Haibo Pharma Secures Tens of Millions in Series A Financing, Advancing R&D and Commercialization to Become a Global Innovative Biopharma Leader

VCBeat (WeChat ID: vcbeat) has learned that Hyperway, an innovative biopharmaceutical company focused on novel drug R&D (hereinafter referred to as “Hyperway”), recently completed its Series A financing round, raising tens of millions of yuan.

This round of financing was co-led by Huaige Capital and the Sichuan Academician Science and Technology Innovation Fund (hereinafter referred to as the “Sichuan Academician Fund”), which is under Sichuan Development Hongke Company. The proceeds from this round will be used for the research and development of multiple Class 1 new drug projects, as well as to advance four Investigational New Drug (IND) applications scheduled for completion over the next two years.

Dr. Du Jiangbo, Partner at Huai Ge Capital, stated: “As an existing shareholder from the Pre-A round, we have increased our investment in Hyperway in this round due to the team’s exceptional execution capabilities, its driven corporate culture, and the promising prospects of its projects under development. Leveraging our dual strengths in ‘VC investment’ and ‘IPO investment banking,’ Huai Ge Capital will assist the company in charting a rational path to the capital markets, promptly address issues arising during the IPO process, and facilitate Hyperway’s faster and smoother listing.”

Currently, Hyperway has completed three rounds of financing, with cumulative funding exceeding RMB 100 million. According to available information, Hyperway was founded in 2019. Within just two years of its establishment, the company achieved significant milestones, including four Class 1.1 new drug Preclinical Candidate Compounds (PCCs), one improved-formulation new drug, six active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs)/intermediates, three technology transfers, two collaboration agreements, and more than ten patent applications. These accomplishments are attributable to Hyperway’s development model, team capabilities, and strong capital support.

Hyperway is a new-type pharmaceutical company dedicated to achieving leadership in philosophy, strategy, and technology. The core members of its team possess extensive experience in both domestic and international drug research and development as well as management.Has previously developed multiple Class 1 innovative drugs and several high-difficulty, high-end generic drugs, leading the team to obtain dozens of production approvals for generic drugs.

Dr. Li Yingfu, the founder, has over 20 years of experience working at renowned pharmaceutical companies both in China and abroad. He previously served as a Senior Scientist and Project Leader at Bayer’s R&D centers in Germany (Headquarters), Japan, and the United States; Chief Scientific Officer at Yangtze River Pharmaceutical Group; General Manager of Chengdu WisdomChem; and Dean of the Research Institute at Better Pharmaceutical. During this period, Dr. Li’s primary areas of new drug development included oncology, anti-infectives, respiratory diseases, and urological disorders.

Dr. Li stated that Hyperway boasts a young team, with several core members aged between 30 and 40 who demonstrate exceptional learning agility and innovative capacity, as well as strong ambition and a fighting spirit. These colleagues have been working together since Dr. Li’s tenure at Chengdu Ruizhi, and over a decade of collaboration has enabled Hyperway to operate with remarkable synergy and high efficiency from its inception. Furthermore, both the management team and the core team at Hyperway have prior work experience at renowned pharmaceutical companies in China and abroad.

Hyperway boasts not only a young and innovative team but also a relatively niche business model within China’s pharmaceutical industry. Leveraging its three major R&D platforms, Hyperway is committed to becoming a world-class, modern, integrated pharmaceutical enterprise encompassing the R&D, manufacturing, and sales of innovative drugs, advanced drug formulations, active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), and API fragments.

Unlike other pharmaceutical companies, Hyperway is not purely an R&D platform for innovative drugs. Instead, it pursues a parallel strategy of R&D and marketing, ultimately focusing on core products backed by its proprietary scientific and technological capabilities. While developing innovative drugs undoubtedly requires long-term investment in both technology and capital, the company has demonstrated self-sustaining revenue generation capabilities alongside securing external financing.

Hyperway’s technical team has developed multiple internationally leading, eco-friendly high-end pharmaceutical intermediates with significant cost advantages. Its products are exported to key international markets including the United States, Europe, Japan, Israel, and India, and are expected to generate hundreds of millions in sales revenue and tens of millions in profit for Hyperway in the coming years.

Given the current development of China’s STAR Market, a company must possess not only innovation capabilities but also the ability to continuously create value; otherwise, it will ultimately be eliminated by the market.Hyperway stated that, as a novel pharmaceutical startup, it not only possesses high-level capabilities in innovative drug R&D but also generates revenue benefits from high-end active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). The combination of these two strengths will continuously create positive feedback, driving the company’s rapid development.

Dr. Li stated, “This dual-mode approach is not common in China, but precisely because it is rare, I believe we have a significant opportunity to become a world-class innovative pharmaceutical company with our own core products.”

In terms of innovative R&D, several of Hyperway’s projects under development are advancing rapidly, primarily focusing on areas such as tumor drug resistance, brain tumors and brain metastases, and central nervous system diseases. Among them,HBW-3-10, one of the core products, is a true second-generation BTK inhibitor that can overcome the severe drug resistance associated with first-generation BTK inhibitors such as ibrutinib. The product will complete its IND filing this year.

Regarding BTK, its small-molecule inhibitors exhibit high specificity and have demonstrated significant therapeutic advantages in the treatment of B-cell malignancies and certain B-cell-mediated immune disorders. Consequently, BTK inhibitors have emerged as the most promising drugs in the hematologic oncology market, making BTK a prominent target for the treatment of hematologic malignancies and autoimmune diseases.

According to statistics, there are 75,300 new cases of leukemia annually in China, with a five-year survival rate of only 24.8%, highlighting an urgent need for safer and more effective innovative drugs. Currently, primary brain tumors and brain metastases represent the greatest challenges in anticancer therapy. Due to the presence of the blood-brain barrier, most anticancer drugs exhibit poor brain penetration and fail to reach therapeutic concentrations, creating a substantial and urgent demand for antitumor agents capable of crossing the blood-brain barrier.

HBW-3-20 is the world’s first reported second-generation BTK inhibitor that can significantly penetrate the blood-brain barrier, is reversible, and combats drug resistance., in preclinical head-to-head comparative studies using animal models of primary central nervous system lymphoma, HBW-3-20 demonstrated significantly superior tumor inhibition efficacy compared to tirabrutinib, the world’s first and only first-generation brain-penetrant BTK inhibitor approved for central nervous system lymphoma, developed by Ono Pharmaceutical of Japan.

HBW-3-20 is indicated for the treatment of primary central nervous system lymphoma (PCNSL) and brain metastases from lymphoma, as well as autoimmune diseases (such as rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis) and other central nervous system-related disorders, demonstrating significant development potential. In accordance with relevant regulations, HBW-3-20 will be developed under the orphan drug designation and fast-track pathway, thereby accelerating its clinical application.

Based on Hyperway’s extensive experience in developing BTK inhibitors and its outstanding preclinical data, multiple leading pharmaceutical companies have expressed strong interest in co-developing second-generation BTK inhibitors with Hyperway.

Currently, the only second-generation BTK inhibitors targeting resistance that have entered clinical development are Eli Lilly’s LOXO-305 and Merck & Co.’s ARQ-531. In preclinical head-to-head comparative studies, HBW-3-10 has demonstrated substantially superior in vitro and in vivo activity, pharmacokinetics, and toxicology profiles compared with ARQ-531, which Merck acquired for over $2 billion and has just entered Phase II clinical trials. HBW-3-10 is therefore well positioned to become a best-in-class second-generation BTK inhibitor for overcoming resistance. Furthermore, Hyperway expects to complete four Investigational New Drug (IND) applications by the end of next year.

This June, two articles on Hyperway’s anti-tumor projects will be featured at one of the most important annual conferences in the global field of oncology clinical practice—the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting. This marks Hyperway’s steady progress toward its internationalization goals.

In the future, Hyperway will continue to learn from and align with top-tier international pharmaceutical companies, steadily advancing its globalization efforts. Adhering to the “Three Leads” principle—leading in philosophy, strategy, and technology—Hyperway is committed to delivering more high-quality, cost-effective medicines for humanity and becoming an innovative pharmaceutical enterprise recognized by its global peers.

HuaiGe Capital is a private equity investment fund focused on the broader healthcare industry, driven by a dual-engine strategy of “VC investment” and “IPO investment banking.” Its management team boasts extensive background in the medical and healthcare sector as well as rich experience in equity investment.

HuaiGe’s invested portfolio includes high-quality enterprises such as Kindly Medical Devices (1501.HK) [interventional medical devices], Cofoe Medical [home-use medical devices], Bestar [clinical CRO], Weilizhibo [new drug R&D], Zhidao Biotechnology [new drug R&D], Zhongyi Anke [vaccine R&D], Respiree [inhalation formulations], Hyperway [new drug R&D], Shengsi Biopharma [new drug R&D], Kaifu Pharma [new drug R&D], Huajian Future [new drug R&D], Junyue Pharma [device CRO], Xinuo Medicine [animal testing center], and Ruiyi Technology [pharmaceutical CDMO].

Initiated and established by Sichuan Development, the fund has an initial size of RMB 1 billion. It is a thematic fund precisely tailored to serve high-level talents such as academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering, aiming to better facilitate the translation and implementation of high-level technological innovation achievements in Sichuan Province. As one of the few local state-owned enterprises with assets exceeding one trillion yuan in western China and even nationwide, Sichuan Development has played an active role in the establishment of this fund.

Moving forward, Sichuan Development will strengthen its engagement with more academicians from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering, tailoring implementation plans for the commercialization and deployment of their scientific and technological achievements. It is committed to establishing the Academician Fund as a vital link and platform for incubating and nurturing academician-led technological innovations.

The Sichuan Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Sichuan Provincial People’s Government have always attached great importance to scientific and technological innovation and talent introduction, regarding these efforts as key measures to accelerate the construction of a science and technology innovation center with national influence. Last year, the operating revenue of the province’s high-tech industries exceeded RMB 2 trillion. In addition to the ten measures released last year to support academicians from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering in pursuing innovation and entrepreneurship in Sichuan, a series of new initiatives are being steadily advanced.