QureBio Secures Tens of Millions in Series A+ Financing to Advance Preclinical Development of Bispecific Antibody Therapies for Cancer Immunotherapy

VCBeat (WeChat ID: vcbeat) has learned that Qiyu Biotechnology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Qiyu Bio”) announced today the completion of its tens-of-millions-of-yuan Series A+ financing round. The investment was made by the Shenzhen Capital Group’s Healthcare Industry Fund, with Yixing Business Consulting (Beijing) Co., Ltd. serving as the financial advisor.

It is reported that this round of financing will be primarily used to advance the preclinical development of the Q-1802 and Q-1801 projects. Previously, Qiyu Biopharma completed its angel round of nearly RMB 10 million in May 2017 and its Series A financing of tens of millions of RMB in August 2018. Founded in July 2017, the company is a research-driven enterprise focused on the development of innovative large-molecule biologics. It aims to address challenging medical conditions such as refractory cancers, autoimmune diseases, and metabolic disorders (e.g., diabetes and hyperlipidemia), while actively developing novel therapeutic biologics.

Over the three years since its establishment, Qiyu Bio has completed three rounds of financing. What core advantages and values underpin this strong investor confidence? VCBeat conducted an exclusive interview with Qu Xiangdong, founder of Qiyu Bio, to unpack the company’s “competitiveness” for our readers.

Qu Xiangdong, the founder of Qiyu Biopharma, has over 20 years of experience in new drug research and development both domestically and internationally. He previously held positions at world-renowned pharmaceutical companies such as Cell Therapeutics, Eli Lilly, and Amgen. In 2012, Qu returned to China, where he served as Head of the Biopharmaceuticals Department at Shanghai Hengrui Medicine, Vice President of Biologics at Yangtze River Pharmaceutical Group, and founded and led Shanghai Hailu Biotechnology Co., Ltd. Qu has repeatedly built teams and successfully established biologics R&D platforms, earning widespread recognition within the biopharmaceutical industry as a proven “drug-hunter.” The PD-1 project under his leadership was licensed to a foreign pharmaceutical company for $790 million and has since received marketing approval in China. Additionally, Qu has advanced PD-L1, PCSK9, and IL-15 projects, which are currently in various stages of clinical development, demonstrating extensive expertise in the R&D and management of novel biologics.

Members of the Qiyu Bio team (from left to right: Qu Xiangdong, Du Yejie)

Dr. Du Yejie, Deputy General Manager of Qiyu Biologics, has over seven years of experience in antibody process development. He previously served as Deputy Head of the Process Department at the Shanghai Hengrui Antibody Research Institute, Director of the Bioprocess Department at Shanghai Hailu Biotechnology Co., Ltd., and Technical Director at Shanghai Cell Therapy Group. During his career, Dr. Du led multiple projects through clinical trial applications and into clinical trials. While at Hengrui Medicine, he was responsible for process development of several antibody projects and developed a serum-free culture medium formulation that has been successfully applied in multiple projects. During his tenure at Shanghai Cell Therapy Group, he participated in work related to China’s first non-viral vector CAR-T clinical trial application.

Currently, Qiyu Biologics possesses multiple independently developed platforms, including a hybridoma antibody humanization platform, a phage display technology platform, a single-domain antibody platform, and an antibody engineering platform. Leveraging its hybridoma antibody humanization platform, the company has successfully overcome immune tolerance challenges and completed several projects involving multi-pass transmembrane antigens. The phage display platform features technologies such as fully human single-domain antibody libraries and fully human antibody synthetic libraries, enabling the screening of single-domain antibodies, fully human antibodies, or bispecific antibodies with shared light chains.

Qiyu Biologics is leveraging its proprietary platforms to develop novel biologics with independent intellectual property rights. The company currently has nearly ten pipeline projects in development, most of which target challenging solid tumors. With a unique technological positioning, Qiyu Biologics develops bispecific antibody drugs to modulate the tumor microenvironment, combined with T cell-specific immunotherapy. This dual-pronged approach not only alleviates immune suppression within the tumor microenvironment but also enables precise killing of cancerous cells.

The financing will be used to advance the company’s Q-1802 project, a dual-target immunotherapy for solid tumors such as gastric cancer. The project has completed three pilot-scale production batches and is expected to file investigational new drug applications in both China and the United States this year. Q-1802 is a bispecific antibody targeting gastric cancer that directs immunotherapy specifically to gastric tumors while retaining the antibody’s antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) function, thereby leveraging multiple immune mechanisms to eradicate tumor cells and achieve therapeutic efficacy against gastric cancer. Gastric cancer ranks as the second most prevalent and the third deadliest malignant tumor in China, posing a significant threat to public health. Currently, first-line treatment for gastric cancer relies primarily on chemotherapy agents, with substantial unmet clinical needs for biologics and molecularly targeted therapies.

Another project to be advanced by this financing is Q-1801, a candidate from Qiyu Biologics. The company is currently actively engaged in process development for this drug and expects to complete its clinical trial application in 2021. Q-1801 is a bispecific antibody targeting signaling pathways within the tumor microenvironment, capable of simultaneously mobilizing both innate and adaptive immune mechanisms to exert antitumor effects.

In addition to the Q-1801 and Q-1802 programs, QiYu Bio’s other R&D pipelines focus on internationally leading drug targets. Leveraging its proprietary protein engineering technology platform, the company continuously generates globally leading innovative drugs. Moving forward, the company will continue to concentrate on immune mechanisms, targeting areas such as oncology and autoimmune diseases, to establish comprehensive systems for R&D, clinical development, and commercial manufacturing.

Founder Qu Xiangdong stated, “Innovation is the foundation and future of Qiyu Biologics, as well as the core driver of the company’s development. The company will leverage its world-class antibody technology platform to build a superior pipeline of biologics, striving for significant breakthroughs in the field of biotherapeutics. As the company continues to grow and mature, Qiyu Biologics will establish core competitiveness across an expanding range of therapeutic areas.”

Dr. Zhou Yi, Partner at Shenzhen Capital Group’s Healthcare Industry Fund, stated: “Oncology immunotherapy is gradually entering the 2.0 era. In response to the low clinical response rates and limited beneficiary populations associated with PD-1/PD-L1 monoclonal antibodies, next-generation immunotherapeutic agents, represented by PD-L1/TGF-β and CD47/SIRPα dual-targeting drugs, have demonstrated encouraging clinical outcomes.”

Mr. Qu Xiangdong, the founder of Qiyu Bio, has a well-recognized track record in the industry. During his tenure at Hengrui Medicine, he led the development of multiple novel-structure biological macromolecules, such as PD-L1/TGF-β and IL-15, demonstrating his profound understanding of the structure and mechanisms of innovative biopharmaceuticals. We anticipate that this financing round will accelerate the company’s efforts to advance its products into clinical trials, thereby providing more effective therapies for a broad population of cancer patients.

Shenzhen Capital Group Co., Ltd. was established in 1999. With the mission of discovering and empowering great enterprises, the company is committed to being a discoverer and cultivator of innovative value, and has developed into a comprehensive investment group with venture capital as its core business. It currently has a registered capital of RMB 5.42 billion and manages funds totaling approximately RMB 347.174 billion. As of the end of December 2019, Shenzhen Capital Group ranked first in China’s venture capital industry in terms of both the number of invested companies and the number of portfolio companies that went public.

Shenzhen Hongtu Medical and Health Industry Fund was established in 2018 as the first medical and health industry fund launched by Shenzhen Capital Group Co., Ltd. (SCGC) under its “specialization” strategy. The fund focuses on identifying high-quality targets with strong innovation capabilities and significant growth potential to drive industrial development. Within less than two years, the fund has invested in more than ten outstanding enterprises, including Akeso, YHLO, Medcaptain, RemeGen, Lidakang, Shanghai Zhimeng, and GenFleet Therapeutics.