Sound BioPharmaceuticals Completes Tens of Millions RMB Pre-A Financing to Advance Innovative Immuno-Oncology Antibody Pipeline

VCBeat (WeChat ID: vcbeat) recently learned that the emerging immunotherapy antibody developer, Sound Biopharma Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Sound Biopharma”), has announced the completion of its Pre-A financing round, amounting to tens of millions of yuan.Exclusively invested by Jingcheng Capital, the proceeds from the financing will be primarily used to advance the company’s projects under development into the Investigational New Drug (IND) stage, as well as to support preclinical research and development for other product pipelines.

SoundBiopharma, established in 2017, is a biotechnology company dedicated to the research and development of innovative antibody drugs in the field of immunotherapy, founded by members of a Nobel Prize-winning team. The founder, Dr. Li Qing, studied under Professor Roger Kornberg of Stanford University, the 2006 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry. The company’s team boasts profound academic and industrial expertise; its CTO, Dr. Ma Fanxin, formerly served as Director of the Institute of Biology at Humanwell Healthcare Research Academy, while other core members have held positions such as Medical Director at Sanofi or worked at prestigious research institutes and publicly listed companies.

Currently, Sound Biopharma has established six world-class technology platforms, including a monoclonal antibody screening platform, an antibody humanization platform, a molecular activity testing/optimization platform, a protein production/purification platform, and a bispecific antibody development platform. Among these, its site-specific PEGylated asymmetric bispecific antibody technology platform, which features independent intellectual property rights and is centered on nanobodies, has passed the scientific and technological achievement appraisal and reached an internationally advanced level.

According to the "Report on the Healthy Development of China's Antibody Drug Industry," China's antibody drug market is still in its early stages, with both production capacity and core technologies requiring improvement.

In recent years, while China’s antibody drug industry has seen a substantial increase in total production capacity, its core basic research on antibody drugs still lags behind the cutting-edge levels in Europe and the United States, and the capability to translate research into production remains to be improved. Currently, key technology platforms and critical materials continue to rely on imports, making cost control difficult.

Among these factors, basic research capabilities and the ability to translate R&D into commercial products have become critical bottlenecks constraining industry development. Although there are numerous immune antigen drugs under development or already on the market in China, challenges persist, including overcrowding around popular targets, slow clinical trials, and suboptimal therapeutic outcomes.

Dr. Li Qing, founder of SoundBiopharma, told VCBeat, “The issues plaguing Chinese antibody drugs in terms of manufacturing processes and clinical efficacy largely stem from an insufficient understanding of the fundamental principles and mechanisms of action of immunotherapeutic antibodies. This has made it difficult for these products to achieve best-in-class status, or even me-better performance.”

Based on its profound understanding and thorough grasp of the fundamental principles and mechanisms of action of antibody drugs, Sound Biopharma integrated considerations for downstream processing and manufacturing into its pipeline strategy from the outset. By selecting appropriate targets and employing optimal molecular designs, the company aimed to mitigate potential risks in later development stages.

After more than two years of rigorous scientific research, Sound Biopharma’s differentiated antibody screening strategy has begun to yield results. The company has selected targets with well-defined mechanisms of action and certain technical barriers, while comprehensively evaluating clinical accessibility and market potential, thereby establishing a diversified and systematic product pipeline.

Currently, Sound Biopharma has established a pipeline of more than ten innovative biologic macromolecule drug products based on this strategy, with five key projects under development. It is expected that by 2021, two projects will enter the Investigational New Drug (IND) stage. Meanwhile, the company also plans to introduce new drug products in Phase I clinical trials, achieving a dual-track approach of License-in and in-house R&D.

Meanwhile, the project’s robust process management has ensured smooth subsequent progress. To address the current challenges in patient recruitment for clinical trials, SoundBiopharma has reached a cooperation intention for clinical trials with West China Hospital of Sichuan University. Its comprehensive layout spanning R&D, industrialization, and clinical trials has made it possible to surpass multiple competing projects currently under development in the market.

After more than two years of accumulation, Sound Biopharma has achieved significant leaps in independent scientific research, project management, and team building. Ma Fanxin, the company’s Chief Technology Officer, told VCBeat that Sound Biopharma aims to leverage capital strength to continue advancing toward its goal of becoming an emerging innovator in immune antibody R&D.

Meanwhile, SoundBiopharma has launched its Series A financing round to facilitate the advancement of two projects into the Investigational New Drug (IND) stage next year. It is foreseeable that SoundBiopharma will enter a phase of rapid development following the completion of this Series A funding.

Regarding the investment in SoundBiopharma,Yu Xiaoyan, Managing Partner at Jingcheng Capital in charge of the projectIt stated: “As the China-based biomacromolecule drug R&D institution established by a Nobel Prize-winning team, Sound Biopharma is led by Dr. Li Qing, a serial entrepreneur and expert in clinical immunology. The company has gathered researchers and industry experts from top-tier institutions and enterprises both in China and abroad. The core team possesses the key capabilities required for biopharmaceutical enterprises: scientist-led innovation, scale-up by industry experts, and sustainable operations managed by operational specialists.”

We have every reason to believe that a team with such diverse backgrounds and complementary capabilities is well-positioned to steadily guide the company onto a fast-paced growth trajectory. For investment institutions, the core competencies of biologic drug development enterprises lie in their technology platforms and target screening. As the core members of SoundBiopharma are all experts in these fields, we are confident that in the coming years, the discovery and development of SoundBiopharma’s innovative drugs, along with their global clinical development and commercialization, will meet stakeholders’ expectations through the combined support of capital and intellectual expertise, thereby making a tangible contribution to improving the quality of life for patients worldwide.”

Focusing on the industrialization of deep tech globally, we provide strategic capital and value-added services to early- and mid-stage enterprises. Since the launch of its first fund in 2000, the core management team of Jingcheng Capital has managed five RMB-denominated funds with a total scale exceeding RMB 1 billion, achieved successful exits from 12 projects, facilitated the listing of 8 companies, and delivered an average return multiple of over 6x. Jingcheng Capital focuses its investments on Deep Tech and HealthTech. The firm’s core management team hails from Silicon Valley, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and Suzhou, bringing extensive domestic and international fund management experience, as well as proven track records in entrepreneurship, investment, mergers and acquisitions, and financial management for listed companies.