inflammatory disease models, highlighting its unique reversible covalent binding mechanism and picomolar potency, whilst demonstrating good in vivo anti-inflammatory activity in three established animal models as potent as dexamethasone
- Preclinical development progress and clinical translation strategy, including completion of final preclinical studies and the planned transition into first‑in‑human Phase 1 clinical evaluation within the next 10 months
