Drug Farm Secures $27 Million in First Tranche of Series C Financing to Advance Clinical Trials for First-in-Class Therapies in Hepatitis B and Cardiorenal Diseases
Drug Farm
Innovative Therapies Researcher for Infectious and Immune Diseases
YD Capital
Real Estate Investment Firms
HAOYUE CAPITAL
Financial Advisory Service Agency
Recently,Focus on InnovationBiotech Companies in ImmunotherapyDrug Farm(Drug Farm) has completed the first round of Series C financing, with a total amount of 27 million US dollars. This round of financing was led byDigital HealthcareLed by industrial fund YD Capital, with Jiashan State-owned Assets Investment Co., Ltd. and Beida Biopharmaceutical Industry Fund following the investment. Existing shareholders Nanjing Weidu Alpha Venture Capital Partnership (Limited Partnership) and Copyright Detong (Shanghai) Private Equity Fund Management Co., Ltd. continue to support.HAOYUE CAPITAL served as the exclusive financial advisor for this round of financing.
It is reported that,Drug FarmThis round of financing will be used to continue the clinical trials of DF-006 and advance the "First-in-class" new drug DF-003 to Phase I clinical trials.
Drug Farm, established in 2015, is a biotechnology company operating in both China and the United States. It primarily utilizes genetics and artificial intelligence technologies to develop innovative therapies for hepatitis B, cancer, and autoimmune diseases. Relying on the founder Professor Xu Tian's piggyBac transposon technology, Drug Farm has built two core technology platforms: IDInVivo⁺ and MedChem5. The former uses transposons for gene screening to directly discover new drug targets in live animals with intact immune systems, while the latter employs deep learning technology for drug molecule design. The combination of these two platforms enables the company...Combining innovative target discovery and AI-driven drug design capabilities.
Transposons, composed of a DNA sequence that can be recognized, cut, and pasted by transposase, are capable of moving randomly within the genome with the help of transposase. Professor Xu Tian's team has carried out extensive modifications and optimizations on transposon sequences, enabling them to carry genetic elements that can inactivate or activate genes, and function stably in mice.After the transposon sequence is introduced into the animal's genome, transposition occurs randomly at different positions in the genome: when it occurs on the positive DNA strand, it can activate a gene; when it occurs on the negative DNA strand, it can inactivate a gene. Therefore, there is a 50% probability that a transposition event will activate or inactivate a certain gene. These genes mutated by transposons become potential targets for subsequent genetic screening.
Professor Xu Tian said that the company is using piggyBac transposon technology to search for entirely new drug targets in mice and developing deep learning algorithms to research and develop "First-in-class" drugs.The first product has completed Phase I clinical trials in healthy subjects, and the second drug is about to enter the clinical stage.。
Among them, according to reports,As a "First-in-class" new drug, DF-006 is an oral ALPK1 agonist that effectively activates the liver's innate immunity, thereby triggering a powerful immune response. The preclinical anti-HBV activity data of DF-006 was recently published in the journal *Hepatology*.For more details, see the link.）。
According to reports,DF-006 has completed the single and multiple ascending dose evaluations in Part 1 and Part 2 of the Phase I clinical trial (ACTRN12621000592842) in healthy subjects. DF-006 will be evaluated in patients with chronic hepatitis B in Part 3 of the global multicenter trial.
Professor Ed Gane, Professor of Medicine at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, Chief Hepatologist at Auckland Hospital, transplant physician, and Deputy Director of the New Zealand Liver Transplant Unit, commented: "There is still a lack of effective means to treat hepatitis B, and DF-006 represents a therapy with a completely new mechanism that can activate the body's own immune system to help eliminate viral infections."
Meanwhile, Drug Farm successfully selected DF-003 for kidney disease, cardiovascular disease, and rare ophthalmic genetic disorders.ROSAH's clinical candidate drug. DF-003 is another "First-in-class" new drug launched by Drug Farm.As an oral ALPK1 kinase inhibitor, it will enter Phase I clinical trials in 2023.。
It is reported that the main reasons for choosing indications such as hepatitis B and cardiorenal diseases are based on three considerations: commercially, the market is large, and any indication may generate $1-10 billion in sales; from the perspective of clinical value, these chronic diseases also have significant unmet medical needs; additionally, disease models and regulatory pathways are well-established, leading to a higher success rate in drug development once a target is identified.
According to Dr. Henri Lichenstein, CEO and Director of Drug Farm, hundreds of millions of people worldwide suffer from cardiovascular and chronic kidney diseases. The company has validated ALPK1 as a novel target associated with cardio-renal diseases and has developed the first clinical candidate drug as an ALPK1 inhibitor based on this discovery.
It is reported that ROSAH syndrome (retinal dystrophy, optic nerve edema, splenomegaly, anhidrosis, and migraine headache syndrome) is an autosomal dominant disease identified in 2019, caused by ALPK1 mutation. It is characterized by retinal dystrophy, optic nerve edema, splenomegaly, anhidrosis, and migraine, with very few cases reported globally. Fundus lesions are a very common manifestation of ROSAH syndrome, and severe ocular conditions can affect the patient's quality of life and prognosis, making timely targeted treatment particularly necessary.
"ROSAH is a rare genetic disorder that progressively leads to blindness, caused by ALPK1 mutations resulting in chronic activation," said Dr. Yvan Jamilloux, Professor of Internal Medicine at Lyon University Hospital in France. "DF-003 is a potent ALPK1 kinase inhibitor, and we believe DF-003 holds great promise as a targeted, personalized medicine specifically addressing the root cause of ROSAH."