Yuanmai Cell Therapeutics, a Leading CAR-Macrophage Platform Targeting Solid Tumors, Secures Tens of Millions in Angel Funding

As immunocyte therapy continues to evolve, following CAR-T and CAR-NK, the next-generation cellular therapy star—CAR-Macrophages (CAR-M)—is gaining increasing attention for its natural advantages in the solid tumor field. Companies in this field, both in China and internationally, are receiving special favor from investors.

Recently, Nanjing Yuanmai Cell Biotechnology Co., Ltd. (referred to as "Yuanmai Cell") announced the completion of an angel round of financing worth tens of millions of RMB.This round of investment was jointly led by CDH Investments and Renai Group, with participation from Nanjing Jiangbei Technology Investment Group and Laoyan Venture Capital.

Founded in September 2022, Yuanmai Bio is a platform company dedicated to the research and development of macrophage immunotherapy drugs. It was established by a leading international team specializing in macrophage research alongside senior pharmaceutical executives. Targeting unmet clinical needs in solid tumors such as gastric cancer, liver cancer, prostate cancer, and autoimmune diseases, Yuanmai Cell focuses on developing innovative CAR-Macrophage (CAR-M) technology. Currently, Yuanmai Cell has developed "integrative and non-integrative" molecular editing and manipulation systems, iPSC-derived immune cell differentiation systems, and ligand-receptor information flow recognition and transmission technology platforms. Through intelligent gene editing and other steps, it engineers live cells to empower CAR-M to not only precisely recognize target antigens but also enable controllable manipulation of intracellular functional domain components, activating specific cellular signal transduction networks to achieve tumor cell killing and regulation of autoimmune B-cell clones.

"CAR macrophages are a highly promising track within the field of adoptive cell immunotherapy technology. MetaMab Cell hopes to leverage its accumulated experience and technology to create proprietary CAR-M living cell drug-related technologies, achieve breakthroughs in the treatment of solid tumors, autoimmune diseases, and other conditions, and simultaneously conduct both ex vivo and in vivo editing through technological iteration," said Professor Shen Pingping, founder and chairman of MetaMab Cell. This round of financing will be used for the construction and expansion of the company’s R&D platform, pipeline development, patent applications, and to advance investigator-initiated clinical studies (IIT) for existing R&D projects. The company has developed a layout for multiple CAR-M cell product pipelines. The first target has passed ethical review and will soon begin IIT clinical trials. Other pipeline-related experiments have also demonstrated significant tumor suppression effects and safety in in vivo studies.

Breakthroughs in adoptive immune cell therapy have transformed the landscape of cancer drug development. To date, nine CAR-T products have been approved by the FDA/NMPA for the treatment of malignant hematological tumors, marking an important milestone in the history of clinical oncology. However, CAR-T therapy still faces a series of challenges. Professor Pingping Shen's team from Nanjing University and the team from the University of Pennsylvania almost simultaneously proposed the new concept of macrophage immunotherapy, which led to their recognition as one of the leading teams in the international CAR-M technology field in a 2020 Nature Biotech feature review. Due to the high infiltration rate of macrophages in the tumor microenvironment (accounting for 50% of the total infiltrating immune cells), using them as carriers for adoptive cell therapy offers unique advantages: strong penetration into solid tumors, powerful phagocytic ability to rapidly kill tumor cells and prevent immune escape; they can also act as antigen-presenting cells to activate T cells, thus reshaping the interaction network of immune cells, reversing the immunosuppressive microenvironment, and significantly converting "cold" solid tumors into "hot" ones. Given the unique immunobiological characteristics of macrophages, they show potential as standalone therapies for diseases like solid tumors and can be synergistically combined with drugs such as PD-1 antibodies and chemotherapy, offering great clinical application prospects. Particularly, macrophages, as living cell drug platforms, exhibit superior properties over modified T cells in terms of in-situ transformation and biosynthesis within the body.

Shen Pingping, the founder of Yuanmai Cell, is a Distinguished Professor at Nanjing University, doctoral supervisor, and a recipient of the New Century Excellent Talents Program by the Ministry of Education. She serves as the Principal Investigator (PI) at the Research Center of Nanjing University's School of Life Sciences/State Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology - Gulou Hospital. Professor Shen’s research team has received multiple funding grants, including the National Key R&D Program by the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Innovative Research Group of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), the Major Research Plan of NSFC, the New Century Excellent Talents Support Program by the Ministry of Education, and Jiangsu Province’s Frontier Leading Technology Major Projects. Her team has published over 90 SCI-indexed papers in journals such as *Nature Communications* and *Cell*. They have also been granted or applied for more than 30 patents and contributed to five books. As the first author, she has received numerous awards, including the First Prize of Jiangsu Province Science and Technology Award and the "Outstanding Achievement Award" at the World Congress on Advances in Oncology. Professor Shen’s research primarily focuses on "macrophage immune regulation and related immunotherapy technologies." After nearly two decades of exploration, her team successfully transitioned from basic research to technological development, achieving a series of original results. For instance, based on elucidating the metabolic regulatory characteristics of macrophages, they identified key regulatory nodes. By designing strategies such as metabolic/genetic editing, chemical intervention, and in-situ modification, they engineered macrophages with enhanced anti-tumor activity and the ability to reshape the tumor immune microenvironment. Professor Shen Pingping also serves as a council member of the Chinese Society of Biotechnology and an executive director of the Free Radical Medicine Society of the Biophysical Society of China.

Co-founder and CEO Dr. Chen Yijun graduated from the National University of Singapore School of Medicine and has worked at Singapore General Hospital, Esco Venture, and Grand Pharmaceutical (China). He has over a decade of experience in research within the biotechnology and pharmaceutical fields, as well as in industrial investment. Since 2008, he has been engaged in research on antisense nucleic acid drugs in the field of neurodegenerative diseases. Subsequently, his work primarily focused on tumor endocrinology, translational oncology, and precision oncology, along with Biotech industry investments and corporate operations management.

Dr. Chen Yijun stated that this year marks the first year of China's Biotech Innovation 2.0 era, with the capital winter driving the industry back to technological innovation itself. Technology platforms with originality, along with product pipelines that continuously deliver clinical value based on these platforms, will become the core value of Biotech companies. Yuanmai Cell will establish a CAR-M cell product development platform that leads globally. Based on diversified macrophage sources and key technology platforms, the company will further expand the CAR-M therapy field, providing more options for the clinical treatment of diseases such as solid tumors and bringing new hope to patients.

Dr. Dan Liu, Senior Partner of Innovation and Growth at CDH InvestmentsWe are delighted to co-invest with relevant partner funds in Yuanmai Cell. China has a cutting-edge exploration advantage in the field of cell therapy and demonstrates significant development potential. Macrophages, due to their migration and infiltration into the tumor microenvironment, account for up to 50% of infiltration in various solid tumors, giving the next-generation cell therapy CAR-M a natural and substantial advantage in the solid tumor space. Professor Shen Pingping is an international leading expert in this field. Building on decades of profound foundational research and R&D experience, she has designed and developed a novel CAR-M therapy. Drawing from the iterative advancements in the CAR-T field and the success of Chinese CAR-T cell companies, we anticipate that Yuanmai Cell will achieve breakthrough progress in clinical applications for solid tumors and become an internationally leading representative.

Ren'ai GroupWe firmly believe in the development trend of China's CGT sector. As a contributor to nearly 20 top-tier investment institutions in China, Ren'ai Group has also proactively collaborated with startups that possess top-notch research teams and operate in promising sectors. Professor Shen Pingping of Yuanmai Cell has over 20 years of academic accumulation in fundamental research related to macrophage function regulation and CAR-M translational studies, making her one of the world’s leading experts specializing in macrophage research. Dr. Chen Yijun has extensive experience in oncology research and biotech industry operations management. Compared to the currently popular NK&T cell therapies, macrophages, with their strong immune advantages, hold tremendous research potential and broad prospects in the field of unmet needs for solid tumors. We believe that Yuanmai Cell’s additional breakthrough achievements in applying CAR-M to solid tumors will provide significant support for cellular immunotherapy both in China and globally.

Mr. Zhu Zhiang, Vice President of Nanjing Jiangbei Science and Technology Investment GroupMacrophages, due to their naturally low immunogenicity, can be allogeneic and have the potential to be developed into off-the-shelf cellular therapy products. Compared with existing CAR-T therapies, the cost and selling price will be significantly reduced, benefiting a wider range of cancer patients. The Yuanmai Cell team has deep scientific research accumulation and industrialization experience. Relying on its proprietary platform technology, it will continue to launch new therapeutic products. As a state-owned investment platform dedicated to supporting technology enterprises with independent innovation and R&D capabilities, the Science and Technology Investment Group adheres to the concept of "solving puzzles for entrepreneurs and relieving worries for innovators" and has been paying attention to and optimistic about innovative technologies in emerging fields. We will use the dual drivers of "technology finance + technology platform" to accelerate the rapid transformation of the company's macrophage therapy, and jointly contribute to the construction of Healthy China.