Domar BioPharma Secures RMB 950 Million Series A Funding to Build a Unique Life Science Innovation and Incubation Platform

On June 1, 2022, Doma Pharmaceutical Technology (Suzhou) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Doma Pharma”) announced the completion of its Series A financing round, raising RMB 950 million. The round was jointly led by Biocytogen, China Life Equity Investment, PICC Capital, SDIC Fund, Suzhou Industrial Park, Taiping Medical Health Fund, and CMB International. As founding shareholders of Doma Pharma, these parties aim to build the company into a “fully integrated life science innovation incubation platform with Chinese characteristics,” driving continuous innovation at the forefront of life sciences. By integrating cutting-edge technologies, top industry talent, and long-term capital, they seek to consistently incubate world-class biotechnology innovators.

Duoma Pharmaceuticals was established in Suzhou BioBAY in September 2021. In the fields of innovative drugs and disruptive biotechnologies, Duoma Pharmaceuticals leverages its shareholders’ robust open R&D service platform to incubate numerous highly innovative biotechnology companies by effectively integrating talent, technology, products, and capital. It develops innovative drug pipelines and biotechnologies with independent intellectual property rights, thereby fostering an innovative life sciences industry cluster. As a “fully integrated life sciences innovation incubation platform,” Duoma Pharmaceuticals provides diversified, comprehensive, and “empowerment-based” incubation support to its portfolio companies. Serving as both co-founder and angel investor, Duoma Pharmaceuticals not only delivers comprehensive R&D support through its powerful research platform but also provides sound management assistance via its excellent management team, thereby accelerating corporate growth while significantly enhancing capital efficiency.

Dr. Huang Rui, Director and Chief Operating Officer of Duoma PharmaHe stated, “We extend our heartfelt gratitude to all founding shareholders for their support and assistance. With the successful completion of our Series A financing, Duoma Pharmaceuticals has officially set sail. Over the past decade, China has rapidly emerged as a powerhouse in life sciences research, with an increasingly abundant pool of highly qualified and seasoned industry-leading talent. This gives us strong confidence in organically integrating science, industry, talent, and capital to build Duoma Pharmaceuticals into a ‘fully integrated life science innovation incubation platform’ with Chinese characteristics. By incubating numerous biotechnology companies brimming with innovative vitality, we will focus on genuine clinical needs and market value, leveraging groundbreaking approaches to make a positive impact on human health and sustainable development. Looking ahead, Duoma Pharmaceuticals will collaborate with numerous technological innovators, top-tier industry talent, investors, and industrial partners to carry out incubation and cooperation across various fields—including innovative target drug development, bispecific antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), oncolytic viruses, cell therapy, veterinary pharmaceuticals, diagnostic reagents, and artificial intelligence—jointly cultivating world-class enterprises rooted in China.”

As one of the founding shareholders of Duoma Pharmaceutical, Dr. Shen Yuelei, Chairman of Biocytogenstated, “It is a great honor to join forces with all shareholders in establishing Doma Pharmaceuticals and completing our joint investment. Biocytogen boasts world-class technology platforms in gene editing, antibody drug discovery and screening/evaluation, innovative animal model development, and clinical drug development. The company possesses end-to-end new drug R&D capabilities, spanning from early-stage target validation and preclinical studies of drug molecules to clinical development. In the future, Biocytogen’s ‘Thousand Mice, Ten Thousand Antibodies’ initiative and its unique drug R&D platform will provide robust R&D support to Doma Pharmaceuticals, empowering it to incubate frontier biotechnology enterprises with innovative vitality. We look forward to collaborating with Doma Pharmaceuticals to build a synergistic innovation-driven R&D ecosystem, jointly promoting the advancement and prosperity of China’s biotechnology industry.”

Jiang Li, Managing Director of China Life Equity Investment CompanyIt stated: “Accelerating the development of an internationally influential source of biomedical innovation and a biomedical industry cluster is an inevitable choice for China to become a pharmaceutical powerhouse, with platform-based enterprises serving as one of the key drivers in upgrading the industry’s capabilities. Relying on Biocytogen’s antibody drug R&D service platform and its unique ‘Thousands of Mice, Thousands of Antibodies’ program, Duoma Pharmaceutical collaborates with leading biomedical talents both domestically and internationally to incubate novel antibody drug companies. Its distinctive operational model, which integrates industrial incubation with drug pipeline development, holds broad prospects for growth. We hope that by partnering with Biocytogen and Duoma Pharmaceutical, we can promote the aggregation and flow of innovative elements such as advanced technologies, talent, and capital; accelerate the industrial translation of scientific and technological achievements; cultivate new biotechnology companies; enable more innovative and high-quality drugs to benefit humanity; and help more local enterprises expand globally, thereby supporting the nation in accelerating the establishment of strategic advantages in the bioeconomy.”

Shu Wanting, Managing Director of PICC Capital Equity Investment Co., Ltd.“It embodies the collective hope of all humanity for life extension and disease cures; continuous exploration and innovation have always been the soul of life sciences. China is in greater need of original innovation rather than merely following others, making novel industrial development models and long-term patience extremely important. We are delighted to serve as a founding shareholder of Duoma Pharma, leveraging long-term capital as a driving force. Together with other shareholders, we aim to combine rich industry experience, top-tier talent, and long-term capital to pioneer the incubation of biotechnology industry clusters with Chinese characteristics. We look forward to seeing Duoma Pharma cultivate a portfolio of innovative products in the near future, making outstanding contributions to disease treatment and life extension.”

Lu Shanshan, Deputy General Manager of Taiping InnovationIt stated: “Duoma Pharma is an open, cutting-edge platform company dedicated to the R&D, incubation, and collaborative innovation of biotechnologies. According to Flagship Pioneering, a globally renowned biotechnology institution, a biotechnology platform must possess the following characteristics: first, versatility within the same field; second, the ability to rapidly leverage successful R&D cases to advance subsequent projects in the same domain. The greater the versatility of a biological platform, the stronger its functionality and the higher its value. Leveraging its unique industrial incubation system and Biocytogen’s ‘Thousand Mice, Ten Thousand Antibodies’ resource platform, Duoma Pharma possesses the qualities necessary to become an outstanding biotechnology platform. We look forward to Duoma Pharma emerging as China’s Flagship.”