Recently, the list of "The 5 Most Powerful Women in Biopharma" was unveiled, with Xia Yu, the founder, chairwoman, president, and CEO of Akeso Inc., ranking third. At the same time, Akeso Inc. was recognized as one of BioSpace's "World's Top 5 Best Biopharmaceutical Companies."
Xia is the only leader from a Chinese innovative pharmaceutical company on this list, and Akeso Inc., based in Zhongshan, is the sole Chinese innovative biopharmaceutical company to make it onto the "World's Top 5 Best Biopharmaceutical Companies" list.
A biochemistry graduate of Sun Yat-sen University, Xia earned postgraduate degrees from Newcastle University and the University of Glasgow in the U.K. She then moved to the United States to focus on cancer immunotherapy at the University of Louisville, where she accumulated extensive experience in new drug development at various laboratories and international pharmaceutical companies.
Recognizing the significant clinical demand for innovative drugs in China, Xia founded Akeso Inc. in 2012. Despite challenging beginnings, she successfully led Akeso to become a world-renowned biopharmaceutical company, developing innovative drugs, particularly first-in-class tumor immunology bispecific antibodies, Cadonilimab (PD-1/CTLA-4) and Ivonescimab (PD-1/VEGF).
In the first half of 2025, Akeso's commercial sales revenue reached 1.401 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 49.20—equivalent to nearly 8 million yuan per day from drug sales. This growth was primarily driven by the two first-in-class bispecific antibody drugs: Ivonescimab and Cadonilimab.
Currently, Akeso has developed over 50 innovative drugs with fully independent intellectual property rights, and 22 drug candidates have entered clinical trials. Since its listing on HKEX in 2020, Akeso's market capitalization has increased by 594%.
According to a previous estimate by Forbes, the 58-year-old Xia and her family hold 8.5% of the company's shares, giving her a net worth of 1.2 billion US dollars and placing her among the billionaires. Additionally, she is one of only 13 self-made female billionaires in the global healthcare field.
Photo | Nanfang Plus
Editor | Deng Li (intern), Liu Yuetong (intern), Li Lan (intern), Wei Shen, James Campion, Shen He
