Danatlas Pharmaceuticals Secures Tens of Millions in Pre-A Financing Led by Sequoia China and Sherpa Healthcare Partners

VCBeat’s New Medicine learned that Beijing Danqing Pharmaceutical Technology Co., Ltd. (“Danqing Pharma”) recently announced the completion of its tens-of-millions-yuan Pre-A financing round, co-led by HongShan and Sherpa Healthcare Partners.

Danqing Pharma leverages the principle of “synthetic lethality” to develop “first-in-class (FIC)” drugs, aiming to meet patients’ clinical needs and drive medical innovation. Since its establishment in 2021, the company has secured cumulative financing exceeding RMB 100 million, with its angel round exclusively led by Mifang Health Fund. The funds from the recently completed Pre-A financing round will be primarily used to enhance the company’s drug discovery and translational medicine platforms and to advance the preclinical development of its product pipeline. Currently, the first two “first-in-class” candidates in Danqing Pharma’s pipeline are expected to file Investigational New Drug (IND) applications in both China and the United States in 2024, subsequently entering clinical trials.

Dr. Wenlai Zhou, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Danqing Pharmaceuticalsstated: “We appreciate the recognition from HongShan China Fund and Sherpa Healthcare Partners, as well as the continued support from our existing shareholder, Mifang Health Fund! ‘Synthetic lethality’ is an emerging field in precision targeted cancer therapy. Danqing will leverage its proprietary target discovery and validation platform with unique technological advantages, HDDP”^TMDrug discovery and translational medicine platforms are accelerating the advancement of multiple novel-target drugs with international competitiveness, independently developed by the company, into clinical trials. We will continue to adopt a global perspective and engage in extensive collaborations with professional investment institutions, industry peers, and research organizations worldwide, aiming to bring more effective products to the global market at an earlier stage to benefit patients.”

Dr. Cuiping Gu, Managing Director at HongShanstated: "Synthetic lethality" is an emerging field with relatively independent research methodologies, and there have already been some exciting validation results. Danqing’s team boasts outstanding capabilities in innovative drug development, biological research and translation of new targets, and overseas license-out transactions. We are delighted to participate in the company’s growth and look forward to supporting and helping the company achieve greater breakthroughs in this emerging field, thereby addressing more unmet clinical needs and benefiting more patients.

Mr. Xing Cheng, Partner at Sherpastated, “Synthetic lethality is a key research direction in oncology, offering new frontier opportunities for cancer treatment. Leveraging the founding team’s extensive R&D and management experience in innovative pharmaceutical companies, as well as their long-standing accumulation and profound understanding of synthetic lethality, Danqing Pharmaceuticals has achieved critical breakthroughs in platform development and the advancement of multiple key pipelines since its inception, demonstrating a solid scientific foundation and strong execution capabilities. Sherpa Healthcare Partners is honored to participate in Danqing Pharmaceuticals’ early-stage financing and looks forward to the company’s development of novel anti-cancer drugs with international competitiveness, thereby benefiting cancer patients worldwide.”

Danqing Pharma was established in 2021, founded and led by internationally renowned scientists who returned to China. The founding team possesses extensive practical experience in new drug creation and R&D management, having spearheaded the launch of multiple innovative drugs with global impact. The company’s mission and vision are to develop innovative drugs with “sincere dedication,” bring hope by “uplifting health” for humanity, and become a leader in developing novel targeted cancer therapies.

Danqing Pharma is headquartered in Beijing, China, with a branch center in Boston, USA. The company possesses a unique new drug development system and a multidisciplinary integrated technology platform, including HDDP^TMThe drug discovery platform integrates structural biology, computational chemistry, medicinal chemistry, and bioinformatics, supported by specialized operational functions. It currently has multiple First-in-class novel drug candidates in development and has filed more than 10 PCT international patent applications.