Bodi Health Completes Series A Financing to Lead the 'Immune Checkpoint' Field with First-in-Class Treg-Targeting Therapies

Recently, Benerhera (Shaoxing) Biotechnology Co., Ltd. announced the completionSeries A financing, jointly led by Fudan Sci-Tech Innovation and LapamCapital. The funds raised will mainly be used for the Phase I clinical trial of the core pipeline BT-101, while simultaneously advancing the preclinical research of the cell therapy pipeline. The goal is clear: to accelerate its innovative immune tolerance reconstruction therapy from the laboratory to clinical application, providing breakthrough treatment options for patients with autoimmune diseases worldwide.。

Benerhera Founder and Chief Scientist Yan Shi, Tenured Professor and Doctoral Supervisor at Tsinghua University School of Medicine. His team has successively revealedTreg blocks antigen presentation and suppresses the core molecular mechanism of inflammatory responses at the source by enhancing adhesion to DC, while also identifying the key signaling pathways that regulate this mechanical effect. These discoveries form the technological foundation of Benerhera.

From academic papers to clinical pipelines, Benerhera has constructed two parallel technical pathways. The first is the small-molecule drug pathway, with oralTreg Inducer BT-101 as an Example. Its scientific logic is quite ingenious: Shi Yan's team discovered in their research that Factor X, a lipid metabolite derived from intestinal fungi, can act on specific GPCR receptors on the surface of intestinal dendritic cells, driving DC migration from the intestine to peripheral lymph nodes, thereby inducing naive T cells to differentiate into FOXP3-positive regulatory T cells.。BT-101 precisely leverages this oral immune tolerance mechanism to induce antigen-specific immune tolerance locally in the intestinal microenvironment through a single oral tablet, rather than systemically suppressing the immune system. This represents a conceptual upgrade from "full shutdown" to "precision braking" — traditional treatments for autoimmune diseases rely on immunosuppressants or hormones, but more than 60% of patients show no response or lose response to existing biologics, while also facing an increased risk of infections.。The first indication selected for BT-101 is Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), which affects over 6 million patients globally, with approximately 380,000 new cases annually. On January 13, 2026, BT-101 received clinical trial authorization from the U.S. FDA; on May 13 of the same year, it also officially obtained the IND approval from the Center for Drug Evaluation of China's NMPA, making BT-101 the world's first first-in-class drug in its category to be approved for human trials.. Four months later, China and the United States...The approval of the IND is a remarkably aggressive pace for a company that has been established for less than five years.

The second is the cell therapy pathway. Another key discovery in Yen Shi's mechanistic research is:The significant difference in binding affinity between Treg and conventional T cells to dendritic cells is driven by the downregulation of Ryr2 calcium channel receptor expression by the Foxp3 gene.. Based on this, Benerhera developedEnforce-T Platform: Targeted knockout of the mCalpain gene in conventional T cells using electroporation combined with CRISPR technology to transform them into Treg-like cells with immunosuppressive functions; in vitro validation shows their immunosuppressive efficiency is comparable to natural Tregs.. The significance of this technology lies in bypassing traditionalTreg cell therapy, which faces bottlenecks such as the need for large-scale in vitro expansion, high costs, difficult expansion, and unstable phenotype, has opened a new path for "off-the-shelf" immune cell therapy.

Under these two technical pathways, the company has completed a systematic pipeline layout:BT-101——Oral small molecule GPCRx agonist targeting IBD; BT-201——Ryr2 inhibitor for mild to moderate psoriasis and other autoimmune dermatitis; BT-202——Autologous Enforce-T cell product for a broader range of autoimmune indications..Small molecule drugs and cell therapy are advancing on two parallel tracks, which inAmong the global players in the Treg field, there are not many, which has also given Benerhera a unique platform extensibility.

In October 2025, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to three scientists who made pioneering contributions in the Treg field, transforming the entire field overnight from a "niche and obscure" area into a focal direction of the global biopharmaceutical industry.。When the Nobel Prize was announced, the mobile phones of Benerhera's management team were bombarded with messages to the point of near collapse. And just four months later,The dual IND approval of BT-101 in China and the US has pushed this academic achievement to a critical point of clinical validation. The joint lead investment by Fudan Sci-Tech Innovation and Lapam Capital is less of a bet on a preclinical company and more of a forward-looking strategic move into a technology track that is about to be widely revalued.

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