Mebias Discovery Secures $3.5M Funding to Expand GPCR-Focused Drug Pipeline

On October 15, 2019, VCBeat (WeChat Official Account: vcbeat) learned that Mebias Discovery, a leader in the field of pharmaceutical discovery in the United States, announced it had secured $3.5 million in financing, with Viva Biotech and Sprout BioVentures leading the round.

This round of financing will be used by Mebias Discovery to expand its product pipeline with new gastrointestinal (GI) and inflammation projects, leveraging its novel platform to identify drugs with targeted adverse effects.

It is reported that since its establishment in 2016, Mebias Discovery secured seed funding and two additional rounds of venture capital financing in March 2016, September 2016, and February 2017, respectively.

Led by Dr. Lawrence Kuo, Mebias Discovery has developed a drug discovery platform targeting G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), built by a team of experienced pharmaceutical scientists. GPCRs mediate most cellular responses to hormones and neurotransmitters, as well as senses such as vision, olfaction, and taste, while also participating in various life activities and physiological processes including endocrine regulation and metabolism. From a disease perspective, GPCRs are closely implicated in the onset, progression, and treatment of major conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and immune disorders. These drugs can interfere with specific targets, thereby preventing adverse reactions associated with compounds lacking signaling pathway selectivity.

Mebias Discovery was established to create an alternative discovery model, providing a validated, rapid, and efficient drug discovery platform. The core of its discovery platform comprises two proprietary technologies: native GPCR purification and 19F protein NMR.

Following this round of financing, Mebias will continue to develop two projects:

Mebias Discovery’s first development project will focus on developing selective agonists of the motilin receptor signaling pathway to address the issue of diminished efficacy encountered by patients during the treatment of gastrointestinal motility disorders.

The second development project will target the sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor (S1P1) for the treatment of pain and neuroinflammation.

Founded in 2008 in Zhangjiang, Shanghai’s “Silicon Valley,” Viva Biotech is an open and innovative technology platform company dedicated to the preclinical research and development of innovative drugs. It primarily provides world-leading structure-based drug discovery services for the preclinical development of innovative drugs for global biotechnology and pharmaceutical clients. Its services cover the full spectrum of early-stage drug discovery needs, including target protein expression and structural studies, drug screening, lead compound optimization, and the identification of clinical candidate compounds. As of December 31, 2018, Viva Biotech had provided drug discovery services to more than 370 biotechnology and pharmaceutical clients worldwide, studied over 1,000 distinct drug targets, and delivered approximately 9,500 unique protein structures.

Sprout BioVentures is a prominent U.S. venture capital firm whose core philosophy is to translate critical insights into human biology into viable therapies. The firm invests in startups, with a focus on the healthcare sector, including therapeutic devices, diagnostics, and related technologies. Previously, on October 3, 2019, Sprout BioVentures completed a $3.6 million angel investment in the biotechnology company AmacaThera.

(Compiled by Wang Fang)