Deerfield's First Deep Strategic Alliance with a Chinese AI Pharma: JETTAI Advances Global Clinical and Commercialization Pathways

It is reported that on May 28, JiTai Tech announced that it will co-develop next-generation in vivo protein therapeutics and immunotherapies with Deerfield Management. This marks not only JiTai Tech's first major international collaboration since its listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on May 13 as "the world's first AI drug delivery stock," but also Deerfield's first in-depth strategic partnership agreement with a Chinese biotechnology company.

From an industry landscape perspective, this is by no means a conventional capital partnership. As the cornerstone investor for Jitai Technology’s Hong Kong IPO, Deerfield serves as far more than a mere capital provider. Its long-term, in-depth engagement across corporate strategy, clinical development, regulatory affairs, and international expansion, combined with its multifaceted expertise, has established it as one of the most industry-influential "value-empowering investment platforms" in the global life sciences sector. Meanwhile, Jitai Technology boasts the globally leading AI nano-delivery platform NanoForge and an LNP lipid library comprising tens of millions of compounds. Their strategic alliance in the cutting-edge interdisciplinary field of "AI + in vivo protein + immunotherapy" exemplifies a deep, structural coupling between industrial resources and frontier technologies.

In vivo protein therapeutics and immunotherapy are widely regarded as the third pharmaceutical revolution, following small molecules and monoclonal antibodies. While traditional protein therapies are constrained by delivery efficiency and tissue targeting capabilities, Jitai Technology’s proprietary AiProtein platform and T-cell engager programs, if expanded globally by leveraging Deerfield’s translational medicine and clinical development expertise, are poised to break through current therapeutic boundaries and drive a paradigm shift in the treatment of major diseases such as oncology and autoimmune disorders.

“Recently, I had an in-depth discussion with Academician Frank Nestle, Partner at Deerfield and former Head of Global R&D and Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) at Sanofi, to jointly explore how to integrate AI technology with ‘China speed’ and more rapidly translate the world’s most cutting-edge research directions into breakthrough therapies that truly change the course of patients’ lives.” In Lai Caida’s view, AI will not only transform drug discovery but also reshape the future of the entire drug delivery and biotherapeutics landscape. Furthermore, only by simultaneously leveraging global industry resources, clinical translational capabilities, and long-term capital support can next-generation innovative drugs truly go global.

The strategic alliance between JiTai Technology and Deerfield centers on the complementary strengths of their technology platforms and commercialization capabilities. JiTai Technology will provide its proprietary AI nanodelivery platform, NanoForge, which integrates four core solutions—AiLNP, AiRNA, AiProtein, and AiTEM—spanning the complete chain from molecular design to delivery systems. Deerfield will leverage its extensive expertise in translational medicine, clinical development, international regulatory registration, and business development to advance the collaborative pipeline into global markets.

In the specific collaborative projects, Jitai Technology's independently developed AiProtein platform has successfully identified a leading T-cell engager project and advanced it to the preclinical candidate stage. Deerfield will evaluate licensing and development opportunities for this project to advance it into IND-enabling studies and clinical trials. As a highly pursued direction in cancer immunotherapy in recent years, T-cell engagers (TCEs) are expected to significantly enhance therapeutic efficacy and reduce toxicity when combined with AI-driven design optimization.

Jitai Technology's NanoForge platform adopts a closed-loop paradigm of "dry lab + wet lab + AI agents," making it one of the few platform systems globally to achieve AI-driven end-to-end coverage from lipid design and mRNA sequence optimization to protein engineering. It houses the world's largest LNP lipid library with tens of millions of entries and has already achieved precise delivery capabilities targeting eight key tissues, including the liver, lungs, muscles, and immune cells, thereby providing a practical and viable delivery foundation for in vivo protein therapeutics.

Dr. Brian Chow, the lead representative appointed by Deerfield, brings a decade of bioengineering research experience from the University of Pennsylvania and has previously held executive positions at Sage Therapeutics and Third Rock Ventures, embodying a tripartite background spanning academia, industry, and investment. His direct involvement underscores Deerfield’s strategic commitment to this collaboration and signals that the project’s future clinical development and commercialization pathways will be designed with greater precision and pragmatism.

This collaboration is not a simple "licensing + investment" model, but rather a highly integrated co-development mechanism. Deerfield will not only participate in capital investment but will also be actively involved in critical stages such as pipeline selection, clinical strategy formulation, and global regulatory pathway planning. For Jitai Technology, this marks its first systematic collaboration with a premier international platform at the clinical stage, helping it to circumvent the regulatory and market barriers commonly encountered during global expansion.

From the perspective of Jitai Technology’s development trajectory, announcing such a high-caliber international partnership merely half a month after its IPO sends a strong signal that the company is not content with merely capitalizing on the capital market’s "first-day story," but is instead accelerating the commercialization and industrial deployment of its technologies. Its founding team includes Dr. Chen Hongmin, a member of the US National Academy of Engineering, alongside several MIT-trained scientists. This team possesses both the capability to continuously deliver high-quality innovative projects and a systematic communication framework to effectively engage with international capital.

Notably, this partnership encompasses "the global commercialization process of the collaborative pipeline." This means that Deerfield will not only participate in development but will also engage in subsequent global market entry strategies. For Chinese AI pharmaceutical companies still in their growth stage, this is tantamount to securing a "direct ticket" to mainstream European and American markets.

From an industry perspective, this collaborative model of “AI platform + top-tier capital + global clinical resources” may provide a new paradigm for Chinese biotech enterprises going global. Historically, Chinese firms have largely relied on single licensing agreements or regional distribution models, whereas this collaboration emphasizes mutual enablement between the technology platform and the industrial ecosystem, demonstrating greater systematicity and sustainability.

From an industry perspective, this collaboration not only advances the clinical translation of Jitai Technology’s proprietary technologies, but also effectively opens a gateway for China’s AI-driven pharmaceutical sector to the global high-end value chain. Should the TCE project successfully enter clinical trials and yield positive data in the future, it will further validate the commercial and clinical feasibility of AI-driven in vivo protein therapeutics as a technological pathway.

Deerfield Management is one of the most influential investment and innovation platforms in the global life sciences sector. To date, it manages over $16 billion in assets and has invested in more than 200 healthcare enterprises, covering nearly all cutting-edge fields including oncology, autoimmune diseases, RNA therapeutics, gene editing, and AI-driven drug discovery. What distinguishes it from traditional venture capital firms is its deep involvement in the strategy and operations of its portfolio companies, backed by a unique tripartite capability integrating "industry resources, clinical translation, and global capital."

It is precisely this capability that makes Deerfield an ideal strategic partner for Jitai Technology. For a Chinese company equipped with a cutting-edge platform yet lacking global clinical and commercial networks, Deerfield serves as an “industry accelerator” and an “international springboard.” Its track record of success, which includes in-depth support for companies such as Sage Therapeutics and Alnylam, demonstrates its exceptional ability to identify and amplify the value of early-stage innovative projects.

This collaboration marks Deerfield’s first systematic strategic deployment in China’s AI-driven protein therapeutics sector. Given Deerfield’s consistent practice of committing long-term resources to its focus areas, this move not only serves as an endorsement of Jitai Technology’s platform but also signals that in vivo protein therapeutics and immunotherapies are transitioning from academic exploration to the verge of commercialization.

In terms of technological prospects, in vivo protein therapeutics offer significant advantages over traditional in vitro protein therapies. Conventional protein drugs require in vitro synthesis, purification, and formulation, along with frequent injections, resulting in high costs and poor patient compliance. In contrast, in vivo protein therapies deliver nucleic acids encoding therapeutic proteins or directly produce and regulate proteins within the body, enabling more sustained therapeutic efficacy and a lower risk of immunogenicity.

However, the greatest bottleneck for *in vivo* protein therapeutics has consistently been the delivery system. Protein molecules cannot freely traverse cell membranes and are highly susceptible to clearance by the immune system. By leveraging AI to design nanocarriers such as lipid nanoparticles (LNPs), Jitai Technology’s NanoForge platform has successfully achieved targeted delivery to the liver, lungs, and immune cells in animal models, thereby clearing critical obstacles for the clinical translation of *in vivo* protein therapeutics.

In the field of immunotherapy, T-cell engagers (TCEs) represent one of the most promising avenues today. While traditional TCEs have achieved breakthroughs in hematologic malignancies, their application in solid tumors faces challenges such as on-target toxicity and suppression by the tumor microenvironment. Leveraging its AiProtein platform, Jitai Technology employs AI-driven optimization of TCE structures, which is expected to enhance tumor specificity and reduce systemic toxicity, thereby expanding their therapeutic applicability in solid tumors.

Deerfield’s involvement will significantly accelerate the clinical validation of this process. Dr. Brian Chow’s expertise in bioengineering and innovative drug development makes him particularly well-suited to guide the development pathway for complex biologics such as TCEs. The transition from PCC to IND and into early-stage clinical trials represents precisely the "Valley of Death" that Deerfield excels at bridging; their participation is poised to substantially mitigate technical risks and reduce time costs.

From a broader perspective, the maturation of in vivo protein therapeutics and immunotherapies will propel the pharmaceutical industry from "treating diseases" toward "modulating life processes." In the future, patients may require only a single in vivo delivery to enable their own cells to continuously produce therapeutic proteins, thereby achieving a "functional cure" for chronic diseases. This represents not merely a technological advancement, but a revolution in healthcare paradigms.

This collaboration between Jitai Technology and Deerfield also sends a clear message to the industry: AI-driven in vivo drug delivery is no longer a laboratory fantasy, but a reality rapidly advancing toward clinical development and commercialization. Over the next five to ten years, we have every reason to anticipate that more in vivo protein therapeutics and immunotherapies spearheaded by Chinese enterprises will take the global stage and benefit patients.