Immorna Secures Nearly $100 Million in Series A+ and A++ Financing to Accelerate Global Clinical Development and Commercialization of Multiple RNA Therapeutics and Vaccines

On February 27, 2023, Immorna, a leader in the RNA industry, announced the completion of its Series A+ and A++ financing rounds, raising nearly USD 100 million. Investors included Guodiao Innovation Fund, Yuexiu Industrial Fund, Hillhouse Ventures, Zhenji Capital, C&D Emerging Investment, Tailong Capital, Taiyu Capital, as well as several strategic and financial investors from the healthcare industry. Existing shareholders Kaifeng Venture Capital, Huachuang Capital, and Zheshang Venture Capital continued to increase their investments. Index Capital served as the exclusive financial advisor for the Series A++ round.This round of financing will be primarily used to support the advancement of multiple clinical trials and the development of preclinical pipelines. Immorna (Hangzhou) Biotechnology Co., Ltd. will also continue to deepen its industrial readiness and technological innovation, while actively advancing forward-looking layouts for mid-to-late stage clinical development and commercialization.

Ms. Zhang Kexin, Senior Vice President of Strategic Operations at Immorna, stated, “We are delighted to continue receiving strong support from both new and existing investors, who have stood by the company through the capital winter. Leveraging its exceptional international team and leading technology platform, Immorna has advanced both therapeutic and preventive pipelines into global clinical development stages, successfully achieving the first overseas expansion of a Chinese RNA enterprise into mainstream European and American markets. This milestone brings us closer to our goal of making China’s RNA products benefit patients worldwide at the earliest possible time.”

Immorna is one of the few biotechnology companies worldwide that not only possesses multiple RNA technology platforms and proprietary delivery systems applied in clinical-stage development, but also achieves in-house development and manufacturing of the full CMC process for both novel therapeutics and vaccines.

In terms of RNA technology platforms, the company has established mature dual platforms for non-replicating mRNA and self-replicating srRNA. To meet the needs of different pipelines, various RNA components have been designed, enabling modular assembly and combination among different components. Through the design of the self-replicating srRNA backbone, the company has achieved control over protein expression levels, expression duration, and immunogenicity.Triple Quantifiable RegulationCurrently, products from both of the Company’s technology platforms have entered clinical stages. The Company is also advancing its circular RNA technology reserves to actively expand into next-generation technology platforms.

In terms of delivery systems, Immorna possesses a diverse portfolio, including various proprietary patented lipid nanoparticle (LNP) carriers, polymer-based carriers, and the world’s firstNon-Traditional Lyophilized Formulation: Heat-Stable Delivery System (RTU)etc., enabling long-term stable storage of the product at 2–8°C, multi-route administration, and repeated injections, andExtrahepatic Multi-Organ Targeted Delivery。

Immorna possesses the core of RNA industrial production—CMC process development. Leveraging the founders’ and team’s extensive experience in manufacturing process development, the company has completed the development, optimization, and standardization of end-to-end manufacturing processes for mRNA and srRNA. By strictly controlling the product manufacturing process and mastering core industry “know-how,” Immorna has demonstrated its platform advantages and entered the rapid clinical proof-of-concept (POC) stage.

Dr. Guo Zhijun, Co-founder and CTO of Immorna, stated: “Immorna has achieved full-scale ‘in-house’ production, process control, and stringent quality assurance release across the entire workflow—from sequence design and upstream plasmid synthesis to IVT-RNA bulk purification, encapsulation, and final product filling. All raw materials and equipment have been localized with Chinese-made alternatives. In the future, we will leverage China-based manufacturing to supply the global market, not only meeting the supply needs for our self-developed pipeline products but also enabling collaborations with domestic and international companies and universities.”

The company’s current pipeline covers multiple therapeutic areas, including oncology, infectious diseases, rare diseases, and medical aesthetics. In the fields of oncology treatment and infectious disease vaccines,Four registration clinical trials have been launched within one year across two therapeutic areas and three indications in both China and the United States:

(1) JCXH-211, the world’s first cytokine-based therapeutic product for solid tumors utilizing self-replicating srRNA, has been approved to initiate Phase I clinical trials in both China and the United States. The potent antiviral immune response induced by self-replicating srRNA and the robust antitumor immune activity activated by IL-12 produce a synergistic effect. In various preclinical animal models, JCXH-211 demonstrated tumor-killing efficacy, prevention of tumor metastasis and recurrence, and effective control of IL-12 systemic toxicity, positioning it to stand out among IL-12 products developed via diverse technological platforms.

(2) The broad-spectrum COVID-19 vaccine JCXH-221 has been approved to conduct Phase I/II clinical trials in the United States. By employing a polymeric antigen structure that preserves the integrity of all antigenic epitopes while further enhancing the immunogenicity of individual antigens, this vaccine achieves a synergistic effect where “1+1 is far greater than 2,” thereby enabling broad-spectrum protection with a monovalent vaccine (single mRNA strand). This polymeric antigen design paradigm overturns traditional vaccine design concepts and holds promise for future application in the development of other multivalent infectious disease vaccines.

(3) The shingles vaccine JCXH-105 has been approved to conduct Phase I clinical trials in the United States. This vaccine utilizes a tunable self-replicating srRNA backbone, which can more effectively activate cellular immunity, significantly reduce the vaccination dose, and better control adverse reactions, making it a strong competitor to the existing shingles vaccine SHINGRIX. Leveraging next-generation technology, JCXH-105 has entered the clinical stage concurrently with traditional non-replicating mRNA products from international mRNA giants Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech, achieving a “leapfrog” catch-up with leading global companies.

The company has several other blockbuster pipelines expected to enter clinical trial stages within 2023.

Dr. Wang Zihao, Co-founder and CEO of Immorna, stated, “From its inception, the company has adopted a global perspective, prioritized innovation, leveraged the differentiated advantages of its RNA technology platform, and addressed unmet clinical needs. Within less than ten months, we have successively obtained three FDA IND approvals and one NMPA IND approval, marking the company’s official entry into a phase of explosive growth. Looking ahead, Immorna will remain committed to innovation and internationalization, striving to become a world-class enterprise in RNA platform technologies.”

Ma Li, Head of the Investment Department at Guodiao Innovation Fund, stated: “This investment represents a significant strategic move by Guodiao Innovation Fund in the life sciences sector. As a technology with a long development history that has achieved breakthroughs across all R&D stages, mRNA has officially entered the phase of industrial application. Immorna possesses a comprehensive and mature technology platform and pipeline portfolio, while also mastering key bottleneck technologies in the CMC (Chemistry, Manufacturing, and Controls) process. Its multiple clinical pipelines are advancing rapidly in parallel. Currently, Immorna is approaching the commercialization stage and demonstrates substantial potential to lead Chinese mRNA enterprises into mainstream international markets. In the future, Guodiao Innovation Fund will continue to support Immorna by fully leveraging resources within the biopharmaceutical ecosystem, driving the company to become a world-class biopharmaceutical enterprise and delivering safe, effective, and affordable RNA therapeutics to patients globally.”

Dr. Ji Tianrong, Founder and General Manager of Taiyu Investment, stated: “The Immorna team possesses extensive experience in mRNA novel drug R&D, along with independently owned intellectual property rights for its self-replicating srRNA and thermally stable LNP technologies. The company has developed the world’s first self-replicating srRNA shingles vaccine to receive IND approval. We hope that its RNA technology will bring new transformations and breakthroughs to vaccine development.”

Dr. Huang Xin, Managing Partner at Kaifeng Venture Capital, stated: “Over the past year, Immorna has secured three Investigational New Drug (IND) approvals from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and is applying its multimodal RNA technologies to the clinical development of innovative therapeutics and novel vaccines. As an early investor in Immorna, Kaifeng Venture Capital has witnessed the company’s positive achievements and its steady, rapid growth. We look forward to this round of investment accelerating the advancement of Immorna’s clinical pipeline, not only demonstrating the clinical translation potential of its multiple RNA technology platforms and proprietary delivery systems, but also seizing opportunities during clinical trials to bring RNA-based products to commercialization sooner, thereby benefiting a broad patient population.”

Immorna is a rapidly growing clinical-stage biotechnology company primarily focused on developing RNA-based biologics and vaccines, leveraging multiple RNA technology platforms including conventional mRNA, self-amplifying RNA, and circular RNA.

Since its establishment in 2019, Immorna has built a comprehensive and reliable CMC manufacturing platform, encompassing RNA synthesis, purification, and analytical testing, to meet the demands of both clinical and commercial development. Furthermore, leveraging its advanced screening platform, Immorna has developed a series of RNA delivery vectors, including polymer and lipid nanoparticle (LNP) carriers. The company holds multiple proprietary patents related to cationic lipids and delivery systems, enabling targeted delivery to muscles, veins, and tissues.

Immorna continues to enrich its intellectual property portfolio and diversify its product pipeline, which now spans multiple fields including cancer immunotherapy, infectious diseases, rare genetic disorders, and medical aesthetics, while rapidly advancing the development of candidate drugs for oncology treatments and infectious disease vaccines.