Elpiscience Biopharmaceuticals Files IPO Prospectus: Founded by Former Roche EVP, Advancing Multiple First-in-Class Immuno-Oncology Pipelines

In 2019, the capital market entered a “winter,” with startups facing significant challenges in securing financing as investment institutions increasingly favored leading companies within their respective sectors. Yet, amidst this harsh environment, Elpiscience Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. (Elpiscience), a biopharmaceutical company founded just two years prior, successfully closed its $100 million (RMB 700 million) Series B financing round on December 28, 2019, led by Huiding Medical Investment. This achievement stood out as a bright spot among pharmaceutical financing deals in 2019.

The investors participating in Elpiscience’s latest financing round are star investment firms in the pharmaceutical sector, including new investors such as Tencent, GTJA Investment, Deyi Capital, Shengshan Asset Management, Yuanhe Holdings, Juming Venture Capital, and Parkway Global, as well as existing investors including Lilly Asia Ventures, Hillhouse Capital, and CDH Investments. The endorsement by several prestigious investment firms serves as a testament to Elpiscience’s current strength and future potential.

What has attracted significant investor interest is not only the high caliber and robust capabilities of the company’s team, but also its several cutting-edge pipelines in tumor immunotherapy, all of which are “First-in-Class” novel drugs.

“Starting a business is like jumping into the sea to see if you have the ability to reach the shore; if you are 80% confident, then it’s worth doing.” This was the reflection shared by Ji Xiaohui, founder of Elpiscience, when discussing entrepreneurship. Elpiscience marks Ji Xiaohui’s second venture and is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on cancer immunotherapy.

Previously, Dr. Ji Xiaohui served as Global Vice President and Head of Business Development at Roche, where he led business development, product in-licensing, and mergers and acquisitions in Asia and emerging markets. He oversaw more than 20 key strategic partnerships and transactions, with a total value exceeding USD 5 billion. Additionally, Dr. Ji previously served as Head of Business Development for East Asia at Procter & Gamble.

Dr. Ji Xiaohui holds a Doctor of Medicine in Clinical Medicine from China Medical University, a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology and Bioengineering from the University of Sheffield, and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. In 2017, Dr. Ji joined Lilly Asia Ventures as a Venture Partner, with the mandate to establish and manage novel biopharmaceutical companies. That same year, he founded Elpiscience.

Accompanying Dr. Ji Xiaohui is Dr. Lu Hongtao, a leading figure in tumor immunology and currently the Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) at Elpiscience. Dr. Lu holds a Bachelor’s degree in Biology from Xiamen University and a Ph.D. from the Cleveland Clinic. He completed his postdoctoral training under the mentorship of Richard A. Flavell, a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and Chair of the Department of Immunobiology at Yale School of Medicine.

Dr. Hongtao Lu has dedicated over 20 years to the field of drug development. He previously served as the inaugural Global Head of Neuroimmunology at GSK, where he advanced five R&D products into clinical trials. Furthermore, Dr. Lu holds multiple research patents and possesses extensive experience in both small-molecule and antibody development.

Dr. Hongtao Lu’s authority in the field of immunology has, to a certain extent, established Elpiscience’s position within the industry. It is also worth noting that Dr. Robert H. Arch, Head of R&D at Elpiscience, earned his Ph.D. from Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg in Germany and completed his postdoctoral training at the German Cancer Research Center and the University of Chicago in the United States.

Dr. Robert H. Arch previously served as Executive Director of the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research (China), Senior Director at Takeda Pharmaceuticals USA, and held key positions at renowned pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer and GSK. Furthermore, Dr. Arch has published extensively in the fields of T-cell biology, tumor metastasis, and immune cell signal transduction, and possesses a robust track record and extensive experience in research and development across therapeutic areas including cancer, inflammation, liver fibrosis, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

In addition to the three core executives introduced above, Elpiscience’s team includes numerous experts with extensive industry experience. For instance, Dr. Steve Chin, Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of Elpiscience, is an expert in oncology therapeutics who previously served as a key clinical development leader at globally renowned pharmaceutical companies such as AstraZeneca and Eli Lilly. Furthermore, core talents such as Dr. Fang Ming, Head of Business Development, boast over ten years of R&D experience in the industry.

In terms of its Scientific Advisory Board, Elpiscience has enlisted world-renowned scientists, including Dr. Wenyan Shen, a recognized expert in the field of antibodies/therapeutic proteins and biosimilars; Dr. Arlene Sharpe, an American immunologist; Dr. Phillip D. Greenberg, Professor of Medical Immunology at the University of Washington; Dr. Thomas Gajewski, Professor in the Department of Pathology and Medicine; and Dr. Vijay Kuchroo, Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School.

Leveraging the human body’s immune system to eliminate tumor cells has opened new avenues for cancer cure. However, after several years, existing therapies can effectively treat only 20% to 30% of cancers, given that cancer is a vast and complex disease. Patients with other types of cancer still lack effective treatment options, indicating that there is still a long way to go in the fight against cancer.

This represents a major societal pain point. Leveraging his strong resource integration capabilities within the industry, Dr. Ji Xiaohui has assembled a team of scientific and medical experts in the field of tumor immunology, empowering him with the confidence and capability to tackle this challenge from a novel perspective.

Immuno-oncology therapy is a scientific approach that mobilizes the immune system to kill cancer, with a history spanning over a century. To enable the immune system to effectively eliminate cancer cells, a complete cancer-immunity cycle must be initiated, requiring the coordination of numerous stimulatory and inhibitory factors in nature at each step. Elpiscience is committed to discovering new targets and pathways in immuno-oncology, identifying inhibitory factors or molecules within the tumor microenvironment.

The company operates three core technology platforms: the Elpisource novel target discovery platform, the Immunoshine immunology assay platform, and the AbLego bispecific antibody platform. The Elpisource platform leverages proprietary technologies to identify novel immunomodulators and their binding partners, proteins that may be translated into drug targets in tumor immunology.

The Immunoshine platform enables the screening of candidate drugs and the evaluation of their properties in primary immune cells and established immune cell lines, playing a pivotal role in helping Elpiscience select the optimal drug candidates. The platform has two core functionalities: first, it facilitates the investigation of specific mechanisms of action and the localization of target expression within activated or differentiated single-cell population models; second, it allows for the assessment of candidate drug efficacy in co-culture cell models.

The AbLego platform is designed to develop bispecific antibodies that meet diverse biological and commercial needs. By leveraging single-chain antibodies, the platform enables the rapid reformatting of existing hybridoma-derived antibodies into bispecific formats to achieve efficient heterodimerization.

In addition to its technology platform, the Company is currently constructing the Elpiscience Suzhou GMP manufacturing facility to ensure the delivery of high-quality medicines at an affordable cost and ultimately achieve commercial supply.

Currently, Elpiscience has 12 core pipelines under development, covering four major areas: innate immunity, adaptive immunity, tumor microenvironment, and tumor specificity. In just two years since its establishment, Elpiscience has rapidly built a rich drug development pipeline by pursuing both external collaborations and independent R&D. Among these, 70% target validated antigens, leveraging a differentiated antibody platform to develop drugs with unique advantages and high certainty; the remaining 30% focus on novel targets with global leadership potential.

Elpiscience’s Partial R&D Pipeline (Image Source: Company Official Website)

Elpiscience focuses on innate immunity, leveraging synergies across its pipeline to combine innate and adaptive immunotherapies with the aim of developing next-generation immune treatment regimens. The company’s most advanced product is ES101, which received approval for clinical trials in China in February 2019 and was administered to the first patient in China at Shanghai East Hospital on June 28 of the same year.

ES101 is a global first-in-class tetravalent bispecific antibody that simultaneously targets PD-L1 and 4-1BB. The PD-1/PD-L1 pathway is a well-validated immune checkpoint, and PD-1/PD-L1 antibody therapies have ushered in the recent surge in cancer immunotherapy. 4-1BB is a T-cell co-stimulatory receptor that, once activated, prompts the patient’s own immune system to eliminate tumors. However, monotherapies targeting this receptor have been limited in dose escalation due to hepatotoxicity observed in clinical trials, ultimately constraining their efficacy. Elpiscience’s ES101 enables 4-1BB antibodies to selectively activate T cells involved in the tumor microenvironment, thereby avoiding the systemic toxicity associated with 4-1BB monotherapy and resolving challenges encountered in the clinical development of similar monoclonal antibodies. Moreover, the ingenious dual-targeting design of PD-L1 and 4-1BB, which combines “releasing the brakes” with “pressing the accelerator,” holds promise for further enhancing anti-tumor activity.

In preclinical animal studies, ES101 demonstrated antitumor efficacy in tumor models that were non-responsive to PD-1/PD-L1 antibodies. This finding may hold significant clinical implications for the more than 60–70% of patients who are unresponsive or resistant to PD-1/PD-L1 antibody therapies, suggesting that ES101 has the potential to replace PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors in the future.

In addition to ES101, Elpiscience has ES102, a product targeting OX40. Also known as CD134, OX40 is a member of the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) receptor family and serves as an important co-stimulatory factor for T-cell responses. The company also has ES002, which targets CD39 and can inhibit tumor growth in vivo, among other effects. Elpiscience’s ultimate goal is to discover novel drugs that provide genuine therapeutic benefits to cancer patients, thereby driving the development of next-generation cancer immunotherapies.

Among the top 10 best-selling drugs globally in 2018, eight were biologics. The two PD-1 monoclonal antibodies, Keytruda and Opdivo, both broke into the top ten, underscoring the substantial market potential of tumor immunotherapy. However, PD-1 inhibitors have only partially addressed the challenges in cancer treatment. Innovative pharmaceutical companies are urgently seeking next-generation immuno-oncology therapies for the post-PD-1 era, with Elpiscience emerging as a leading player in this field.

It is reported that Elpiscience has completed a $55 million (nearly RMB 400 million) Series A financing round and a $100 million (RMB 700 million) Series B financing round. The company will accelerate the preclinical development and clinical trials of multiple highly innovative projects in its R&D pipeline.

Huiding Investment brings together a team of senior partners from China’s leading investment institutions, founded by professionals with extensive experience in startup operations, localization of overseas technologies in China, and deep industry resources. Committed to integrating global technological innovations, Huiding focuses on upgrading China’s healthcare industry and leverages its years of accumulated clinical and industry resources to drive enterprise growth. The firm maintains a strong vertical focus on high-growth, high-barrier sectors such as immunology, regenerative medicine, and precision medicine. By pooling resources, Huiding aims to provide robust support to Chinese enterprises in becoming industry leaders.

Shengshan Asset Management, established in September 2014, specializes in equity investments within the healthcare sector. The founding team brings over two decades of investment management experience, and the company comprises a diverse, professional team with backgrounds in scientific research, industry, clinical practice, investment banking, and investing, endowing it with strong healthcare investment expertise. Guided by technology as the core driver and unmet clinical needs as the orientation, Shengshan focuses deeply on three key areas: innovative drugs, minimally invasive medical devices, and emerging biotechnology, seeking out industry-leading companies with outstanding technological innovation and commercialization capabilities. While facilitating the transformation and upgrading of the healthcare industry and helping entrepreneurs realize their visions, the firm aims to deliver long-term, stable returns to its investors.

Lilly Asia Ventures (LAV), established in 2008, is a leading venture capital fund focused on investments in the life sciences and healthcare sectors, with offices in Shanghai, China; Hong Kong, China; and Silicon Valley, USA. LAV is committed to being a trusted partner for outstanding entrepreneurs seeking smart capital, co-creating great companies that develop breakthrough products to conquer diseases and improve human health.

Founded in Shenzhen in 2001, GTJA Investment Group focuses on investments in the healthcare industry. Guided by strategic equity investments, its portfolio spans the entire spectrum of pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and healthcare services, covering all investment stages including PIPE, M&A, private equity (PE), venture capital (VC), and angel investing. Boasting China’s largest professional healthcare investment team, the group has built an ecosystem platform for healthcare industry investments and strives to become a globally influential healthcare investment institution. With assets under management exceeding RMB 20 billion, it has invested in over 140 companies, including more than 70 in the healthcare sector, and facilitated the successful IPOs of 16 portfolio companies. The group holds a controlling stake in Boya Bio-pharmaceutical Group Co., Ltd., a leading domestic player in blood products, and supported its successful listing.

CDH Investments has long established a comprehensive investment footprint across the entire oncology value chain. In the traditional oncology drug sector, it invested in Mabwell Therapeutics, which focuses on oncology generics. In the field of cancer treatment, it has positioned itself with innovative immuno-oncology companies such as Elpiscience Biopharmaceuticals and I-Mab Biopharma. In emerging cancer treatment technologies, it has invested in YZY Biopharma, Staidson BioPharma, and Sirtex. Furthermore, CDH has strategically covered upstream and downstream segments: upstream, by investing in Harbour BioMed and WuXi AppTec (Lead Pharma), which provide services for new drug discovery screening; and downstream, by investing in Maixin Biology, which supplies reagents for pathological diagnosis of cancer tissues by physicians. These efforts collectively contribute to advancing the sustainable development of the global biotechnology and healthcare industries.

Juming Ventures is a venture capital firm focused on early- to mid-stage investments in the life sciences sector, including innovative drugs, medical devices, novel diagnostics, and gene therapy. It primarily invests in early- to mid-stage innovative projects characterized by high technical barriers, experienced teams, and unmet clinical needs. Since its establishment in October 2018, Juming Ventures has successfully invested in more than ten outstanding startups in the industry. With strong capabilities in industrial resource integration, a professional and efficient investment team, extensive experience in biomedical investment, and deep industry background, the firm possesses a profound understanding of both domestic and international markets, helping portfolio companies achieve rapid growth.

Deyi Capital focuses on the modern service industry, prioritizing investments in healthcare, information services, consumption upgrading, and other sectors. In the healthcare sector, its affiliated funds have invested in innovative enterprises such as Zeltis Pharma, Elpiscience, Allist Pharmaceuticals, Borns Medical Robotics, Yuanli Life Sciences, Kingyee Information Technology, and Yingnuo Medical. The management team possesses extensive experience in investment, investment banking, and industrial operations, boasting broad market resources within the industry and specialized post-investment service management.

Suzhou Yuanhe Holdings Co., Ltd. is an investment holding enterprise managing a fund scale exceeding RMB 50 billion, with business operations covering three major sectors: equity investment, debt financing, and investment and financing services. To date, it has successfully facilitated the public listings of 102 companies. Committed to identifying and nurturing top-tier domestic independent brands, Yuanhe Holdings focuses on investing in high-growth technology enterprises, particularly in the biopharmaceutical sector. Its portfolio companies Innovent Biologics, CStone Pharmaceuticals, and Ascentage Pharma have already gone public, while Kintor Pharmaceutical has submitted its listing application. Yuanhe Holdings will continue to cultivate star enterprises in the biopharmaceutical industry to enhance the sector’s overall competitiveness.