Weekly Healthcare Industry Report: Ruoyi Bio Secures Tens of Millions in Pre-A+ Round; U.S. Pharma Firm Raises $2.5B After Acquiring Two Chinese New Drugs

In recent years, innovation in the healthcare and health industry has been constantly emerging, developing into one of the most active industries. 36Kr has witnessed and accompanied the growth of innovative companies in this field, bringing a professional voice to the industry.

To this end, 36Kr has launched the "Healthcare Industry Weekly" column, which will be regularly released to provide readers with industry information from multiple perspectives, including capital, policy, finance, new products, and more.

Please check the healthcare industry weekly report for October 20th. This weekly report includes financing news in the healthcare field for this week.

Financing and Investment

• Shanghai Ruoyi Biotechnology Co., Ltd. Secures Tens of Millions in Pre-A+ Round Financing

Shanghai Ruoyi Biotechnology Co., Ltd. has completed a Pre-A+ round of financing worth tens of millions of RMB, invested by the Kunshan Angel Fund. The proceeds from this round of financing will mainly be used for the technology transfer of the pilot to commercial production process of the third-generation botulinum toxin drug pipeline (Sf9 cells, natural amino acid sequence). In addition, Kunshan will also provide Ruoyi Biotechnology with nearly 10,000 square meters of commercial production workshops, corresponding supporting policies, and cooperation with the Shanghai Aesthetic Medicine Industry Innovation Research Institute.

• NOVABIOTX Completes Pre-A Round Financing Worth Tens of Millions of RMB

Shanghai Saierxin Biomedical Technology Co., Ltd. Announces Completion of Pre-A Round Financing Worth Tens of Millions of RMB. This round of financing was jointly completed by Zeyu Capital and Semir Venture Capital. The proceeds will mainly be used to advance the clinical trials of the NP001 project and support the research and development of other products in the pipeline, with the aim of accelerating the clinical translation and commercialization process of Treg therapy.

• Lixin Pharmaceutical Completes C1 Round Financing of 300 Million Yuan

Lixin Pharmaceutical Successfully Completes C1 Round Financing of 300 Million Yuan. This round of financing was led by the well-known industrial party, China Biologic Products, with participation from Pudong Venture Capital and Zhangjiang Haoheng. Existing shareholders Qiming Venture Partners and Shanghai BioPharm Fund also followed up on their investments. In addition, Lixin Pharmaceutical has recently initiated the C2 round of financing. The raised funds will be mainly used to accelerate the clinical progress of the company's pipeline, especially LM-302 and LM-108, and to support the company’s self-developed antibody discovery platform, next-generation ADC technology platform, and bispecific antibody technology platform in continuously generating innovative pipelines.

• Sigma Squares Completes Series B Financing Round Worth Hundreds of Millions of Yuan

Sigma Squares (Beijing) Tech Co., Ltd. ("Sigma Squares" hereafter) announced the completion of a Series B financing round worth hundreds of millions of yuan. This round was led by Top Capital Partners, with participation from Oriza Hua, Yahu Investment, Yunhui Capital, Xiangcheng Golden Control Capital, Entropy One Capital, and Boxin Capital. Sigma Squares is committed to intelligent solutions for computer vision systems. The company's headquarters is located in Beijing, with research and development centers, smart manufacturing centers, and sales centers in Chengdu, Sichuan; Dongguan, Guangdong; and Southampton, UK. Following this round of financing, Sigma Squares will establish an Eastern China Center in Suzhou to further expand the research, development, and production of intelligent manufacturing systems for more medical devices and consumables.

• Dannuo Pharmaceuticals Announces Over 300 Million RMB in Series E Financing

Tetraphase Pharmaceuticals Announces First Closing of Over 300 Million RMB in Series E Financing. This round of financing was co-led by Zhongshan Venture Capital, under Zhongshan Investment Holdings, and the AMR Action Fund (AMR Fund). The proceeds will be used to support the company's core new drug development pipeline, including late-stage clinical trials and commercialization of TNP-2198, a new drug candidate for treating Helicobacter pylori infections, and TNP-2092, a new drug candidate for treating infections associated with implanted medical devices.

36Kr Exclusive Interview

• Chinese-produced New Drugs Sweep Through European and American Markets, but China Also Awaits Its Own "Internal Circulation" Ecosystem for Deals | 36Kr Exclusive Interview

In 2024, the tipping point in biopharmaceuticals has finally arrived at what was once considered an "undruggable target."

Several professionals from innovative pharmaceutical companies who have facilitated large-scale outbound licensing (BD) deals this year have observed that, compared to the previous phase of following homogenized drugs, product types driven by "technological breakthroughs leading to market breakthroughs" are gradually increasing. Examples include the previously acclaimed "weight-loss wonder drug" GLP-1, research on β-amyloid plaques in Alzheimer’s disease, and currently popular molecules such as TCE bispecific antibodies and KRAS-targeted drugs.

Earlier this year, when looking ahead to the future development of China's medical industry, Wang Yinxiang, Chairman and CEO of JACOBIO (01167.HK), spoke to 36Kr.Predicted this trend. In his view, this will also become the key for Chinese innovative pharmaceutical companies to compete on the same stage with overseas enterprises.

At the end of September, Jacobio announced that it had received an initial payment of 173 million yuan and other related payments from its partner Aligos (SH:688578) for two authorized pipelines: the KRAS G12C inhibitor Golresectib and the SHP2 inhibitor JAB-3312. This collaboration only involves rights within China, but with a total value of nearly 1 billion yuan, making it the highest amount among existing KRAS product transactions in China.

As predictions gradually become reality, we took this opportunity to revisit Wang Yinpeng: Why would a mature product that is about to launch choose the BD cooperation model? When Chinese innovative pharmaceutical companies are increasingly choosing to expand overseas, will selling the rights in China at a good price become the key to the next step of licensing? What adjustments will two companies—each excelling in R&D and sales respectively—experience during their collaboration… (Click here for more details）

Focus Analysis

• After Purchasing Two Chinese New Drugs, This U.S. Pharmaceutical Company Raised $2.5 Billion｜Focus Analysis

In mid-September, Candid Therapeutic, an overseas innovative pharmaceutical company that loudly announced a $370 million financing, sparked heated discussions in China. In addition to setting a record for the highest fundraising in the biopharmaceutical industry in 2024, the other most notable aspect of this company is that its two core products were both acquired from a newly established overseas NewCo company of a Chinese pharmaceutical enterprise, and both are currently popular TCE bispecific antibody varieties for autoimmune (hereinafter referred to as "self-immune") diseases.

The two NewCos are TRC004, established by Genor Biopharma in collaboration with Two River, and Vignette Bio, co-incubated by EpimAb Biotherapeutics and Foresite. Notably, Vignette Bio's public debut occurred less than a week before Candid's.

In 2024, product licensing deals represented by NewCo became the most frequently used term in China's pharmaceuticals industry. If one must differentiate it from traditional out-licensing, NewCo is generally established overseas led by financial capital, where Chinese pharmaceutical companies spin off their products to license them out and receive certain cash and equity compensation in return.

The most ideal outcome for the organizers of NewCo is to wait until the product development is relatively mature in a few years, and then be acquired by multinational pharmaceutical companies at a high price, or go public on the US stock market...Click here for more details）

• How to Understand Medicine and Find Inspiration for Medical-Engineering Integration Innovation?

From medical imaging technologies like MRI to surgical robots, and further to the application of artificial intelligence in the diagnosis and treatment of various diseases, in recent years, the original medical innovations led by "medical-engineering integration" have organically combined medicine and engineering, giving rise to a series of innovative medical devices and applications. In the process of system construction, how to break the simple "1+1" combination and allow technology to truly step out of the laboratory to generate clinical, economic, and social value remains a direction that practitioners from research institutes, hospitals, enterprises, and other parties are tirelessly exploring.

To promote the interdisciplinary and industrial integration of medicine, drive technological and financial innovation, and encourage in-depth exploration and understanding of medicine among enterprises, investors, and cross-disciplinary professionals to jointly advance innovation in the medical industry, the "Pioneering Innovation Development Program" for the healthcare industry has been launched under the guidance of the Beijing Tsinghua Industrial Development Research Institute. This program is co-developed by the Global Health Industry Innovation Center, China Construction Bank Beijing Branch, and the CCB Training Center (Beijing). Recruitment for the third cohort is now open. This program offers specialized medical courses for leaders in the medical innovation industry, aiming to help non-medical professionals comprehensively and quickly learn and understand medicine while reshaping their medical knowledge system.

This project has invited nearly a hundred senior clinical medical experts from well-known tertiary hospitals in China to give lectures. The course content covers diagnostic and therapeutic technologies in multiple medical fields, including cardiology, vascular, brain, neurology, gastroenterology, respiratory, hematology, orthopedics, otorhinolaryngology, head and neck, urology, gynecology and pediatrics, oral, mental and psychological health...Click here for more details）

Editor: Hai Ruo Jing