Zelun BioPharma Secures Nearly RMB 400 Million in Series B+ Financing to Advance Global-Competitive Innovative Drug Pipeline

Recently, Zenitar announced the completion of nearly 400 million RMB in financing. This round of financing was led by Qiming Venture Partners, with participation from Gaorong Capital, Ji Feng Capital, Qi Ji Investment, Five Source Capital, and Zhongyuan Investment. Sichuan Biomedical Industry Group continued its investment.

The funds from this round of financing will be mainly used to advance several innovative drugs with global competitiveness into pivotal Phase III clinical trials and support the continuous expansion of new R&D pipelines. Meanwhile, Zenitar will strengthen its three core technology platforms — "Structural Biology Platform," "AI-Driven Drug Design Platform," and "Organoid-PDX Dual-Track Validation Platform." Leveraging these technological platforms, Zenitar is accelerating the development of an innovative drug pipeline featuring differentiated molecular scaffolds and novel targets, with a commitment to addressing unmet clinical needs.

Zenitar, established in 2019, is an innovative drug research and development company driven by structural biology and artificial intelligence. Zenitar focuses on addressing significant unmet clinical medical needs, specializing in key therapeutic areas such as oncology, autoimmune diseases, inflammation, and neurological disorders. The company is committed to discovering, developing, and commercializing First-in-Class (FIC) and Best-in-Class (BIC) innovative drugs. Zenitar has built a comprehensive innovation platform covering the entire life cycle of new drug R&D, with full-process collaborative capabilities including AI molecular design, structural biology, organoid-based high-throughput screening, PDX model construction, CMC research, clinical strategy formulation and execution, and new drug registration submissions. This continuously empowers the efficient transformation of original innovations into clinical value.

Currently, Zenitar has independently developed seven globally-licensed products with differentiation and international competitiveness, establishing a pipeline covering multiple major disease areas. Among these, one indication has entered pivotal Phase III clinical trials, while five indications have progressed to Phase II clinical trials. The company’s core product, Purinostat Mesylate (PM), is the world’s first highly selective HDAC inhibitor used as a single-agent in clinical trials for relapsed/refractory lymphoma. To date, Purinostat Mesylate as a monotherapy has completed Phase I clinical trials for hematological tumors and Phase IIa/IIb trials for relapsed/refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (r/r DLBCL) across multi-center clinical sites in China. Simultaneously, Phase I/II clinical trials are ongoing for T-cell lymphoma, solid tumors, and breast cancer. In the Phase IIa study for r/r DLBCL, its objective response rate (ORR) reached 69.0%, demonstrating non-inferiority or even superiority compared to the effects of bispecific antibodies and ADC combination therapies (ORR approximately 50%-65%). Currently, this product has successfully advanced into pivotal Phase III clinical research.

Another blockbuster product, Flonoltinib Maleate (FM), is a highly selective JAK2/FLT3/CDK6 triple-target inhibitor with First-in-Class (FIC) potential. It has demonstrated significant and breakthrough efficacy in the clinical development for Myelofibrosis (MF). In the primary endpoint (the 24-week spleen volume response rate assessed by IRC), the proportion of patients in the FM treatment group achieving a ≥35% reduction in spleen volume (SVR35) exceeded 80%. Additionally, a significant reduction in the degree of bone marrow fibrosis (assessed through serial bone marrow biopsy pathology) was observed in some patients treated with FM, with some cases showing signs of histological reversal. Flonoltinib Maleate is expected to become an important treatment option for patients with myeloproliferative neoplasms, driving the evolution of the treatment landscape in this disease area. Its unique, globally pioneering mechanism of action and the currently observed clinical benefits position it as a potential advantageous therapy for myelofibrosis, a condition with significant unmet medical needs, and it is about to enter pivotal Phase III clinical trials.

Currently, Zenitar has obtained a total of 34 invention patents, including 17 international invention patents, with another 45 international and domestic patents still in the application process. The company has received a total of 19 clinical trial approvals from China's National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) and the U.S. FDA.

By deeply integrating the three core technology platforms of "Structural Biology Analysis," "AI-Driven Drug Design," and "Organoid-PDX Dual-Track Validation," Zenitar has successfully built a unique "end-to-end" innovative engine for new drug research and development. This engine seamlessly spans the entire R&D process from target validation, molecular design, and molecular optimization to in vivo validation, continuously driving the accelerated clinical development of original drugs with novel target mechanisms and differentiated molecular structures to address significant unmet medical needs worldwide.

This round of investment, participated by multiple professional investment institutions, fully demonstrates the market's high recognition of Zenitar's R&D achievements and future potential. Zenitar will continue to adhere to the innovation-driven strategy, accelerate the pace of global layout, further release the platform advantages in frontier fields such as structural biology and AI drug design, continuously enhance the adaptability and competitiveness of its products in the international market, and work with global partners to create a new pattern of multi-party win-win cooperation.

Founder of Zenitar, Professor Chen LijuanStated: "Amid a cooling capital market in the global pharmaceuticals industry and a slowdown in biopharmaceutical financing, Zenitar has still managed to swiftly complete its Series B+ round of funding, fully demonstrating investors' high recognition of our development strategy and R&D achievements. As the company’s two core products enter pivotal Phase III clinical trials, we are firmly advancing on our path toward international development. The year 2025 will mark the beginning of Zenitar's globalization, as we accelerate our overseas market expansion and push onto the central stage of global innovative drug development."

Dr. Chen Kan, Partner of Qiming Venture Partners and Co-Head of HealthcareRepresentative stated: "Relying on its full-chain innovative drug platform, Zenitar has successfully promoted the efficient clinical transformation of multiple new drugs, demonstrating exciting clinical efficacy across various therapeutic fields. We believe that with the simultaneous launch of overseas clinical trials, Zenitar will emerge on the global innovative drug stage, showcasing strong innovation vitality and development potential."