Shanghai-based AonKo Therapeutics Secures $15M Series A1 Financing to Advance Oncology Supportive Care Drug into Phase II Clinical Trials

VCBeat has learned that Shanghai Ankua Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. recently announced the completion of its $15 million Series A1 financing round. The round was co-led by Matrix Partners China and Boyuan Capital, with participation from Guoke Jiahe. According to reports, the funds raised will primarily be used to support Ankua Pharmaceutical’s multicenter Phase II clinical trials in the United States, regulatory filings and early-stage clinical trials for two subsequent product candidates, as well as early research on multiple preclinical projects.

This financing round marks Ankuo Pharma’s first public fundraising. Ankuo Pharma focuses on addressing unmet clinical needs in the field of oncology supportive care, dedicated to improving the quality of life for cancer patients worldwide. Within less than two years since its inception, Ankuo Pharma has established a robust R&D pipeline covering six indications and built research and development teams in both China (Shanghai) and the United States (Seattle).

Dr. Tang Hong, former Vice President of Medical Affairs at Juno Therapeutics with nearly 20 years of experience across multiple multinational pharmaceutical companies, has been appointed as Chief Medical Officer. Other team members include senior executives and technical experts formerly from Novartis, IQVIA-affiliated companies, and WuXi AppTec. The scientific advisory board features a member of three U.S. national academies and an HHMI Fellow, while the medical advisory board comprises leading experts in the field of oncology supportive care.

The primary role of supportive care medications in oncology is to manage the side effects induced by anticancer drugs. Regardless of innovations and improvements, side effects remain an inevitable challenge associated with pharmacological treatments. In practice, although the ultimate goal of any anticancer agent is to prolong and improve patients’ survival, this often comes at the expense of collateral damage to other parts of the body in order to enhance tumor-killing efficacy. Consequently, there is a substantial clinical demand for supportive care medications in oncology.

According to incomplete statistics, supportive care medications account for more than 20% of the total end-market for anticancer drugs, with annual sales exceeding $20 billion. Major pharmaceutical companies such as Amgen and Hengrui Medicine have actively expanded their pipelines in oncology supportive care, launching multiple blockbuster drugs with annual sales reaching billions of dollars.

However, despite the urgent unmet clinical needs and the considerable market size, there are very few biotechnology companies, both domestically and internationally, that specialize in the research and development of supportive care medications for oncology; instead, more teams choose to target anti-tumor drugs directly. Anker Therapeutics is one of the few companies focused on supportive care medications for oncology, with its R&D progressing rapidly.

Ankuo Pharma’s most advanced pipeline candidate has progressed to Phase II clinical trials in the United States. This novel oncology supportive care drug, independently developed by Ankuo Pharma’s technical team, has begun patient enrollment across multiple clinical trial centers. Ankuo Pharma plans to seek market approval and commercialize this drug in various global markets within approximately four to five years. Reportedly, the drug is indicated for a common post-treatment side effect of cancer therapy for which no effective treatment currently exists. Furthermore, because patient inclusion criteria for oncology supportive care drugs are relatively less stringent than those for new anti-cancer therapeutics, patient enrollment proceeds more rapidly, thereby accelerating the overall R&D timeline to some extent.

VCBeat learned from relevant executives at Ankuo Pharma that the company’s R&D teams in China and the United States are working in synergy, with a plan to advance one to two new adjuvant cancer therapies into clinical trials each year. As a strategy-driven novel drug developer, Ankuo Pharma places significant emphasis on mining clinical data to identify genuine unmet clinical needs, which in turn guides the strategic layout of its R&D pipeline.

Dr. Tang Hong, Co-founder and Chief Medical Officer of Ankuo Pharmaceuticals, stated, “We are delighted to receive the support and recognition from our investors. This financing will continue to support the rapid advancement of our product pipeline. Through the concerted efforts of our team, we aim to help cancer patients address some important high-incidence side effects as soon as possible, thereby enabling them to achieve a high quality of life.”

Tao Feng and Chen Penghui, Founding Partners of Boyuan Capital, jointly stated, “We are highly optimistic about the unique and critically important therapeutic area of adjunctive cancer therapy. We were deeply impressed by the R&D capabilities and execution strength of Dr. Tang Hong and the company’s early-stage research team. We believe that Ankua Pharma’s approach to addressing the side effects of oncology drugs has broken through the bottlenecks associated with traditional adjunctive cancer medications, and has established a new drug R&D platform with core global competitiveness.”

Dr. Yu Zhiyun, Managing Director at Matrix Partners China, stated, “Ankuo Medicine’s independent thinking and proactive, comprehensive strategic layout in the field of oncology supportive care are impressive. Its global team brings extensive experience and a profound understanding of clinical needs. We have been following Ankuo Medicine since it had only five employees. Both the company and its founder have demonstrated significant high-speed growth. We look forward to the company further accelerating its expansion into new, globally leading therapeutic areas with the support of capital.”

Chen Hongwu, Executive Partner at CAS Capital, stated, “Ankuo Pharma adheres to a clinical-need-driven R&D strategy, leveraging early-stage scientific resources from multiple research institutes and fully utilizing mature domestic and international new drug development systems to advance rapidly into Phase II clinical trials in the United States. CAS Capital has consistently focused on technological innovation in the pharmaceutical sector, placing particular emphasis on teams with strong capabilities in the independent development of high-tech products. Ankuo Pharma’s product is an innovative drug we have observed in recent times that features ingenious design and rapid market entry, offering excellent commercial prospects. This represents a rare investment opportunity, and we believe Ankuo Pharma will deliver strong commercial returns to investors in the near future.”