The board of directors of Simcere Pharmaceutical Group Limited announced that, on October 27, 2022, Beijing time, SIM0237 for injection, an anti-PD-L1/IL-15 bispecific antibody independently developed by the Group, has obtained the approval of the Investigational New Drug (IND) application issued by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which is intended to be investigated in clinical trials of locally advanced unresectable or metastatic solid tumors. In addition, the IND application of SIM0237 in China was accepted by the National Medical Products Administration on October 10, 2022. SIM0237 is an anti-PD-L1 monoclonal antibody fused with IL-15/IL-15R sushi developed in-house by utilizing the Group's protein engineering platform.

It can block the PD-1/PD-L1 immunosuppressive pathway via binding to PD-L1 and activate the immune system through its IL-15 part, thus playing a synergistic role of relieving immunosuppression and boosting the immune system to exhibit antitumor effect. Preclinical studies showed that SIM0237 is more effective than PD-L1 or IL-15 mono treatment in mouse tumor models, suggesting a high potential for clinical development.