BeOne Medicines names R&D chief Wang Lai as co-president to lead global expansion

BeOne Medicines, a global drug company that originated as a research and development (R&D) firm in Beijing, promoted Wang Lai to the newly created role of co-president, marking a leadership expansion as the company advances its late-stage pipeline and globalisation efforts.\nThe 48-year-old has served as the company’s global head of R&D since April 2021. Effective January, Wang would take the helm of an expanded portfolio, retaining his R&D responsibilities while also overseeing business development and the management of business alliance relationships, according to a filing with the Hong Kong stock exchange on Friday.\nThe appointment was approved by the board of directors on December 17.\nBefore becoming global R&D head in 2021, Wang held various research leadership positions in BeOne. Before that, he had helmed research operations as director at Joyant Pharmaceuticals, a Texas-based biotech company, from 2008 to 2011.\n\nWang, who holds US citizenship, earned a bachelor of science degree from Fudan University in 1996 and a PhD from the University of Texas Health Science Centre, San Antonio, in 2001.\nHe will serve alongside Wu Xiaobin, 63, as co-president of the company. Wu, a German citizen, previously served as country manager of Pfizer China and regional president of Pfizer Essential Health for Greater China before joining BeOne.\nWu received total pre-tax compensation of about 13.09 million yuan (US$1.86 million) last year, while Wang took home 8.56 million yuan, according to the company’s annual report.\nBeOne generated global revenue of about US$3.8 billion last year, up from US$1.4 billion in the previous year, driven by its flagship products Brukinsa and Tevimbra.\nBrukinsa, a BTK inhibitor that sells across the US, Europe, China, the UK, Canada, Australia, Japan, Brazil and other markets, achieved global sales of 18.7 billion yuan in 2024, ranking second globally and first in China in its class. The drug helped propel the company to its first profitable half-year in early 2024.\nTevimbra, a PD-1 antibody treatment, has secured regulatory approvals across the EU’s 27 member states plus Iceland and Norway, as well as 16 other countries in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific.\nAs of February this year, BeOne held five patents for its medicines and late-stage clinical drug candidates.\nFounded as BeiGene in 2010 by American entrepreneur John Oyler and Chinese-American scientist Wang Xiaodong, the company went public on the Nasdaq in 2016 and completed a secondary listing in Hong Kong two years later, followed by a Shanghai listing in 2021.\nThe company was rebranded as BeOne Medicines in November amid escalating US-China geopolitical tensions, having relocated its headquarters from the Cayman Islands to Switzerland in May.\nAs of December 2024, it employed over 11,000 people globally.\n