N1 Life Secures $10M Pre-A Financing to Advance High-Throughput Drug Development with Breakthrough Peptide and Nanotechnology Platforms

VCBeat New Medicine learned at the earliest opportunity that on April 17,N1 Life (Anyi Life Sciences) Announces Completion of Multi-Million-Dollar Pre-A Financing Round, Led by Legend Capital, with Participation from CMS Pharmaceutical, China-Singapore Capital, and Haoping Investment, While Existing Shareholder FreeS Fund Continues to Increase Its StakeIt is reported that this round of funding will be used for further screening and optimization of the dual-platform technologies based on peptides and nanoparticles, as well as the preclinical development of its first oncology pipeline.

Drug delivery is one of the critical determinants of success or failure throughout the drug development process; however, complex tissues and biological barriers within the human body can impede effective drug accumulation at target sites. Achieving tissue targeting and overcoming biological barriers have emerged as among the most promising strategies to address this challenge.

N1 Life has been dedicated to this endeavor. The company’s founder, Dr. Xiaoyu Zang, holds a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Stanford University, where she studied under Professor Paul A. Wender, a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. Her research group has devoted nearly three decades to developing and optimizing breakthrough drug delivery technologies.

Paul A. Wender is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and serves as a professor in the Department of Chemistry and the Department of Chemical and Systems Biology at Stanford University. He has long focused on the development and application of medicinal chemistry and drug delivery technologies, with expertise in organic synthesis and conjugation chemistry. He has successfully co-founded several innovative biopharmaceutical companies, including Kai Pharmaceuticals, CellGate, and BryoLogyx, many of which have become standout projects acquired by major pharmaceutical companies such as Amgen. Additionally, he serves as an R&D advisor to multiple multinational corporations (MNCs), including Eli Lilly, Roche, Novartis, and Merck. After joining his team, Xiaoyu Zang primarily conducted research on small-molecule and protein drug delivery. During this period, she led the development of a series of innovative technologies in the laboratory and later co-founded a company with Professor Wender to commercialize these scientific achievements.

In 2019, Dr. Zang Xiaoyu and Academician Wender co-founded N1 Life, focusing on the clinical translation of research findings and empowering and accelerating the core underlying technologies of drug development to bring them formally to market.

N1 Life Founder and CEO Zang Xiaoyu, Source: N1 Life

Currently, N1 Life has developed a comprehensive suite of Absotride tools that enable rapid, targeted design and development of novel conjugate drugs, thereby enhancing the success rate of new drug development. This technology is primarily applied to various peptide-drug conjugate (PDC) therapeutics across diverse disease areas.

“Developing new drugs faces multiple challenges. We aim to establish a platform-based drug delivery toolkit to help address these druggability challenges at the molecular and structural levels, thereby drawing inferences from one instance to improve the success rate of new drug development,” said Zang Xiaoyu.

Structurally, PDC drugs generated using the Absotride toolbox mainly consist of three components: a peptide carrier, a linker, and a payload drug.

Through a linker, peptide carriers with tissue selectivity and penetration capabilities can be covalently conjugated to active drug molecules, directing them into diseased tissues to exert therapeutic effects while reducing systemic exposure and toxicity associated with drug overdose. For example, Absotride’s innovative tumor-targeting peptide, MetaTide, selectively binds to tumor tissues by recognizing the tumor microenvironment, playing a unique and broadly applicable “targeted localization” role in cancer therapy.

N1 Life’s technological innovations have achieved a breakthrough in vector technology. By leveraging data- and experience-based structural design, the team can determine the most suitable delivery strategy for specific drugs and indications, thereby enhancing drug efficacy and safety through improved delivery efficiency.

Leveraging the Absotride platform, N1 Life can rapidly develop novel PDC drugs, significantly shortening development timelines and reducing costs, while enhancing efficacy, lowering toxicity, overcoming resistance to original drugs, and potentially expanding indications.For instance, drugs originally administered systemically can be delivered locally in vitro via transdermal carriers, thereby reducing systemic immunotoxicity. At equivalent costs, this approach can significantly enhance the throughput and success rate of drug development.

“Taking tumors as an example, the MetaTide peptide we designed can not only recognize the tumor microenvironment to achieve drug delivery, but also overcome multidrug resistance in solid tumors,” explained Zang Xiaoyu.

Enhancing Drug Efficacy Against Metastatic Tumors by Identifying Dispersed Tumor Tissues, Source: N1 Life

Achieving Macroscopic Targeting of Tumor Tissues by Identifying Tumor Microenvironment Characteristics, Source: N1 Life

Academician Paul Wender Leads Laboratory Project Leaders in Discussing Research Topics, Source: N1 Life

Currently, N1 Life's business model includes two categories:

First, N1 Life has its own proprietary drug pipeline.N1 Life’s innovative peptide carrier enables drug delivery to and absorption by tissues. For instance, MetaTide achieves macro-targeting of the tumor microenvironment and selective intracellular drug release within tumor cells, thereby penetrating solid tumors and effectively treating the spread and drug resistance of refractory solid tumors. This platform is applicable across multiple tumor types, organs, and disease stages, including drug-resistant brain tumors.

Currently, N1 Life’s anti-tumor PDC drug pipeline is in the preclinical development stage. Experimental data show that the drug can nearly completely eliminate drug-resistant tumors, metastatic tumors, and malignant ascites in mouse tumor models. Zang Xiaoyu stated that, based on the preclinical data, N1 Life will submit an Investigational New Drug (IND) application to the FDA within the coming months.

Secondly, N1 Life provides technical solutions through platform collaborations and partners with pharmaceutical companies to jointly develop pipelines.N1 Life provides two drug delivery platform technologies for different therapeutic modalities, collaborating with partner companies on the development of conjugated and novel nanomedicines. It has established partnerships with renowned pharmaceutical companies in China and abroad to jointly develop innovative drugs in areas such as dermatology pipelines, small nucleic acids, and mRNA.

It is reported that,N1 Life has also strategically deployed innovative delivery technologies for nucleic acid therapeutics and gene editing.，The independently developed ChARLS nanodelivery technology has achieved mRNA delivery with in vivo organ targeting.This technology, co-developed in collaboration with the renowned Chinese biotech company RayGen Therapeutics, is continuously expanding its scope of application and holds broad prospects across multiple fields, including gene therapy, gene editing, cell therapy, and research diagnostics. The technology has demonstrated delivery efficiency superior to that of current LNP technologies.

Meanwhile, N1 Life is collaborating with partners to establish a high-throughput targeted screening platform. In the future, N1 Life will develop polymer libraries and perform targeted optimization for different organs and tissues. By integrating large language models (LLMs) of artificial intelligence, the company aims to screen for precise and highly efficient polymeric carriers.

In addition to focusing on PDC drug development, N1 Life can leverage its delivery technology to accelerate new drug development, with a strategic layout in small-molecule drugs, small nucleic acid drugs (e.g., siRNA), and mRNA drugs within the CGT sector, targeting indications such as oncology, ophthalmology, dermatology, and neurological disorders.It can also bring about an “upgrade of old drugs” in a whole new sense.

Over the past few decades, the field of drug development has accumulated extensive data on drug efficacy and safety. Small-molecule, peptide, and protein-based drugs that have already lost patent protection or failed in Phase II or III clinical trials have undergone substantial clinical validation or have been verified through post-marketing experience.

In the face of these legacy “old drugs” or even “obsolete drugs,” N1 Life can rapidly optimize them based on clinical needs using its Absotride technology, expanding indications and enhancing efficacy to transform them into “new drugs” approved by the FDA or NMPA.

“It can be said that with Absotride technology, we can resolve challenging clinical dilemmas at the fastest speed, in the shortest time, and at the lowest cost,” stated Zang Xiaoyu.

N1 Life’s breakthrough technology, which enhances delivery success rates and efficacy, is exerting an impact on the pharmaceutical field both in the present and in the future.

In the future, various drugs currently blocked by biological barriers can be upgraded through N1 Life’s delivery technology.

“The human body features a variety of barriers, including the blood-brain barrier and the skin. Absotride technology leverages the characteristics of peptides and tissues to design carriers capable of recognizing and overcoming these barriers.”

This means that Absotride technology can cover multiple fields, including oncology, medical aesthetics, ophthalmology, neurological disorders, and genetic diseases, helping to overcome more medical challenges. Whether in oncology drugs, CNS (central nervous system) drugs, gene therapy, or areas such as medical aesthetics and ophthalmology, this technology holds significant market potential:

• According to Fortune Business Insights, the global drug delivery market is projected to grow from USD 39.33 billion in 2022 to USD 71.75 billion by 2029, exhibiting a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.0% during the forecast period.

• According to a report by MarketsandMarkets, topical drug administration will become the fastest-growing segment in the field of drug delivery over the next decade.

The tissue-penetrating capability of certain carriers in the Absotride delivery technology is precisely the key to enhancing drug efficacy in topical administration.

Nowadays,N1 Life has established a dual-center industrial layout in Silicon Valley, USA, and the Yangtze River Delta region of China. Leveraging continuous innovation in Silicon Valley, the company conducts R&D and rapidly advances its product pipeline., and collaborate with top-tier international companies and teams to maintain a leading-edge advantage in the field of drug delivery. Meanwhile, N1 Life will leverage China’s speed and efficiency to establish pilot-scale production and industrialization centers domestically, rapidly commercialize products through China’s mature service ecosystem, and achieve a global industrial footprint.

Zang Xiaoyu revealed that the company has also deployed a diversified business model, accelerating technology commercialization through various forms of collaboration such as establishing joint ventures and platform partnerships.

With the practical implementation of N1 Life’s technologies, its technology platform is poised to play a pivotal role in future drug development. It will provide the technical impetus for the druggability assessment and optimization of various pharmaceuticals, thereby accelerating drug development and enabling these health-critical medications to reach the market more rapidly with enhanced efficacy.

Qi Fei, Executive Director of Legend Capital, stated:“Delivery technology has always been a key element in the development of innovative drugs. Against the backdrop of increasing validation of antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), the next-generation peptide-drug conjugate (PDC) delivery systems warrant close attention. N1 Life has established a proprietary PDC technology platform and is advancing a pipeline of drug candidates based on this platform, achieving promising progress. Since its inception, N1 Life has recruited an R&D and industrialization team with extensive experience, while actively engaging in broad collaborations with industry partners to explore and drive global innovation in the field of drug delivery.”

Ma Rui, Partner at FreeS Fund, stated:“N1 Life boasts a globally leading chemistry and clinical team, as well as two proprietary technology platforms: mRNA delivery and peptide-drug conjugation (PDC). Data from its PDC pipeline demonstrate robust pharmacokinetic (PK) improvements, favorable membrane permeability (overcoming drug resistance and crossing the blood-brain barrier), and tumor microenvironment targeting, highlighting strong druggability potential in oncology, ophthalmology, dermatology, and nucleic acid therapeutics. We are delighted that Fengrui Capital has had the opportunity to support N1 Life since its angel round and witness its better-than-expected growth. We look forward to N1 Life leveraging its delivery platform technologies to continuously bring forth novel therapies and drugs.”

Legend Capital, established in April 2001, is a leading fund management firm in China specializing in early-stage venture capital and growth-stage private equity. Over its more than two decades of development, Legend Capital has adhered to international standards and created best practices in fund operations and management. Through its proactive value-added service system, Legend Capital drives innovative corporate growth, consistently delivering strong investment returns across multiple sectors while promoting industrial advancement and social development in China.

Legend Capital envisions becoming an investment firm with global influence, upholding the core value of “Wealth with Integrity” and actively fulfilling its social responsibilities. Legend Capital has maintained a strong focus on investments in healthcare, systematically building its portfolio across the broader health industry. Several of its portfolio companies have emerged as leaders in their respective sub-sectors and are listed on the A-share market and/or the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, including Pharmaron (300759.SZ) (03759.HK), WuXi AppTec (603259.SH) (02359.HK), WuXi Biologics (02269.HK), Innovent Biologics (01801.HK), New Horizon Health (06606.HK), and Mingde Biology (002932.SZ).

Frees Fund (FREES FUND) is committed to mobilizing all available capital, technology, and resources to invest in outstanding startups and help them grow into great enterprises with long-term social and commercial value.

Over the past seven years, FreeS Fund has evolved into a fund management firm driven by early-stage investments while actively positioning itself in growth-stage opportunities. Its key investment sectors include Consumer/TMT, Hard Tech, and Biopharmaceuticals. Research-driven and innovation-focused, FreeS Fund has developed its own systematic investment strategy through continuous exploration: identifying unique opportunities at the intersection of disciplines. We believe that interdisciplinary fields typically represent the most promising directions and opportunities for technological innovation, as breakthrough innovations often occur at the crossroads of scientific disciplines.

CMS Pharmaceutical (867.HK) is an open-platform enterprise that bridges pharmaceutical innovation and commercialization, overseeing the full lifecycle management of products. It focuses on first-in-class (FIC) and best-in-class (BIC) innovative products, with a pipeline of over 30 differentiated innovative assets. CMS Pharmaceutical concentrates on specialized therapeutic areas, leveraging its proven commercialization capabilities. Its core marketed products have achieved leading academic and market positions. The company continues to deepen its expertise and expand its boundaries within these specialized fields, strengthening its competitiveness in cardiovascular and gastrointestinal businesses, while independently operating its dermatology/aesthetic medicine and ophthalmology divisions. Additionally, it is expanding its business footprint into Southeast Asia to achieve high-quality, sustainable, and healthy growth.

CSS Capital is a professional fund manager under CSSD Group. Through its Yuanchuang and Yuanzhan series of funds, it is based in Suzhou Industrial Park (SIP), extends its reach to various China-Singapore cooperation zones, and radiates to the China-Singapore International Business Cooperation Center (offshore). Focusing on regional leading and advantageous industries, and emphasizing its distinctive role in empowering the industrialization and internationalization of “Specialized, Refined, Differential, and Innovative” (SRDI) enterprises, CSS Capital actively engages in venture capital activities. CSSD Group was established in August 1994 through a collaboration between the Chinese and Singaporean governments. As the main entity for park development and a vehicle for China-Singapore cooperation, it has made significant contributions to the development and construction of Suzhou Industrial Park.