Zhiben Pharma Files IPO Prospectus: VLC Model Enables 90% of Capital to Focus on Biotech Pipeline Targeting Multi-Billion-Dollar Markets
Those familiar with innovative drugs are certainly aware of the VIC model.
The VIC Model: A New Drug Development Paradigm Integrating VC (Venture Capital), IP (Intellectual Property), and CRO (Contract Research Organization)Originating in the United States, the VIC model has become a proven pathway for innovative drug development after decades of evolution. In recent years, with a large number of overseas-trained Chinese professionals returning to start businesses, the VIC model has gained popularity in China’s innovative drug R&D sector. Compared with traditional models, the VIC model offers advantages such as high efficiency, asset-light operations, and low costs. However, the successful operation of this model places exceptionally high demands on the management team; in particular, a company’s efficiency in managing CROs significantly impacts its R&D progress.
Do you all understand the VLC model?
The VLC model is similar to the VIC model, with the key distinction being the replacement of “IP” with “Lab.” It is worth noting that in the VIC model, intellectual property (IP) is limited; each acquisition incurs substantial costs, and IP creators do not necessarily engage deeply in the commercialization of results. In contrast, the VLC model establishes a deep integration between the company and research laboratories. These labs provide a sustainable pipeline of IP, and the teams generating the IP are deeply involved in subsequent translation efforts, accelerating the path to clinical application. Under the VLC model, companies can maintain a relatively “asset-light” status in the early stages while fully leveraging laboratory resources to achieve efficient coordination and management with contract research organizations (CROs).
Although the VLC model is similar to the VIC model, innovative drug companies currently operating under the VLC model are rare.
Dr. Kong Qidi, Co-founder and CEO of Zhiben Pharmaceutical, told VCBeat, “While it is common for scientists to partner with industry experts in entrepreneurial ventures, it is rare for a scientist’s laboratory to be deeply integrated with an innovative pharmaceutical company.”“On the one hand, the VLC model requires a highly mature system for translating scientific and technological achievements into practical applications; on the other hand, it places exceptionally high demands on principal investigators (PIs) in laboratories, requiring them to deliver both high-volume and high-quality research outputs. Meeting both of these conditions simultaneously is extremely difficult.”
Zhongshan Zhiben Pharmaceutical Technology Co., Ltd. meets both of the aforementioned criteria. First, Zhiben Pharmaceutical was established with the support of the Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Zhongshan Institute for Drug Innovation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, leveraging the backing of China’s leading institution for technology transfer and commercialization. Second, Zhiben Pharmaceutical is led by Professor Yang Yushe, who serves as a Principal Investigator at the Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Director of the Medicinal Chemistry Center at the Zhongshan Institute for Drug Innovation, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Professor Yang’s team has demonstrated a strong track record of high-quality, high-output scientific achievements.
Professor Yang Yushe has over 30 years of experience in the research, development, and industrialization of innovative drugs. He has accumulated extensive expertise in the R&D of original antibacterial, antitumor, and anticoagulant agents. In the academic realm, Professor Yang has published more than 80 papers in journals such as J. Med. Chem. and filed over 60 patents domestically and internationally. In the industrial sector, he has led his team to develop six innovative drug candidates in recent years; five have been licensed out, four have received clinical trial approvals, and two are currently in preclinical studies.
It is worth emphasizing that in 2009, Professor Yang Yushe led the successful development of antofloxacin hydrochloride, China’s first fluoroquinolone new drug with independent intellectual property rights. This drug was the first new chemical entity (NCE) created by Chinese scientists since the implementation of the Pharmaceutical Patent Law in 1993, and also China’s first Class 1.1 innovative fluoroquinolone drug with independent intellectual property rights. It filled a gap of more than 40 years in this field in China and was awarded the Second Prize of the National Technology Invention Award. In 2017, CCTV’s Science and Education Channel’s program “Approaching Science” specifically produced and broadcast a documentary titled “Where Do New Drugs Come From?” detailing the research and development process of antofloxacin hydrochloride, which actively promoted the research and development of innovative drugs in China.
Dr. Kong Qidi recalled, “My academic journey under the supervision of Professor Yang Yushe at the Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, has been immensely rewarding. Professor Yang’s unwavering commitment to scientific excellence—characterized by his refusal to settle for mediocrity, his dedication to living up to expectations, and his relentless pursuit of progress—along with his spirit of serving the country through industrial innovation, has profoundly influenced me. Over the past decade, while engaged in early-stage drug discovery and preclinical development, I have consistently harbored entrepreneurial aspirations to promote the translation of scientific achievements, aiming to bridge the gap between laboratory research and clinical applications. Coincidentally, the Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica entered into a deep strategic partnership with Zhongshan City, with both parties strongly supporting the commercialization of scientific outcomes and planning to build an innovative biomedical industry cluster. With all favorable conditions aligned, we founded Zhiben Medicine under the leadership of Professor Yang Yushe, establishing our operations in Zhongshan, Guangdong Province, in early 2021.”
With a deep integration with Professor Yang Yushe’s laboratory and benefiting from the VLC (Venture-Lab Collaboration) model, Zhiben Pharma has been able to achieve efficient growth. The company can engage in laboratory-based drug discovery at an earlier stage, including project initiation and the conveyance of clinical and market concepts, thereby building a robust bridge for the formation and translation of scientific achievements. Dr. Kong Qidi told VCBeat, “Because the company gets involved in projects right from the inception stage, Zhiben Pharma’s VLC model features rapid launch and asset-light operations. In the early stages of a project, we make almost no investment in fixed assets and minimal investment in human capital, allowing us to allocate 90% of our funds to advancing the subsequent pipeline, which significantly enhances the company’s R&D efficiency and capital utilization.”
Leveraging the 30-year scientific and industrial foundation established by Professor Yang Yushe’s team, Zhiben Pharma is currently focused on two major disease areas: malignant tumors and severe infections. The company has several key pipeline candidates advancing rapidly in a tiered manner, targeting indications with significant unmet clinical needs and substantial market potential, including prostate cancer, breast cancer, and multidrug-resistant bacterial infections.
Among these, in the field of malignant tumors, ZhiBen Pharma’s most advanced pipeline candidate is ZB-002, with its initial indication being metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) that has progressed or relapsed after treatment with novel endocrine therapies such as enzalutamide and abiraterone.Currently, treatment options for patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) are limited and suboptimal in efficacy. With hundreds of thousands of affected patients, there is a substantial unmet clinical need. ZB-002 (molecular weight < 500 Da) is a novel agent featuring a new mechanism of action and a unique chemical structure.Molecular Glues Targeting the AR-NTD (Androgen Receptor N-Terminal Domain),It can efficiently degrade various AR point mutants and splice variants (including AR-V7), and is capable of treating mCRPC patients with diverse pathogenic AR backgrounds, such as AR overexpression, point mutations, and splice variants.
Compared with numerous PROTAC degraders targeting the AR-LBD (ligand-binding domain) currently in clinical development, such as ARV-766, ZB-002, as an AR-NTD molecular glue, offers two distinct advantages: superior druggability and a broader spectrum of activity against mCRPC. In its initial indication, ZB-002 has the potential to cover a patient population four times larger than that of ARV-766 and other similar PROTAC molecules. Preclinical studies have demonstrated that ZB-002 exhibits potent antitumor activity both in vitro and in vivo, favorable metabolic properties, and a good safety profile, holding promise for expansion into earlier disease settings, including metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer, non-metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, and even newly diagnosed prostate cancer.The target market focuses on the novel endocrine therapy sector for prostate cancer, which exceeds $10 billion in size. This pipeline is at a globally leading stage of development, possesses international competitive advantages and blockbuster potential, and is expected to file an Investigational New Drug (IND) application in the near term.
In the field of severe infections, ZhiBen Pharma’s most advanced pipeline candidate is ZB-001.ZB-001 is a novel bacterial topoisomerase inhibitor that surpasses the leading competitor Zoliflodacin (which has completed Phase III clinical trials) in terms of antibacterial activity, metabolism, and safety, demonstrating best-in-class potential. ZB-001 exhibits excellent in vitro and in vivo broad-spectrum antibacterial activity and can effectively treat gonorrhea and various infectious diseases caused by susceptible or drug-resistant Gram-positive bacteria. It covers all indications for linezolid and is poised to address current challenges in gonorrhea treatment, such as limited therapeutic options, drug resistance, and convenience of administration. By surpassing existing clinical therapies, ZB-001 aims to fill the long-standing gap in new drugs within this field. In July 2023, ZB-001 received implicit clinical trial approval from the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA), further underscoring regulatory recognition. The pipeline is expected to achieve market launch within five years.
In addition to the two core pipelines mentioned above, Zhiben Medicine also has ZB-003, a pipeline targeting brain metastases in HR-positive breast cancer, and ZB-004, an anti-Gram-negative bacterial pipeline, both of which are currently among the top tier of similar pipelines in China.
Regarding the rationale for building pipelines in the aforementioned two therapeutic areas, Dr. Kong Qidi stated, “The field of bacterial resistance presents clear clinical needs. Given that antimicrobial resistance poses a threat to public health and national security, it is a strategically significant research area and one in which Professor Yang Yushe’s research group excels. Our team possesses extensive experience across the entire lifecycle of novel antibacterial drug development. Furthermore, there is a strong correlation between preclinical animal studies and clinical trials for antibacterial agents, enabling faster market entry. Therefore, we selected this field for our first project in 2021. As for Zhiben Pharma’s choice to enter the oncology sector, this decision was driven by two factors: first, the field exhibits robust growth potential and substantial market opportunity; second, Professor Yang Yushe’s team serendipitously discovered a novel molecular glue degrader targeting the AR-NTD (androgen receptor N-terminal domain) with a unique structure and mechanism of action. This candidate does not act through the CRBN pathway and holds the potential to become a blockbuster drug for prostate cancer.”
As its pipeline advances smoothly, Zhiben Pharma will transition from an early-stage startup reliant solely on venture capital funding into a biotech company with stronger risk resilience and self-sustaining capabilities generated through out-licensing.
For example, ZB-002, a key pipeline asset advanced by Zhiben Pharma, is an AR-degrading molecular glue with international competitive advantages. It targets the metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) field, where only two drugs—enzalutamide and abiraterone—have been approved for novel endocrine therapy in recent years. Although these two blockbuster products are widely used in clinical practice, both face clear issues of drug resistance. Consequently, there is an urgent need for next-generation products in this therapeutic area, making it a focal point and hotspot for business development (BD) efforts among multinational corporations (MNCs). In recent years, industry giants such as Merck & Co., Roche, and Novartis have secured major collaborations in the field of novel endocrine therapies for prostate cancer. These include Merck’s $1.6 billion licensing deal with Orion Corporation for the CYP11A1 inhibitor opevesostat (MK-5684/ODM-208); Roche’s $650 million acquisition of the AR PROTAC molecule JMKX002992 from Jimin Kexin; and Novartis’s $1.16 billion partnership with Arvinas to license the AR PROTAC molecule ARV-766 and a preclinical AR-V7 PROTAC program.
As the company continues to grow, Zhiben Medicine will subsequently announce other attractive projects. The company also looks forward to actively engaging in exchanges and collaborations with industry chain partners, pursuing flexible cooperation models such as business development (BD) at appropriate times to accelerate global access to innovative therapies.
Looking to the future, Dr. Kong Qidi shared a verse from the alma mater anthem of Xiangya School of Medicine, his undergraduate institution: “Public-spiritedness, courage, diligence, and prudence; integrity, compassion, humility, and incorruptibility. Pursuing truth and precision, striving for depth and specialization.” The term “compassion” refers to care for patients, emphasizing that healthcare professionals should be patient-centered and guided by clinical needs. In the future, Zhiben Pharma will continue to uphold this philosophy, maintaining close communication with clinicians over the long term. With an end-to-end approach, the company will focus on the actual clinical needs in diverse scenarios across China and globally, committing to develop breakthrough innovative therapies urgently needed in clinical practice, thereby benefiting more patients.
We look forward to Zhiben Pharma establishing its roots in China while embracing a global outlook, collaborating with Chinese scientific achievements and scientists, and leveraging an international perspective and standards to share more stories of innovative Chinese pharmaceuticals with the world.