Neowise Biotechnology Completes Series A Financing to Advance TCR-T Immunotherapy for Solid Tumors

VCBeat was the first to learn that,Neowise Biotechnology has completed its Series A financing round, led by Taifu Capital, with Sinopharm Capital participating as a follow-on investor.The proceeds from this financing round will be primarily allocated to the R&D of TCR-T immune cell therapy products, process development, and the construction of GMP-compliant manufacturing facilities. Previously, Neowise Biotechnology secured an angel round of funding from Baidu Ventures and BioMap. Within one year of its establishment, Neowise Biotechnology has raised a cumulative total of over RMB 100 million.

In recent years, the rapid advancement of cellular immunotherapy has ignited a new wave in cancer treatment. Among these modalities, T cell immunotherapy has emerged as a highly sought-after field. In particular, CAR-T cell therapy has demonstrated remarkable clinical efficacy in the treatment of hematological malignancies. However, for solid tumors, which account for over 90% of all cancer cases, it is widely recognized in the industry that TCR-T cell therapy, with its capacity to specifically recognize intracellular tumor antigens, holds greater therapeutic potential. Yet,How to rapidly, precisely, and effectively deliver TCR-T cell therapies to patients is a major pain point hindering industry development.

Against this backdrop, Neowise Biotechnology was established in late 2020 at Suzhou BioBAY, focusing onTCR-T Cell Therapeutic Drugs for Solid Tumors...research, development, and commercialization. The company was co-founded by three biomedical Ph.D. holders who returned from the United States to pursue full-time entrepreneurship, with team members hailing from top-tier universities such as the California Institute of Technology, Carnegie Mellon University, and Cornell University.

Dr. Songming Peng, Founder and CEO of Neowise Biotechnology,While working at the California Institute of Technology in 2016, pioneered the direct isolation of T cells capable of recognizing patient-specific tumors from cancer patients' blood samples, and co-founded PACT Pharma, a tumor neoantigen cell therapy company, as one of the Scientific Founders, leading the R&D team in developing personalized immunotherapy products, filing Investigational New Drug (IND) applications, and conducting Phase I clinical trials. The company has secured over $200 million in cumulative funding.

Leveraging the extensive experience of its founding team, Neowise Biotechnology aims to utilize its independently developed high-throughput antigen–antigen receptor screening technology to conduct large-scale analysis of patient samples, thereby establishing the world’s largest paired antigen–antigen receptor database (Paired Antigen-TCR library). Based on this database, Neowise Biotechnology will be able toRapidly select T-cell receptors (TCRs) that accurately recognize solid tumors, edit, expand, and functionally characterize T cells from cancer patients, and reinfuse T cells that specifically recognize the patient's tumor surface antigens with high specificity,thereby achieving the goal of tumor treatment and bringing new hope to a broad population of patients with solid tumors.

Currently, Neowise Biotechnology has assembled an experienced R&D team and established an R&D base in Suzhou, preliminarily completing the validation of a high-throughput antigen-antigen receptor screening technology platform, beginning to accumulate TCR sequences that specifically recognize tumor antigens, and establishing close collaborative partnerships with several renowned Grade III Class A hospitals; meanwhile, the company is actively developing the manufacturing process for TCR-T cells and preparing a GMP-compliant facility to support the clinical development of its subsequent pipeline.

Jiang Xiangren, Managing Partner at Taifu Capitalstated: “Cell therapy is delivering more breakthrough therapies to patients at an unprecedented pace. The founding team of Neowise Biotechnology has established a globally leading discovery platform for TCR-T cell therapeutics and is well-positioned to address several key common challenges in the industrialization of TCR-T cell therapy. Taifu Capital highly recognizes Neowise Biotechnology’s innovative capabilities and corporate vision, and looks forward to leveraging its industry resources and sector insights to support the company’s development, thereby bringing new breakthrough therapies to solid tumor patients as soon as possible.”

Wu Aimin, Founding Partner of Sinopharm Capitalstated: "TCR-T cell therapy has demonstrated promising potential in the treatment of solid tumors and holds considerable clinical and commercial value. Given the high screening barriers and technical complexities involved, we are highly optimistic about the Neowise Biotechnology team's global vision and R&D capabilities in this field. By seamlessly integrating upstream bioinformatics analysis, midstream high-throughput screening, and downstream platform validation, they will significantly enhance the R&D success rate. We are confident in their future endeavors to benefit patients!"

Biotoptics CEO Liu Weistated: "The breakthroughs achieved by Neowise Biotechnology over the past year have exceeded our expectations. Focusing on HLA subtypes highly expressed in the Chinese population, the company has completed the validation of over a hundred pMHC-TCR pairs in the past year, and in the process, established a high-throughput computational and experimental platform spanning from discovery to validation. As investors and strategic partners, we look forward to providing the company with additional clinical and computational resources, and strive to collaborate with Neowise to build the world's largest T cell antigen-antigen receptor database. This will improve the accuracy of current TCR-T AI design, transforming the 'needle-in-a-haystack' process of solid tumor TCR-T drug discovery into a 'targeted and precision-guided' approach."

Tyf Capital focuses on venture capital investments in the life sciences sector (biotechnology, novel drug development, medical devices, and healthcare services), primarily investing in promising early- and growth-stage companies. Through a diversified and strategic investment approach and by partnering with high-quality enterprises, we aim to capitalize on the rapid development of China's life sciences industry. Backed by years of experience and extensive industry networks in these fields, our investment team employs a professional and prudent approach to target selection, actively engages in portfolio management, and fosters long-term partnerships. Beyond capital injection, we provide comprehensive support in operational strategy, efficient management, regulatory and financial affairs, and technological resources. By aligning portfolio companies with appropriate strategic industry resources, we facilitate their accelerated growth. We seek target companies that demonstrate professional insight and sound judgment in the life sciences sector, possess highly competitive core technologies, and are driven by a resilient founding team. Our ideal targets develop a pipeline of innovative products that address critical unmet clinical needs and hold significant market growth potential, while securing independent intellectual property rights.

Sinopharm Capital Management Co., Ltd. was established in 2012. Operating under market-oriented mechanisms, its team combines the strengths of both CVC and IVC. Sinopharm Capital focuses on equity investments in the pharmaceutical and healthcare sector. Since its establishment, it has invested in nearly 80 outstanding projects in this field. Guided by the principles of sincerity, professionalism, and mutual benefit, the firm stands alongside its portfolio companies to foster shared growth.

BioMap is China's first biocomputing-driven life sciences platform company, initiated and founded by Robin Li, founder of Baidu. Dedicated to driving the integrated innovation of advanced AI technology and cutting-edge biotechnology through long-term, large-scale investments, it is committed to building novel multi-omics detection and analysis systems, high-throughput experimental simulation, and intelligent molecular discovery engines, thereby accelerating the research and development of innovative drugs and diagnostic products to benefit human health.