{"entity":{"id":"xia-michelle","kind":"person","name":"Michelle Xia (Xia Yu)","aka":["Yu Xia","夏瑜"],"tldr":"Michelle Xia founded Akeso, the Zhongshan company whose bispecific antibody ivonescimab was the first drug to beat pembrolizumab in a head-to-head trial.","summary":"A returnee antibody scientist who founded Akeso in 2012 and built the Tetrabody platform behind cadonilimab (PD-1 x CTLA-4, approved 2022), ivonescimab (PD-1 x VEGF, approved 2024, HARMONi-2 win over pembrolizumab) and penpulimab (FDA approved 2025); licensed ivonescimab's Western rights to Summit Therapeutics for $500 million upfront.","asOf":"2026-09-10","links":[{"label":"Akeso","url":"https://www.akesobio.com/"}],"tags":["china"],"related":[],"cancers":[],"sections":[],"technologies":[],"targets":[],"drugs":["ivonescimab","cadonilimab","penpulimab"],"companies":["akeso"],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":["harmoni-2","harmoni-a"],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":[],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"role":"Founder, Chairwoman and CEO, Akeso","specialisms":["Bispecific antibodies","Antibody discovery","Biotech leadership"],"profiles":[{"label":"Akeso","url":"https://www.akesobio.com/"}],"papers":[{"title":"Phase 1a dose escalation study of ivonescimab (AK112/SMT112), an anti-PD-1/VEGF-A bispecific antibody, in patients with advanced solid tumors","journal":"Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer","year":2024,"doi":"10.1136/jitc-2023-008037"},{"title":"Ligufalimab, a novel anti-CD47 antibody with no hemagglutination demonstrates both monotherapy and combo antitumor activity","journal":"Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer","year":2022,"doi":"10.1136/jitc-2022-005517"},{"title":"CD74 is associated with inflamed tumor immune microenvironment and predicts responsiveness to PD-1/CTLA-4 bispecific antibody in patients with solid tumors","journal":"Cancer Immunology, Immunotherapy","year":2024,"doi":"10.1007/s00262-023-03604-2"}]},"route":"/people/xia-michelle/","neighbours":{"drug":[{"id":"cadonilimab","kind":"drug","name":"Cadonilimab","route":"/drugs/cadonilimab/"},{"id":"ivonescimab","kind":"drug","name":"Ivonescimab","route":"/drugs/ivonescimab/"},{"id":"penpulimab","kind":"drug","name":"Penpulimab","route":"/drugs/penpulimab/"}],"company":[{"id":"akeso","kind":"company","name":"Akeso","route":"/companies/akeso/"}],"trial":[{"id":"harmoni-2","kind":"trial","name":"HARMONi-2","route":"/trials/harmoni-2/"},{"id":"harmoni-a","kind":"trial","name":"HARMONi-A","route":"/trials/harmoni-a/"}]}}