Mitouke Biologics Secures Tens of Millions in Angel Funding to Develop Stem Cell Therapies for Aging Pets

VCBeat (WeChat: vcbeat) has learned that Mitoke Biomedical Technology Co., Ltd. (“Mitoke Bio”) recently announced the completion of its angel financing round, amounting to tens of millions of yuan, earlier this year. The round was led by FreeS Fund.

Mitoke Biopharma is a pet-focused biopharmaceutical company currently dedicated to developing cell therapies for common age-related conditions in pets that lack effective treatments, with the aim of improving the quality of life for senior pets and enhancing the well-being of their owners. Founded in late 2021, the company was established by Dr. Ren Yu, who holds a Ph.D. in Developmental Biology from the Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. The founding team comprises professionals from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tsinghua University, and China Agricultural University, bringing extensive experience in overseas research, stem cell pharmaceutical development, and serial entrepreneurship. Currently, the company’s workforce is primarily composed of R&D personnel, and the team continues to expand.

The pet dog and cat population in urban China has exceeded 110 million, with an annual increase of over 10 million. Owners of these pets come from hundreds of millions of households. Dogs enter their senior years after the age of 7 or 8, while cats do so after the age of 10. It is estimated that there are currently more than 20 million senior dogs and cats in China, a figure that will surpass 50 million in five years. This indicates that China’s pet dog and cat population is gradually entering an aging phase.

According to public opinion polls, over 85% of urban pet owners regard their pets as family members. When elderly pets fall ill, their owners aspire to care for them as they would human family members, striving to improve their quality of life as much as possible. However, there are currently no disease-modifying drugs specifically targeting common age-related conditions in pets, such as arthritis and muscle atrophy; existing treatments often merely alleviate or mitigate symptoms. Elderly pets suffering from these diseases endure pain and mobility impairments, causing significant distress and concern for their owners.

“Whether in humans or animals, aging increases susceptibility to disease, and unfortunately, many such conditions lack specific effective treatments.”Dr. Ren Yu, Founder and CEO of Metok Biotech“Many pet owners keep their pets for life once they start, with the cumulative time spent with their pets even exceeding that with their children. Pet owners experience anxiety when their pets fall ill and grief when they pass away. Therefore, improving the quality of life for aging pets holds not only commercial value but also significant humanitarian value.” The proportion of medical expenditures within pet industry consumption has risen significantly year by year, indicating that pet owners are increasingly concerned about their pets’ health. According to data from the “2021 White Paper on China’s Pet Medical Industry (Industry Research Report),” the pet medical market size has exceeded RMB 60 billion, with its growth rate and share surpassing the overall performance of the pet industry. The medical market size is projected to exceed RMB 100 billion by 2025.

Mitoke Biotechnology’s primary cell therapy product under development is mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), also known as mesenchymal stromal cells. Numerous scientific and clinical studies have reported on their safety and efficacy in immunomodulation, anti-inflammation, promotion of neurovascular regeneration, protection of damaged cells, and tissue repair. Currently, in human clinical trials, MSCs are being investigated for the treatment of degenerative arthritis, myocardial infarction, stroke, inflammatory bowel disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Parkinson’s disease, graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), diabetes, and its complications. In the field of veterinary medicine, foreign companies have already initiated the development and clinical trials of MSC-based therapies, primarily targeting osteoarthritis, cartilage injuries, and ligament damage in dogs, cats, and horses. The European Union has approved two MSC-based drugs from Boehringer Ingelheim for the treatment of cartilage injuries and tendon/ligament injuries in horses. To date, no stem cell drugs for pet diseases have been submitted for regulatory approval in China.

“The druggability of mesenchymal stem cells is highly dependent on cell culture processes. Only under appropriate conditions can they maintain high viability and deliver optimal therapeutic effects for specific diseases,” introduced Ren Yu. “Therefore, in the development of mesenchymal stem cell drugs for pets, we have adopted high standards comparable to those for human stem cell therapies, rigorously testing and optimizing the efficacy of our cell-based drugs. Furthermore, we engineer the cells to enhance their therapeutic potency based on the specific characteristics of the disease.” With support from FreeS Fund, Mitoke Biology has completed laboratory construction and initially assembled its R&D team, established basic cell culture processes and quality control systems, and conducted efficacy testing for several common age-related pet diseases, such as muscle atrophy and inflammatory bowel disease, achieving promising interim results.

Li Angda, Co-founder of Mitouke Biotechstated, “We hope that Mitoque Biotech’s products will benefit a broader base of pet owners, rather than remaining niche offerings affordable only to a small minority with high purchasing power. Therefore, we consistently take into account the production costs of the final product throughout our process development and R&D. Leveraging our process optimization capabilities, we are confident that the drugs we bring to market in the future will be priced affordably for the majority of urban pet owners. We will continue to develop more pet therapeutic technologies; in addition to cell-based therapies, we will also explore other areas, such as the research and development of pet vaccines.”

For Mitok Biotech,Xie Da, Vice President of FreeS FundHe explained, “In recent years, the pet industry has experienced sustained and rapid growth. The increasing pet population, heightened willingness to spend, and extended consumption cycles have created fertile ground for the development of high-end domestic brands and driven the demand for improved industry efficiency. In the field of veterinary medicine, the aging of the pet population over the next five years will generate significant demand for treatments targeting age-related diseases. Regenerative medicine therapies, including stem cell therapy, represent an important, if not essential, means of meeting this demand, constituting a promising blue-ocean market worth exploring. Mitoke Biotechnology is a newcomer in the field of pet stem cell drugs; however, its founding team possesses extensive expertise in animal cell technology and the R&D of human stem cell therapeutics. From the outset, the company has adhered to a rigorous approach to cell-based drug development and has rapidly obtained therapeutic validation data in disease models. FreeS Fund focuses on interdisciplinary areas at the forefront of science and industry sectors. We are optimistic about Mitoke Biotechnology’s acumen and expansion capabilities in cutting-edge stem cell research and will continue to support its exploration at the intersection of veterinary healthcare and consumer markets.”