On March 15, 2023 Neowise Biotechnology, a world-leading company specializing in TCR-T cell therapy for solid tumors, reported the company has completed an A+ round of financing of nearly 200 million yuan (Press release, Neowise Biotechnology, MAR 15, 2023, View Source [SID1234638952]). Investors in this round of financing include well-known medical and health professional funds such as Yuanhe Origin, Yuanyi Capital, GEM Co., Ltd., Tonggao Capital, Zhongxin Capital, and Leading Venture Capital. Old shareholders Taifu Capital continue to invest, and Haoyue Capital Acted as the exclusive financial advisor for this round of financing.
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Founded in 2020 and headquartered in Suzhou, Xinjing Zhiyuan is a global leader committed to discovering natural tumor antigen-specific TCRs and developing TCR-T cell therapy drugs for solid tumors. The founder, Dr. Peng Songming, is a top scientist in the field of cell therapy. As a co-founder, he co-founded PACT Pharma in the United States with Nobel Prize winners and many founders in the field of cell therapy. He has long been active at the forefront of the cell therapy industry and has developed forward-looking scientific insights into T cell biology, immunology, genomics, etc. The core senior management team of Xinjing Zhiyuan have all worked in well-known pharmaceutical companies at home and abroad for many years. They are engaged in bioinformatics predictive analysis, new antigen target discovery, TCR sequence discovery and verification, TCR-T production technology and CMC development, translational medicine and We have rich management and operational experience in the entire chain including clinical development.
Xinjing Zhiyuan innovatively built an industry-leading TCR discovery platform through mutual feedback and iteration of bioinformatics prediction and experimental verification, which can quickly and efficiently discover and accumulate new antigen targets and natural high-affinity TCR pairing data. At present, Xinjing Zhiyuan has established the world’s leading target antigen-natural TCR library, and has successfully transformed its first-mover advantage into patent barriers. The TCR sequences discovered by this platform are significantly better than similar products from the world’s top pharmaceutical companies in multiple dimensions such as affinity, killing activity, and safety. This round of financing will accelerate its further expansion of its existing product pipeline and rapid transformation to the clinical stage.
Globally, adoptive cell therapy has demonstrated excellent disease remission rates and survival advantages compared to chemotherapy and traditional immunotherapy, and has become a hot spot for biomedical innovation. In recent years, cell therapy based on TCR (T cell receptor) has gradually begun to show its unique charm after years of technological accumulation, especially in the treatment of advanced malignant solid tumors. TCR recognition signal is the first signal of T cell activation in immune surveillance. TCR can recognize a wider range of intracellular antigens than CAR, and the resulting activation of tumor-specific T cells is targeted at tumors (especially solid tumors). The most critical step in the cellular immune response. Currently, TCR-T therapies targeting tumor-related antigens such as MAGE-A4 and NY-ESO-1 have achieved considerable efficacy in clinical trials. However, the expandable indications of TCR-T drugs targeting these targets are relatively limited. How to target neoantigens (neoantigens) produced by tumor driver gene mutations that cover a wider range of population indications and discover extremely low-frequency natural TCR sequences with high affinity and guaranteed safety is the bottleneck of the current TCR-T cell therapy industry. question.
Because of this, biotechnology companies focusing on "new antigen target discovery" and "natural TCR" in the past two years are setting off an increasing wave in the international capital market. In March 2022, Affini-T completed a US$175 million Series A financing, expanding the potential application areas of cell therapy to lung cancer, colorectal cancer and pancreatic cancer; in January 2023, AstraZeneca announced that it would acquire clinical trials for US$320 million. Neogene, a TCR-T R&D company in the previous stage, uses this to enter the TCR-T cell therapy track.
Xinjing Zhiyuan complies with the general trend of industry development and is at the forefront of the industry in the discovery of neoantigens and natural TCRs. Its powerful discovery platform has accumulated thousands of neoantigen target-natural TCR data, which has not only lifted the last hurdle in the TCR-T field. A shackle enables cell therapy to bring better therapeutic effects to a wider population. It is also expected to empower more drug forms with high-quality paired data and bring good news to cancer patients.
Dr. Peng Songming, the founder of the company , expressed his gratitude to new and old shareholders for their trust and support, as well as the team’s efforts and dedication. In the past year, Xinjing Zhiyuan has solved the biggest barrier in the TCR-T industry – quickly obtaining safe and effective natural TCR sequences, and built the world’s leading target antigen-natural TCR library, filling the gap at home and abroad. There is a gap in this field. We look forward to helping more patients with advanced solid tumors in subsequent clinical trials and striving for more possibilities for every life.
Mr. Zhao Qun, a partner of Yuanhe Origin , said that Yuanhe Origin is very optimistic about the potential of TCR-T treatment modality to be applied in broader and more severe clinical needs of solid tumors. Since its establishment in 2020, Xinjingzhi has been highly focused on the core pain points in the TCR-T industry, and has successfully broken through the bottleneck of high-throughput and high-sensitivity discovery of targets and high-affinity natural TCRs. Based on founder Dr. Peng Songming’s deep insights gained from years of deep experience in the cutting-edge field of TCR discovery and the strong cohesion and high execution within the team, Xinjing Zhiyuan quickly established highly competitive industry barriers, and through rich TCR- T full-process experience, efficiently pushing the pipeline into the clinical stage. We continue to be optimistic about the company’s explosive power and prospects in the field of solid tumor treatment. We hope that Yuanhe Origin can provide assistance for the future development of Xinjing Zhiyuan and achieve win-win cooperation.
Ms. Tang Yinan, Managing Director of Yuanyi Capital, said that Xinjing Zhiyuan, with its unique BT+IT platform, has unleashed the unlimited potential between computing and biology, improved the quality and efficiency of TCR discovery by orders of magnitude, and broken through key bottlenecks in the industry. Yuanyi is optimistic about the world’s leading target-TCR database established by the company, and its platform value and data assets are of great value. The company’s core team has scarce experience in TCR-T product development and clinical operations in China and the United States, and has the ability to lead the company to develop rapidly in this early stage of long and snowy terrain, bringing life possibilities to more patients with solid tumors.
Professor Xu Kaihua, Chairman of GEM Group, said that Xinjing Zhiyuan has an innovative team with the mission of serving the life and health of all mankind. In just over a year, with its tenacious and innovative spirit, Xinjing Zhiyuan has broken through the key technologies of the industry and built a global The unique target antigen-natural TCR library has achieved world-class innovative results and will bring the gospel of life to more patients with solid tumors! We are very optimistic about the future development prospects and value of Xinjing Zhiyuan, and we will firmly support the continuous innovation of the Xinjing Zhiyuan team and the clinical application of innovative results.
Mr. Song Jie, a partner at Tonggao Capital, said, "We are very pleased to have the opportunity to cooperate with Xinjing Zhiyuan and participate in the field of immune cell therapy for solid tumors." Through its independently developed antigen-antigen receptor discovery platform, the company has established a large-scale target antigen-TCR pairing database covering multiple targets, breaking through the bottleneck of industry development. With high execution efficiency and solid research work, we believe that Xinjing Zhiyuan will continue to make breakthroughs under the leadership of Dr. Peng and the joint efforts of the team.
Mr. Dai Jinsong, a partner at Zhongxin Capital, said that immune cell therapy technology has developed rapidly in recent years. CAR-T therapy has shown amazing efficacy in hematomas, while TCR-T therapy, which can specifically recognize tumor intracellular antigens, It is even more promising to break through the bottleneck of hematological tumors and shine in solid tumors. How to provide patients with cell therapy drugs quickly, accurately and effectively has always been a major pain point that has plagued the development of the TCR-T industry. The Xinjing Zhiyuan team has been working in representative companies in this field for many years, and has an international vision and practical experience. Also very rich. The company has independently developed high-throughput target antigen-TCR screening technology, analyzed a large number of patient samples, discovered thousands of TCRs that can specifically recognize neoantigens, and established the world’s leading tumor target – Natural TCR pairing relationship database. Based on this database, the Xinjing team can quickly select TCRs for patients that specifically recognize their tumor targets, edit, amplify and functionally identify the patient’s own T cells, and finally reinfuse highly specific T cells. achieve treatment goals. We highly recognize the breakthrough contributions made by the Xinjing Zhiyuan team in this field, and hope to work with the Xinjing Zhiyuan team to witness the successful application of TCR-T therapy in the field of solid tumors.
Ms. Tao Shanshan, head of the Investment Department of Leading Venture Capital , said that Xinjing Zhiyuan benefited from its independently developed high-throughput antigen-TCR screening platform, which can quickly find targets suitable for solid tumor treatment and provide precise cell therapy. Compared with other Products in the same field have the advantages of large number of targets, wide range of indications and few side effects. Leading Venture Capital greatly appreciates the innovative spirit of the project founder and team and is optimistic about the prospects of the project platform. At the same time, the cooperation with Xinjing Zhiyuan has also better improved the biomedical industry ecosystem of Suzhou Industrial Park and enhanced regional innovation capabilities. In the future, leading venture capital will continue to integrate resources from all parties and work together to support the rapid development of Xinjing Zhiyuan.
Mr. Li Yishi, senior partner of Haoyue Capital , said that we are honored to assist Xinjing Zhiyuan in completing this round of financing. In recent years, TCR-based specific recognition technology is bringing vitality to tumor immunotherapy. TCR can recognize a variety of membrane and intracellular proteins, including tumor-specific targets, thereby unlocking targets that other cell therapies cannot reach. Through its unique high-throughput target antigen-TCR screening and discovery platform, Xinjing Zhiyuan has successfully established matched data covering a broad population and with high clinical value, empowering cell therapy to achieve greater success in a broader population of solid tumor patients. value. We believe that with the help of capital, Xinjing Zhiyuan will continue to lead the research and development of the new generation of TCR-T drugs and continue to achieve innovative breakthroughs. We are confident that we will continue to support Xinjing Zhiyuan’s subsequent financing and accompany our customers’ rapid growth.