Sorbon Biopharma Completes C Round Financing of Nearly RMB 600 Million to Advance Multiple Late-Stage, First-in-Class Global Innovative Drug Programs

VCBeat (WeChat ID: vcbeat) has learned that on June 29, 2020, Suoyuan Biomedicine, a leader in precision medicine, announced the completion of its Series C financing round totaling RMB 590 million. The round was led by the CICC Qide Innovative Biopharmaceutical Equity Investment Fund, with participation from existing shareholders Jiuyou Capital, Fenxiang Investment, CITIC Securities Investment, and Xiantong Capital. New investors included Yingke Capital, Guozhong Capital, and Kaitou Hanrun Investment.

Suoyuan Biomedicine is an international enterprise that develops first-in-class new drugs through a novel, rapid, and effective unique model. The company currently holds global rights to six product candidates (DB102–DB107) in the fields of oncology and psychiatric disorders, all of which have advanced to late-stage clinical development and are first-in-class therapies. Among these, DB102 (enzastaurin) was originally developed by Eli Lilly and Company. Following the acquisition of DB102 from Eli Lilly, Suoyuan Biomedicine leveraged its reverse whole-genome scanning platform technology to conduct large-scale genomic analysis on samples from the Phase III PRELUDE clinical trial of DB102. This analysis identified a novel biomarker signature, DGM1. Patients positive for DGM1 demonstrated a highly significant improvement in survival outcomes after treatment with DB102.

Based on these findings, Suoyuan Biomedicine has initiated and is conducting an international, multicenter Phase III clinical trial (the ENGINE study), which has currently completed enrollment of over 90% of patients. The international, multicenter clinical trial of DB102 for the treatment of newly diagnosed glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) has also received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and China’s National Medical Products Administration (NMPA), and is scheduled to launch this year.

Dr. Luo Wen, Chairman of Suoyuan Biomedicine, stated, “Over the past year, Suoyuan Biomedicine has made significant progress, doubling its R&D pipeline. The company now holds global rights to six innovative drugs in Phase IIb/III clinical trials and has, for the first time, identified DGM4, a biomarker capable of predicting the efficacy of new drugs for psychiatric disorders. This series of breakthrough advancements will enable Suoyuan Biomedicine to conduct four international multicenter clinical trials simultaneously, marking the company’s entry into a phase of explosive growth. The oversubscription of this financing round provides ample capital for Suoyuan Biomedicine’s next stage of development and lays the foundation for further expansion of its novel drug pipeline.”

Ji Zheng Chen, Chief Financial Officer of Suoyuan Biomedicine, stated: “We are delighted that this round of financing has garnered favor from multiple leading industry investment institutions and was successfully completed during the COVID-19 pandemic. We look forward to working closely with these institutions on capital initiatives during Suoyuan Biomedicine’s period of rapid development and significant growth.”

Suoyuan Biomedicine is a leading precision medicine company that develops global first-in-class novel drugs through a rapid and efficient model. The company licenses new drug candidates from major international pharmaceutical companies—candidates that have demonstrated safety in late-stage clinical trials and shown efficacy in subsets of patients. Leveraging its proprietary biomarker platform technology, Suoyuan Biomedicine identifies predictive biomarkers from residual clinical samples. By using these newly discovered biomarkers as companion diagnostics to screen patients, the company can re-initiate clinical trials in sensitive patient populations, thereby optimizing efficacy, safety, and tolerability. This approach enhances the success rate of new drug development, achieving the goal of bringing innovative therapies to market at lower costs and in shorter timeframes.

Suoyuan Biomedicine currently holds global rights to six product candidates developed to late-stage clinical trials: DB102, DB103, DB104, DB105, DB106, and DB107, all of which are First-in-Class drugs. Among them, DB102 (enzastaurin), originally developed by Eli Lilly and Company, is indicated for the treatment of previously untreated high-risk diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) and glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). DB103 (pomaglumetad), also originally developed by Eli Lilly and Company, is indicated for the treatment of schizophrenia. DB104 (liafensine), originally developed by ARMI/Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS), is indicated for the treatment of depression. DB105, originally developed by Orion Corporation of Finland, is indicated for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. DB106, originally developed by Sunesis Pharmaceuticals of the United States, is indicated for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia. DB107, originally developed by Tocagen Inc. of the United States, is indicated for the treatment of recurrent high-grade glioma. In conjunction with the acquisition of DB107, Suoyuan Biomedicine also obtained global rights to Tocagen’s RRV gene therapy platform.