From September 25 to 26, 2026, the "Ireland Respiratory Advanced Therapies Workshop," hosted by AstraZeneca Ireland, was held at the Sheraton Athlone Hotel in Athlone, Ireland. Professor Zuo Wei, Chief Scientist of Regend Therapeutics and Professor at Tongji University, was invited to attend and delivered a keynote presentation titled "Human Organ Regeneration and Repair Based on Epithelial Tissue Stem Cells."

During the presentation, Professor Zuo Wei reported on the research progress of REGEND001, Regend Therapeutics' airway basal stem cell therapy for lung regeneration. Previously completed randomized, blinded, placebo-controlled Phase II clinical studies showed that after lung regeneration therapy, COPD patients exhibited clinical benefits across multiple indicators, including diffusing capacity of the lungs for carbon monoxide (DLCO), alveolar volume (VA), and CAT scores, with radiographic evidence of structural improvement observed in lung regions accessible to the cells.

In addition, Professor Zuo Wei disclosed for the first time detailed long-term follow-up data from a recently completed study: the team conducted comprehensive data collection and examinations on the first two patients who had reached ten years post-REGEND001 treatment. The results showed that both patients had favorable long-term safety profiles with no related adverse events observed, and one patient demonstrated sustained improvement in lung function benefits lasting up to ten years.

The same regeneration strategy has also been successfully extended to the renal field—the team isolated SOX9⁺ renal progenitor cells with regenerative and reparative functions from patients' autologous urine, and developed the renal progenitor cell drug REGEND003, which has now entered the registered clinical stage for the diabetic nephropathy indication. Exploratory clinical data completed in collaboration with Shanghai Tongji Hospital showed that REGEND003 treatment had a favorable safety profile and demonstrated a promising efficacy trend.

From P63⁺ airway basal stem cells to SOX9⁺ renal progenitor cells, Regend Therapeutics is continuously validating an original technological roadmap centered on tissue-specific adult stem cells to promote organ regeneration and repair, exploring a new pathway for major diseases to transition from "delaying progression" to "regenerative repair."

Following the conference, multiple international experts, including Professor Richard Costello, Chair of the European Respiratory Society (ERS) Education Committee, expressed warm congratulations and strong interest in the significant progress achieved by the Regend Therapeutics team. The parties exchanged views on the clinical data and translational experience of the aforementioned therapies and discussed the possibility of further in-depth collaboration.