Yuanqi Pharmaceuticals Secures Nearly RMB 100 Million in Series A Funding to Advance Early-Stage Research on Challenging Drug Targets

Recently, Yuanqi (Suzhou) Biopharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (“Yuanqi Pharma”) completed its angel round of financing. This round was jointly invested by Cathay Capital, Bohe Angel Fund, and Anlong Fund. Leveraging a profound understanding of biology and diverse research strategies, along with emerging technologies such as target structure analysis and artificial intelligence, Yuanqi Pharma conducts exploratory research on challenging targets, including G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs).

The Market Potential for "Undruggable" Targets Is Enormous as Emerging R&D Approaches Emerge; Yuanqi Pharma Demonstrates Bold Innovation and a Strong Drive for Breakthroughs

Based on the current number of potential targets identified through biological discoveries, only 15% of these targets have been exploited, while 85% are considered undruggable. These undruggable targets are primarily concentrated in areas such as transcription factors, phosphatases, protein–protein interactions, and signal transduction. Current technologies being developed to address undruggable targets include ultra-high-throughput drug screening, fragment-based drug discovery, and proteolysis-targeting chimera (PROTAC) or other protein degradation-based drug development approaches. Numerous new-technology drug R&D platforms, both domestically and internationally, have achieved strong market valuations on NASDAQ.

The Yuanqi Pharmaceuticals team is primarily composed of Dr. Ding Yuanhua and Dr. Javier Cote-Sierra. With over 20 years of deep expertise in drug development, both have held leadership roles at major international pharmaceutical companies. Former colleagues at Pfizer, they were united by a shared passion for developing new therapies for patients with the greatest unmet needs. Dr. Ding previously served as Vice President of External R&D Collaborations at Pfizer, where he was primarily responsible for emerging science, promising product pipelines, and innovative technology development in the Asia-Pacific region. He identified and fostered the growth of numerous innovative biotechnology companies, establishing strategic collaborations with them.

Dr. Cote-Sierra is an immunologist who has accumulated extensive experience in drug discovery and early clinical development through years of work at Millennium Pharmaceuticals (now part of the Takeda Group), Roche, and GlaxoSmithKline. Previously, Dr. Cote-Sierra served as Head of External Innovation for Inflammation and Immunology at Sanofi, where he led teams that contributed to multiple collaborative projects and acquisitions.

Yuanqi Pharmaceuticals paves the optimal path for innovative drug development by leveraging its diversified drug development strategy.

Recently, the company entered into a collaboration agreement with Insilico Medicine, a renowned AI-driven drug discovery firm. Leveraging Insilico Medicine’s proprietary artificial intelligence platforms, including PandaOmics, the two companies identified and analyzed a series of promising targets for cancer and autoimmune diseases, prioritizing high-confidence novel targets to accelerate entry into the early stages of drug development.

Kaitai Capital, driven by research, aims to leverage new technologies to bring about breakthroughs in biomedicine.

Caitai Capital has always remained committed to addressing unmet clinical needs and strategically investing in the life sciences and broader healthcare ecosystem. To date, within the life sciences and healthcare sectors, Caitai Capital has invested in over 70 companies, building an industrial ecosystem from the perspective of therapeutic indications. Beyond this, Caitai Capital aims to leverage its research capabilities to drive the development of new platforms and technologies. We sincerely hope that, empowered by technological innovation, drug discovery will open entirely new avenues, thereby elevating global health standards to a new level.