Chengdu HitGen Announces RMB 24 Million Investment in Leaderna Therapeutics to Advance Oligonucleotide Drug Pipeline

Gelonghui February 10thLeaderna Therapeutics Ltd.(688222.SH) announced that Leaderna, a subsidiary incubated and invested in by the company, has established an innovative technology system including novel small nucleic acid modification technology, extrahepatic delivery technology, and single-molecule dual-target regulation technology. It focuses on the field of chronic disease treatment and has laid out a pipeline of new small nucleic acid drugs targeting diseases such as hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and high body fat. Currently, its ultra-long-acting antihypertensive drug LDR2402 targeting the AGT site has entered Phase II clinical research and completed the first patient dosing. The Investigational New Drug (IND) application for LDR2515 injection, a new small nucleic acid drug for treating obesity (INHBE target), has recently received tacit approval from the Center for Drug Evaluation (CDE) of China's National Medical Products Administration. Leaderna is an associated company of Chengdu先导 with a registered capital of 17,240,819 yuan, and it plans to raise no more than 150 million yuan (inclusive) for its development. Before this transaction, Chengdu先导 held 23.20% of Leaderna’s shares. This time, the company intends to subscribe for additional registered capital at a pre-investment valuation of 450 million yuan, investing 24 million yuan. The shareholding ratio after the transaction will be determined based on the final financing amount and the newly added registered capital.

The lead investor in Leaderna's recent financing round was Chengdu Angel Daoyuan Guosheng Healthcare Venture Investment Partnership (Limited Partnership) (referred to as "Daoyuan Guosheng"). Among the other investors, Cao Jiaming and Huabo Instruments are related parties of the company.