Highlights of 2025 SAPA Annual Conference

SAPA Communication
Oct 15
11 min read

Updated: Oct 19

The 2025 SAPA Annual Conference was successfully held in New Brunswick, New Jersey on Saturday, September 27 with more than 500 attendees and speakers. It was kicked off with opening remarks by Wei Ding, PhD (President, SAPA). He summarized the growth and evolution of SAPA events, expressed excitement about the future prospects, and thanked sponsors and volunteers for their support.

First keynote speaker

The first keynote speaker Jasmine Cui, PharmD (Founder & CEO of InnoCare Pharma) spoke about how innovation has transformed healthcare in the last 10 years and its potential for the future. The title of her speech was “Ten Years of Healthcare Transformation: Innovation Leading the Way Ahead”. Dr. Cui opened with the progress of pharma industry developments in China and then highlighted recent milestones of InnoCare in Orelabrutinib and Tafasitamab. She emphasized the importance of a fully-integrated biopharma company. At the end of the speech, she was granted a lifetime achievement award by Wei Ding, PhD (President, SAPA).

Second keynote speaker

The second keynote address was delivered by Ron Kim, MBA, Senior Vice President and former Chief Technology Officer of Merck & Co., Inc. His presentation, entitled “Emerging AI's Role in Life Sciences: Keys to Success, Pitfalls to Avoid, Fact vs. Fiction,” examined the growing influence of artificial intelligence in the life sciences. Mr. Kim underscored AI’s potential to enhance productivity and optimize processes in pharmaceutical research and drug discovery. Mr. Kim also cautioned against common pitfalls to avoid and outlined the key factors essential for successful adoption of AI.

Executive Fireside Chat and Coffee Break

Following Jasmine and Ron, the session transitioned into an insightful executive fireside chat featuring Nauman Shah, MBA, Global Head, Business Development at Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine. This engaging discussion, titled "Evolving Healthcare Landscape, Emerging BioPharma Opportunities," was moderated by Yongmei Li, PhD, SAPA Co-Acting President and CEO of Axela Biosciences, Inc. Nauman covered key emerging opportunities within the biopharma sector, detailing successful strategies like acquisitions. He also showcased worldwide collaboration on solid tumor research across regions including China, Japan, and Korea, and emphasized future trends in science & innovations. This candid exchange gave attendees a unique glimpse into the minds of industry leaders, fostering a deeper understanding of the trends and innovations shaping the future of medicine.

Third Keynote Speaker

The third keynote speaker is Michael Ellis, SVP, Head of Discovery & Development Sciences of Bristol Myers Squibb. The title of the speech is “Transforming Patients' Lives Through Science: Inventive vignettes from Pharmaceutical Industry”. Mike outlined Bristol-Myers Squibb’s R&D strategy centered on causal human biology, leveraging AI and computational prediction to accelerate drug discovery and development. He discussed BMS’s portfolio evolution and the importance of matching modalities to mechanisms, and shared clinical examples in oncology and sickle cell disease, emphasizing technology’s role in improving efficiency and patient outcomes.

IQ Fireside Chat topic

The last session of the morning, IQ Fireside Chat, is entitled “Industry Collaboration on Life Science” by the Moderator Mehran Yazdanian, PhD (VP R&D Operations, Teva Pharmaceuticals); Llorente Bonaga, PhD (Sr. Director Regulatory Affairs CMC, Merck); Maureen Cruz, PhD, MPH (Principal, Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP); Ken Fraunhoffer, PhD (Scientific Director, Bristol Myers Squibb); Anne Payne, PhD (Sr. Director, GlaxoSmithKline); Ling He, PhD (Sr. Director, Daiichi Sankyo, Inc). They highlighted the importance of collaboration and shared interests among IQ Consortium companies, emphasizing the application of the Consortium’s resources across different pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.

SAPA election announcement

The SAPA election results, announced after the IQ fireside chat, revealed Dr. Lily Li as the new President-Elect. In her speech, she shared the team's excitement to honor the work of past leaders while also charting a new course with fresh perspectives for 2026.

Parallel Session A: Drug Discovery - Novel Therapies on the Horizon

The session opened with remarks by Dexi Yang, PhD, followed by a series of talks highlighting novel drug discovery in therapeutic space. Russell Weiner, PhD (President of AAPS, Vice President, AstraZeneca) discussed the challenges in conducting clinical trials in low- and middle-income countries. Michael Tolentino, MD (Co-Founder, Scientific Head Consultant to the CEO, Aviceda Therapeutic) spoke on the invention and clinical development of glycoimmune checkpoint agonist AVD-104 to restore vision in geographic atrophy macular degeneration. Next, Jun Wang, PhD (Assistant Professor of Pathology, NYU Grossman School of Medicine) highlighted the novel immune feedback modulators for immunotherapy. After a coffee break, Sanjeev Ahuja, PhD (Executive Director of Biologics, Process Development, Merck) shared the development of complex biologics in the drug discovery space. Lastly, Tong Zhang, PhD (Director of Bispecific Antibod, Regeneron) and Tal Nuriel, PhD (Assistant Professor, Columbia University) shared their recent discovery in antibody development for cancer immunotherapy and novel drug target for Alzheimer’s disease prevention. The session was concluded by David Liu, PhD.

Parallel Session B: Navigating new frontiers in CMC and Bioanalysis in an evolving landscape

The session opened with remarks by Yong Guo, PhD, MBA (Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Fairleigh Dickinson University), followed by the keynote session titled Integrating CMC, Clinical Outcomes, and Bioanalytical Strategy in Gene Therapy: Considerations for a Successful Partnership presented by Binodh DeSilva, PhD (Senior Vice President, Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical Inc.). She highlighted the synergies in technology (e.g., data integration and AI) to revolutionize the CMC development while also pointed out some key technical challenges in the field (e.g., aggregation affecting immunogenicity). In the end, She called for action of deep collaboration between CMC and other functions to improve patient outcomes.

Following the keynote speech were a series of talks centered around the strategic role that CMC plays in R&D and product development. Wenhua Wang, PhD (Senior Principal Scientist, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc.) discussed the bioconjugate control strategies in CMC development through a few real-world case studies, while Li Tao, PhD (Senior Scientific Director, Bristol Myers Squibb) focused on the recent advances and future outlooks on analytical development for biologics. After the coffee break, the session resumed with the talk by Hyunah Cho, PhD (Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Fairleigh Dickinson University) on polymeric micelles for nose-to-brain drug delivery in neurological disorders. Dujuan Lu, PhD (E&L Global Leader, SGS Pharma) later discussed the recent advances in managing extractables and leachables for pharmaceuticals and medical devices to ensure safety and compliance. Junshu Zhao, PhD, MBA (Senior Director, CMC Strategy & Business Development, Bristol Myers Squibb) spoke on the CMC as a strategic lever in business development and shared her insights with the audience. The session concluded with a panel discussion with all speakers and was moderated by Yongle Pang, PhD (Associate Director, Bioanalytical, Kymera Therapeutics), who also gave a closing remark on the session.

Parallel Session C (AI Talk): Collaborative Intelligence Driving Next-Gen Therapeutics

The session opened with remarks from Brian Jiang, MS (Senior Pharmaceutical IT Manager, Pfizer), who reflected on the evolution of the AI “bubble” and posed the central question: How can AI truly transform the pharmaceutical industry?

The talks highlighted diverse applications of AI across the drug development value chain. Petrina Kamya, PhD (Vice President, Insilico Medicine) shared how Insilico leverages AI to accelerate drug discovery timelines, improve efficiency, and enhance decision-making, illustrated through three case studies. Gautham Nagabhushana, MPH (Partner, IBM) presented real-world examples of how pharmaceutical companies are already applying generative and agentic AI, noting successful early implementations and emerging industry trends. Jimeng Sun, PhD (Professor, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; CEO, Keiji AI) introduced Keiji AI agents that streamline clinical trials from literature review to patient recruitment and outcome prediction, demonstrating superior performance over generic AI models and reducing delays in the development process.

After a coffee break, Yunpeng Liu-Lupo, PhD (Senior Director, Bristol Myers Squibb) and Ethan Poris, MS (Associate Director, Bristol Myers Squibb) described a reinforcement learning system that dynamically personalizes email outreach to healthcare professionals. This adaptive approach significantly increases engagement and is scalable across additional pharma touchpoints. Yong Chen, PhD (Professor, University of Pennsylvania) presented a Causal AI framework that corrects hidden biases in real-world data, thereby strengthening evidence beyond randomized controlled trials. Integrated with federated trial emulation, it enables robust, privacy-preserving multi-site studies critical for drug repurposing, rare outcomes, and safety surveillance. Daniel Luo, PhD (Assistant Director, Duke Capital Partners) concluded the talks with insights into biopharma AI investment trends, challenges in scaling AI startups, and evolving standards in the sector. The session closed with a lively panel discussion moderated by Anbo Zhou, PhD (Senior Scientist, Regeneron), where experts debated the meaning of AI in practice, strategies for integration into daily work, approaches to talent acquisition, and the role of large versus small AI models. Brian Jiang delivered the closing remarks, summarizing the key takeaways and expressing appreciation to the speakers, organizers, and participants.

Afternoon Session D

The first session, led by Zhiwei Yin, PhD (Associate Director, Bristol Myers Squibb) and Xi Cheng, MPH, MS (Senior Data Scientist, ThinkSnow Healthcare Inc.) , titled “Boost Your AIQ — Work Smarter with GenAI,” introduced participants to a suite of cutting-edge AI tools designed to enhance research productivity, creativity, and workflow efficiency. The session showcased MCP (Model Context Protocol) agent for Notion database read/write to boost personal productivity, Claude AI for repaid UI prototyping, Chat with tabular data via LLMs, Deep Research tools for intelligent data exploration, NotebookLM for document-grounded summarization etc.

The second session, led by Junchi Lu, PhD (Senior Manager, Bristol Myers Squibb) offered a hands-on workshop titled “Rapid Prototyping with Vibe Coding”. Participants learned Vibe Coding landscapes, techniques, capabilities, and how to build simple Streamlit applications—such as a Clinical Trial Data Explorer and a Biopharma M&A News Tracker—from scratch using AI-assisted development. The session guided attendees through defining prompts and sample data, designing user interfaces, testing and refining functionality, and automatically generating documentation. With open Q&A and shared resources, including demo and exercise repositories, the session showcased how AI can simplify coding and empower users to create functional prototypes with ease, bringing innovation from concept to implementation.

Through live demos and interactive discussions, attendees learned how to combine these tools to streamline literature reviews, accelerate insights, support data-driven decision-making, and build prototypes—empowering professionals and students alike to harness the full potential of generative AI in their daily work. The teaching assistants were also actively involved, providing hands-on guidance, troubleshooting setup issues, and ensuring that every participant could follow along smoothly.

Afternoon Session E

Parallel Session E, “Building Resilience Blueprint: Legal, Investment, and BD Strategies,” began with opening remarks from Dr. Lily Li, SAPA President-Elect and SAPA-CT President, and continued with a series of three panel discussions.

The first panel discussion “Building a Winning Legal Strategy in Uncertain Times” was moderated by Wansheng Jerry Liu, PhD, JD (Partner, Rothschild). Among the panelists are Tamar R. Gubins, JD (Partner, Fox Rothschild); Ran He, PhD, JD (Founder, THC Lawyers); Gerard P. Norton, PhD, JD (Partner, Fox Rothschild) and Peng Sun, PhD, JD (Senior Director, Senior Patent Counsel, Sarepta Therapeutics). The discussion covered legal strategies in M&A, emphasizing due diligence, regulatory frameworks, governance, and intellectual property protection while navigating cross-border complexities. It also highlighted recent trends in biomedical IPOs across both the Hong Kong and U.S. capital markets, as well as the impact of AI. Sho Islam (Director, Economic Development Middlesex County, NJ) moderated the second panel discussion “Cross Borders: Ecosystem, Innovation, and Incentives”. The panel consisted of Bill Noonan (Chief Business Development Officer, Choose New Jersey); John Coelho (Senior Advisor, NJEDA); Kalindi Baskshi, PhD (Division Head, Life Sciences & Food Innovation Middlesex County OBD); Matt Cabrey (Director, i2n- The Ideas x Innovation Networks). Programs such as NJEDA, i2n, and ChooseNJ designed to support startups, companies and academic institutes were introduced. Furthermore, they emphasized the importance of fostering entrepreneurial spirit and driving innovation across states and borders.

The last panel discussion titled “Beyond Borders: Forging Global Partnerships” was moderated by Jun Stephen Xue (General Manager, Chipscreen Biosciences, Ltd.) and participated by Marc Appel (Managing Partner, Pacific Bridge N); Weiyong Sun, PhD, MBA (Chief Business Officer, Hansoh Bio/Hasoh Pharma); Wensheng Du, PhD, MBA (VP, Head of Global BD, Hengrui Pharmaceuticals); Jack Wu, PhD, MBA (Senior Director, Takeda Oncology); Yangzi He, PhD, MBA (Associate Director, Bristol Myers Squibb).

The panel delivered a dynamic discussion on BD/NewCo/investment strategies, sharing insider perspectives on deal structuring from both buy and sell sides. Transparency, trust, business models, and relationships emerged as key drivers of success. Featuring Chinese biotech firms, investors, and MNCs, the session highlighted Henrui and Hansoh’s BD/NewCo journeys, investor views on NewCo structuring and capital, and MNCs’ case-based insights into search and evaluating Chinese assets. Topics ranged from traditional BD vs. NewCo trade-offs to the growing importance of license-out strategies and what truly makes a deal work. Audience questions on Chinese asset discounts sparked lively engagement, and the session closed with key takeaways and a forward-looking spirit.

Afternoon Session F

Parallel Session F was titled “Clinical Development/Regulatory – Clinical Development, Regulatory Strategy, and Data-Driven Decision Making in the AI Era” with four speeches and a panel discussion.

Xiaowei Sun, PhD (Senior Scientist, Translational Medicine, Bristol Myers Squibb) and Frank X Gan, PharmD (SVP, Clinical Development, ImmuneOnco Biopharmaceuticals (Shanghai), Inc) introduced the speakers.

The first speech “AI Opportunities in Clinical Development” was given by Hong Xie, MD, MBA, MS (President, ClinX LLC). She summarized broad trends in AI developments and highlighted potential for AI in clinical trial development, including creating digital patient profiles, devising trial enrollment strategies, engaging patients, streamlining data acquisition, and improving operation efficiency.

The second speech “AI Agents in Clinical Development: Integrating Clinical Insights with Statistical Innovations” was given by Will Ma, PhD (Founder & CEO, HopeAI, Inc.). He discussed the offerings of his company, mainly AI teammates in the form of clinicians and statisticians, that could support the development of clinical trials. He highlighted recent advancements of his project being published in arXiv. He finally offered a trial-out of his product to all SAPA annual conference attendees.

The third speech “Good Clinical Practice and AI: Considerations at the Site Level” was given by Deonna Coleman, MA (Director Clinical Studies, Office of Research & Sponsored Projects, Kaleida Health). She discussed what AI oversight looked like within her organization and emphasized the importance of good clinical practice, such as protocol compliance, informed consent, and keeping good records. She highlighted innovations such as an advisory board of stakeholders at Kaleida Health.

The fourth speech “Navigating the AI Regulatory Frontier: A Risk-Based Framework for Model Credibility in Drug Development” was given by Hanrui Zhang, PhD (ML/AI Reviewer/Researcher, FDA). She discussed the trend of increased submissions to the FDA with significant involvement of AI. She summarized the FDA 7 steps for AI use in regulatory decision making. Through several case studies, she noted the challenges of AI-supported studies and how different standards must be met depending on applications.

The speeches were followed by a final panel discussion with all participants above. Some interesting highlights included a discussion on how AI is applied by the FDA and how we as individuals should interact with AI. Overall, there was a cautious optimism about the future application of AI in clinical development.

Afternoon Session G

Parallel Session G, titled "Career Development - Voices from Industry: Diverse Paths to Success in Pharma & Biotech," led by Jianjian Guo, PhD (Yale University) and Ran He, PhD, JD (Founder, THC lawyers), convened a distinguished panel offering multi-faceted insights into professional success. The session began with featured speakers Hao Chen, PhD (Vice President, GSK) and Lihui Zhao, PhD (Executive Director, Daiichi Sankyo, Inc.) sharing valuable evergreen career advice to stay steady through changes. This was followed by a practical workshop led by Diana Ji (Founder & CEO, Bongene Group) on optimizing resumes and engaging mock interviews conducted collaboratively with other speakers, offering individualized practical tips to attendees. The subsequent panel discussion was moderated by Louise Liu, PhD, MBA (CEO, Hill Research) featuring experts from diverse backgrounds including Abita Page (Senior Manager, Bristol Myers Squibb), Huaping Tang, PhD (Executive Director, GSK), Meade Zhang, MBA (CHRO, Hengrui Pharmaceuticals), Ming Tang, PhD (Director of Bioinformatics, AstraZeneca) and Ruiwei Zhang (Senior Associate, Charles River Associates), provided further deep-dive career and industry discussions. The session concluded with an intimate, interactive roundtable, grouping attendees with all speakers for face-to-face dialogue and providing a unique and valuable opportunity for direct answers to their personal career questions.

Reception and Annual Gala

The 2025 SAPA Annual Conference concluded with a lively reception, where attendees gathered to exchange ideas and share their interests in an informal and vibrant setting. The atmosphere was energetic and engaging, providing participants with the opportunity to build connections beyond the scientific discussions of the day. Conversations centered on emerging trends, potential collaborations, and the evolving role of innovation in advancing healthcare.

Later in the evening, the community came together for the Sino-American Pharmaceutical Association (SAPA) Annual Gala, a signature event dedicated to celebration, networking, and forward-looking dialogue with peers and leaders across the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. The Gala served as both a celebration of the community’s achievements and a recognition of the professionals and organizations driving progress in science, medicine, and technology. With an atmosphere of camaraderie and shared purpose, the evening strengthened professional relationships and inspired continued collaboration.

The Gala also honored outstanding contributions with the presentation of SAPA’s annual awards:

● SAPA Distinguished Achievement Award: Jasmine Cui

● SAPA Presidential Service Excellence Award: Jack Wu

● SAPA Distinguished Contribution Award: Binodh DeSilva, Russell Weiner

● SAPA Service Excellence Awards: SAPA Service Excellence Award, SAPA Special Recognition Award, SAPA-CT Service Excellence Award, SAPA-GP Service Excellence Award, SAPA-DC Service Excellence Award, SAPA-MW Service Excellence Award, SAPA-NE Service Excellence Award

● SAPA Corporate Sponsor Recognition Award

In addition, SAPA recognized the recipients of the 2025 SAPA Scholarship and Excellence in Education for Life Sciences: Eric Su and Steve Wang. Each recipient received a one-time award of $1,000 toward tuition expenses, generously sponsored by Bristol Myers Squibb.

SAPA also expressed its deep appreciation to all corporate sponsors for their continued support in advancing the mission of the organization.