On August 19, Abogen Biosciences (hereinafter referred to as "Abogen") announced the completion of a Series C financing round totaling over USD 700 million. This round attracted 26 leading investment institutions, including Temasek, Invesco Developing Markets Fund, Loyal Valley Capital, and GL Ventures.
This is the largest investment and financing deal in China's biopharmaceutical sector this year, as well as the fourth funding round completed by Abogen since 2019. To date, the company has raised over RMB 5 billion, fully demonstrating the capital market's strong preference for mRNA technology, driven by the COVID-19 vaccine landscape.
In June 2020, Abogen, in collaboration with the Academy of Military Medical Sciences, Academy of Military Sciences, and Walvax Biotechnology, jointly launched China's first COVID-19 mRNA vaccine (ARCoV) to enter clinical trials. Against the backdrop of international pharmaceutical giants such as Pfizer and Moderna making strong inroads into the sector, this initiative represented a pioneering domestic endeavor in mRNA vaccine development.
According to Dr. Yingbo, founder and CEO of Abogen, currently available long-term stability data indicate that the ARCoV vaccine can be stored at 2–8°C for over five months, with temperature requirements for transportation and storage far lower than those of Moderna’s mRNA-1273 and BioNTech/Pfizer’s BNT162b2. Currently, this vaccine has become the fastest-advancing China-produced mRNA vaccine, having initiated Phase III clinical trials overseas in May this year and completed Phase III clinical trial registration in China in July this year.
According to estimates by Market Study Report LLC, the global market size for mRNA preventive and therapeutic vaccines is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 32.0% from 2020 to 2025, rising from USD 1.97 billion in 2019 to USD 5.98 billion by 2025. COVID-19 vaccines have ushered in a new chapter for the application of mRNA technology in China. As domestic pharmaceutical companies, including Abogen, continue to deepen their research and development efforts, the application landscape for mRNA technology will be further expanded.
It is reported that this financing will further solidify Abogen's leading position in China's mRNA sector. Leveraging its proprietary mRNA technology platform, the company will accelerate the clinical development of its COVID-19 vaccine series, expand its pipeline for other vaccines, enrich its existing oncology pipeline, and extend into additional therapeutic areas. Meanwhile, the company will be committed to enhancing China's leading platform for mRNA formulation R&D and large-scale manufacturing, thereby laying a solid foundation for the translation and application of mRNA technology across a broader spectrum of therapeutic indications.
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