EdiGene Secures RMB 400 Million in Series B+ Financing Led by Zhenxin Valley Capital to Advance Clinical Translation of Gene-Editing Therapies

PE Daily (ID: pedaily2012), April 21 – Boya JiYin announced the successful completion of its RMB 400 million Series B+ financing round.This round of financing was led by Loyal Valley Capital, with participation from BioTrack Capital, Sherpa Healthcare Partners, and others., with follow-on investments from existing investors including IDG Capital, Lilly Asia Ventures, 3H Health Investment, Huagai Capital, HongShan, Alwin Investment, and Kunlun Capital, fully supporting the company’s development.

Boya Ji Yin is a biopharmaceutical company that leverages genome editing technology to accelerate drug research and develop innovative therapies for a variety of diseases. In October 2020, it successfully completed its Series B financing round, raising RMB 450 million.The proceeds from this round of financing will be used to continue advancing the clinical translation of the company’s gene-editing-based product pipeline and to drive its industrialization.

Lin Lijun, Partner at Loyal Valley Capital, stated, “As one of the most dynamic foundational technologies in the field of life sciences today, gene editing has demonstrated immense application potential in the treatment of various clinical diseases in recent years, holding great promise to fundamentally disrupt existing therapeutic modalities. As a leader in the clinical translation of gene editing in China, Boya Ji Yin not only boasts a world-class research team working in close synergy with a comprehensive industrialization team composed of seasoned industry veterans, but also upholds rigorous quality standards and a meticulous approach to research. The company secured approval for the first Investigational New Drug (IND) application for a gene editing therapy in China, and its subsequent product pipeline shows promising future applications that align closely with Loyal Valley Capital’s value proposition of ‘investing in great enterprises to make the world a better place through investment.’ Loyal Valley Capital is honored to lead this round of financing. We look forward to collaborating with the company’s team, as well as new and existing investors, to deliver safe, efficient, and economically accessible innovative treatments for patients in China and around the world, thereby benefiting humanity. Furthermore, we are committed to providing robust support in areas such as financing, industrialization, upstream and downstream resource integration, and international cooperation, helping the company become an internationally leading enterprise in the research, development, and translation of next-generation innovative therapies.”

“We welcome the participation and recognition of new investors, and we also thank our existing investors for their continued support,” said Dr. Wei Dong, CEO of Boya Jiyin (Beijing) Biotechnology Co., Ltd. “The company’s pipeline and industrialization are accelerating. In addition to our Beijing R&D Center and Guangzhou Clinical Application Center, Boya Jiyin has successively opened its Beijing Clinical Development Office and Shanghai Business Development Office, while its R&D center in Cambridge, Boston, USA, has officially commenced operations. The successful completion of this financing will support our continued efforts to advance the high-quality translation of gene-editing technologies. It will also drive the depth and breadth of the company’s industrial development across multiple dimensions, including the construction of a full industry value chain, global expansion, and business development and collaborations, ultimately enabling innovative therapies to benefit as many patients as possible at a faster pace.”

“We are grateful for the strong support from all investors, which has enabled us to take new strides in research and development, industrialization, and internationalization, propelling the company into a brand-new stage of growth,” said Dr. Wei Wensheng, Founder of Boya Ji Yin. “The company will continue to dedicate itself to translating gene-editing technologies into innovative therapies, bringing new options and hope to patients in China and around the world.”

In January this year, Boya Ji Yin’s Investigational New Drug (IND) application for ET-01, a CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing therapy targeting transfusion-dependent β-thalassemia, was approved by the Center for Drug Evaluation (CDE) of China’s National Medical Products Administration (NMPA). This made ET-01 the first gene-editing therapy and hematopoietic stem cell product approved by the NMPA for clinical trials in China. Currently, clinical trial preparations for ET-01 are proceeding steadily. Meanwhile, the company’s pipeline of universal CAR-T therapies, in vivo gene-editing therapies based on LEAPER™ technology, and targeted therapies developed using high-throughput genomic editing screening are also advancing through research and development and preclinical stages.