Dr. Zhili Li is a Director of Research at Insmed Incorporated based in Bridgewater, New Jersey, United States.
Zhili received his bachelor’s degree in Medicinal Chemistry from the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmacy, Beijing Medical University (now Peking University Health Science Center). He obtained his master’s degree in Organic Chemistry in 1997 from the Department of Chemistry, Indiana State University, and received his Ph.D. degree in 2002 from Dr. Richard Dalby’s lab in Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmacy, University of Maryland at Baltimore.
In 2002, Zhili began his professional career as a Senior Chemist at 3M Drug Delivery System Division where he worked on developing Metered Dose Inhaler (MDI) products for treatment of respiratory diseases. In 2004 he joined Transave which later, through a merger, became Insmed Incorporated. During these years, he led the Aerosol Lab on the selection, testing and optimization of nebulizer devices as well as aerosol characterization in developing ARIKAYCE® (amikacin liposome inhalation suspension), Insmed’s first approved commercial product. ARIKAYCE® is administered using an optimized eFlow® Electronic Nebulizer (PARI Pharma GmbH) to adult patients with treatment-refractory nontuberculous mycobacterial (NTM) lung disease caused by Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC). ARIKAYCE® was approved in the US by FDA in September 2018.
Zhili continues to lead the Aerosol Lab of Insmed to support new pulmonary drug delivery research projects. His lab evaluates various inhalation technologies including Dry Powder Inhalers and MDIs supporting several projects including one for INS1009, an investigational, sustained-release, inhaled treprostinil prodrug in development for Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension (PAH). Zhili also leads the Bioanalytical Lab at Insmed which supports in vivo studies for research projects at all phases of development.
