MediLink Therapeutics (宜联生物)

Suzhou ADC company founded in 2020 by former Kelun executives; its B7-H3 ADC drew a US$570M upfront-plus-near-term deal from Roche.

1. Core Product / Service

MediLink develops ADCs on its TMALIN platform, a tumor-microenvironment-cleavable camptothecin linker-payload. It is headquartered in Suzhou Industrial Park and has R&D branches in Shanghai and Boston [1][2]. Stages below are per media reports [2]:

YL201 (B7-H3): two registrational Phase 3 trials in China, in small cell lung cancer and nasopharyngeal carcinoma. The NPC trial met its primary endpoint at an interim analysis in May 2026 [3][4].
YL212 (DLL3): Phase 3.
YL202 (HER3): Phase 2.
YL222 (PD-L1): Phase 2.
YL211 (c-MET) and YL221 (EGFR): Phase 1.

2. Target Users & Pain Points

Global pharma looking for clinically validated ADCs with differentiated linkers. MediLink has done about ten technology or product deals [2]. Its business model is to generate Chinese Phase 3 data, then license ex-China rights.

3. Competitive Landscape

Player	Positioning	Vs. MediLink
dualitybio	ADC developer founded 2019, listed in Hong Kong	More deals and listed; MediLink has the larger single upfront
Kelun-Biotech	MediLink's founders' former employer, a large ADC player	Former parent-company relationship; now shares in MediLink's licensing income
minghui-pharmaceutical	B7-H3 ADC (MHB088C) also in Phase 3	Direct B7-H3 competitor
allink-biotherapeutics	ADC startup founded in 2023	Earlier stage

4. Unique Observations

IP provenance has a price: Kelun-Biotech filed a criminal complaint in 2024 and civil suits in 2025. In a December 2025 settlement, MediLink agreed to share licensing income and future profits from six programs with Kelun. Kelun disclosed receiving RMB 703M from MediLink in 2026 [2][6].
Wet-lab model: the CRO Medicilon says it provided full-time-equivalent (FTE) staff for the YL201 program, synthesized TMALIN linkers and payloads, and developed the payload-intermediate route [5]. This is a vendor claim. MediLink halted its own plant in 2023, citing low batch volumes and industry overcapacity. In July 2026, after the Roche deal, it agreed to buy China Antibody's Suzhou biologics plant for RMB 280M [3]. Lab footprint and headcount are not disclosed.
Licensing pays more than equity: known licensing upfronts (about US$690M including near-term milestones) are about 5–6× disclosed equity (US$120M).

5. Financials / Funding

Round	Date	Amount	Investors
Series A	2021-03	US$50M (another database lists US$41M)	Hengze Capital and others [2]
Series B	2022-03	US$70M	Lyfe Capital and Qiming co-led; Legend, Zhengxin Valley, Highlight [2]

Total equity: media say at least RMB 850M raised [2].
BioNTech, YL202 (2023-10): US$70M upfront, about US$1B in milestones [4].
Roche, YL211 (2024-01): US$50M upfront plus near-term milestones [2].
Roche, YL201 (2026-01-08): US$570M upfront plus near-term milestones, for ex-China rights [3].
IPO: reported Hong Kong IPO preparation. As of 2026-10-14 the company is not on the HKEX active-applicant list [1].

6. People & Relationships

Chairman & CEO: 薛彤彤 (Xue Tongtong), formerly general manager of Kelun-Biotech (2016–2020) [2].
Co-founders: 蔡家强 (Cai Jiaqiang) and 肖亮 (Xiao Liang), both ex-Kelun [2].
CTO: 周伟昌 (Zhou Weichang), appointed July 2025 [2].
Partners: Roche, BioNTech, Zai Lab, Henlius, Amgen; vendor Medicilon.
Peers: dualitybio, minghui-pharmaceutical.