Junlin Capital Leads RMB 50 Million Financing Round in YiMiao神州, a CAR-T Therapeutics Company Preparing for IPO

11Month23On [Date], Imunopharm Medical Technology announced the completion of a new round of financing, totaling5000ten thousand yuan. This round was led by Legend Capital,Thiel CapitalCo-invested by Hesheng Jingwang Lian.

Immuno-oncology Therapeutics is a company focused on gene and cell therapy, founded by three PhDs from Tsinghua University. Since its establishment in 2015, the company has adhered to a development philosophy centered on technology and patients. The founders are also continuously improving and refining the company’s CAR-T products.

The company is one of the few in China capable of independently developing the entire process, from plasmid production and lentiviral vector preparation to CAR-T cell manufacturing and quality research. As of press time, the company has treated more than 40 patients, including those who experienced multiple relapses after bone marrow transplantation, patients with a tumor burden as high as 96%, and individuals who traveled all the way from Pakistan to seek medical care. Many patients have progressed from being bedridden to recovering and being discharged thanks to CAR-T therapy, bringing new hope to numerous families.

He Ting, CEO of ImmuneOnco, stated that the company aims to further solidify its technological leadership in CAR-T manufacturing platforms and advance the R&D of innovative drugs for advanced hematologic malignancies through this financing round.

It is reported that in early-stage clinical studies conducted in collaboration with Lu Daopei Hospital, the company achieved a complete remission rate of over 95% among dozens of patients with relapsed or refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), a figure that even surpasses data reported in the United States in the field of ALL. Although these findings still require further confirmation in subsequent large-scale clinical trials, the early results indicate that the company’s product holds promise for benefiting a broader patient population.

Currently, IASO Biotherapeutics is actively exploring the application of CAR-T technology in other disease areas. In a clinical trial for diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) recently launched in collaboration with Peking University Third Hospital, one patient has already achieved complete remission.

Regarding this new round of financing, Lu Peihua, President of Lu Daopei Hospital, stated that the hospital has accumulated extensive successful experience in treating advanced hematologic malignancies, including the application of CAR-T therapy. It will continue to deepen its collaboration with ImmuneOnco in the research and development of innovative CAR-T drugs, aiming to expand CAR-T indications, enhance efficacy, and improve safety profiles, with the ultimate goal of saving more patients’ lives.

Cai Daqing, a partner at Legend Capital, stated that in the rapidly evolving field of gene and cell therapy, the key criteria for Legend Capital to assess investment value are whether the core manufacturing processes possess global leadership and whether the team demonstrates the awareness and capability to continuously explore and optimize these processes, as these factors determine the efficacy and safety of products entering clinical stages.

Legend Capital was deeply impressed by the iCAR team in these areas. Legend Capital aims to support iCAR in completing its Investigational New Drug (IND) application as early as possible under the new regulations. It will also assist iCAR in integrating into the entire ecosystem for innovative biopharmaceutical research and development, spanning from technological R&D to the evolution of novel drug discovery, while connecting with upstream and downstream partners. By leading the development of gene and cell therapies in China, Legend Capital seeks to bring to market innovative drugs that offer better cost-effectiveness, superior efficacy, and enhanced safety profiles.

Public data indicates that China sees over 70,000 new cases of leukemia annually, with more than 50,000 deaths. Leukemia ranks first in both incidence and mortality among pediatric malignancies. As effective treatments for relapsed or refractory leukemia remain scarce, gene and cell therapies are poised to significantly improve this landscape.

Currently, the U.S. FDA has approved the world’s first gene-cell therapy, Kymriah, for marketing in August this year, for the treatment of relapsed or refractory leukemia.

In China, the China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) organized relevant departments and experts to draft technical guidance documents such as the “Technical Guidelines for Research and Evaluation of Cell Products,” which were opened for public comment in December 2016. Currently, the relevant authorities are revising these guidelines based on feedback received, with their issuance and implementation expected within 2017.