Everfront Biotech Wins Grand Prize at the Inaugural PharmaEssentia Innovation Award
Date: July 19, 2026
Everfront Biotech announced its official win of the Grand Prize at the inaugural PharmaEssentia Innovation Award on July 15. (This image is AI-assisted)
Everfront Biotech announced that it has officially been awarded the Grand Prize at the inaugural PharmaEssentia Innovation Award. This competition featured numerous outstanding innovative teams across fields such as hematology, oncology, immunology, and rare diseases. Advancing to the top five finalists in Tokyo and ultimately winning this prestigious award marks a significant milestone for the Everfront Biotech team.
At the award ceremony, Dr. Adrian Lee, Director of Clinical Medicine and Spokesperson of Everfront Biotech, delivered the acceptance speech on behalf of the team. He expressed special gratitude to PharmaEssentia (Chairwoman Dr. Ching-Leou Teng, CEO Dr. Ko-Chung Lin, and CSO Dr. Harvey Chin) and TECH Tokyo for their vision in establishing this award. During his address, Dr. Lee emphasized that this award is not just a competition, but a bridge—successfully connecting academic research with real-world clinical applications, linking the innovation ecosystems of Taiwan and Japan, and providing the critical resources needed to bring early-stage science to patients. The team also expressed sincere appreciation for the rigorous evaluation by the judging panel, comprising leaders from Harvard University and top academic and industry institutions in Taiwan and Japan, which has made the company’s research and development vision even clearer.
For Everfront Biotech, the significance of this recognition extends far beyond financial funding. The substantive support provided by PharmaEssentia will be a key driving force in translating promising technologies into actual therapies. In his concluding remarks, the Everfront Biotech representative shared a heartfelt sentiment: “We started this work because we believe there are patients waiting—waiting for better treatment options, and waiting for hope.”
Carrying this recognition forward, Everfront Biotech will continue to work hand in hand with partners across various sectors to steadily advance the international clinical development of Cerebraca® Wafer, remaining dedicated to contributing to global biotech innovation and patient well-being.
🔗 More Media Coverage (Chinese Version): United Daily News (UDN), Commercial Times, Mirror Media, Global Bio & Investment, TechNews.
Dr. Adrian Lee, Director of Clinical Medicine and Spokesperson of Everfront Biotech, represents the team in receiving the Grand Prize at the inaugural PharmaEssentia Innovation Award.
[Live Presentation Recap] Everfront Biotech at the Inaugural PharmaEssentia Innovation Award
Topic: While Patients Wait, Tumors Don’t: Cerebraca® Wafer Treats the Gap Between Surgery and Adjuvant Therapy
During the final selection stage of the inaugural PharmaEssentia Innovation Award, Dr. Adrian Lee, Director of Clinical Medicine and Spokesperson of Everfront Biotech, delivered an in-depth presentation. This video captures the full live session, focusing on the long-standing unmet medical needs in the treatment of glioblastoma (GBM). The presentation details how the Cerebraca® Wafer utilizes an innovative post-surgical localized drug delivery mechanism to effectively bridge the “critical treatment gap” between tumor resection surgery and standard adjuvant therapies. This approach provides a highly promising clinical solution to overcome the high recurrence and drug resistance associated with GBM.
Video Source: Technology Exchange and Collaboration Hub Tokyo
Product Highlights of Cerebraca® Wafer:
Cerebraca® Wafer is a revolutionary implantable drug designed for the localized treatment of malignant brain tumors. Developed using multiple patented innovations, the product aims to solve critical challenges in brain cancer therapy—such as chemoresistance, high cancer stem cell content, and tumor recurrence.
Cerebraca® Wafer works by targeting receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) signaling networks, modulating tumor resistance, and counteracting PD-L1-mediated immune evasion, a common barrier to effective treatment. In Phase I/IIa trials, no drug-related adverse effects were reported. Recurrent GBM patients showed a median overall survival of 15.7 months, with RTK-high subgroups reaching up to 26.2 months—a significant improvement over the current standard of care (6–9 months).
Everfront Biotech is actively seeking strategic partnerships and licensing opportunities to co-develop this promising therapy and extend its benefits to more patients worldwide.
Introduction to Everfront Biotech Inc.:
Everfront Biotech Inc. was founded in 2010, with a focus on research and development of new drugs, specifically the screening and further development of potential small molecules for clinical study. The company’s team is responsible for all aspects of product development, from front-end potential product development to pre-clinical research, chemistry manufacturing and controls (CMC), clinical trial submissions, and clinical trial planning and execution. To date, the Everfront Biotech team has successfully applied three clinical trials: Cerebraca® Wafer (for malignant brain tumors), HK-001 (for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), and EF-009 (for pancreatic cancer), which have been approved for IND applications in both the United States and Taiwan.
Everfront Biotech’s new drug development is in line with national policies, and the Cerebraca® Wafer and HK-001 products were granted the certifications of biotech and new drug in 2016. The company has received the government subsidies in three science and technology projects as of 2022 from the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
