Qiming, Ince invest in China, US biotech start-up
Qiming Venture Partners and Ince Capital have led a USD 50m Series B round for China and US-based oncology and autoimmune diseases treatments developer Allorion Therapeutics.
TF Capital, Long River Investment, 3SBio, Octagon Capital, and Elikon Venture also participated. It brings total funding to date to USD 100m, including a USD 40m Series A led by Qiming in late 2021 with support from IDG Capital, Firstred Capital, and seed-stage backer Med-Fine Capital.
Allorion owns a proprietary library of nearly 200,000 high-quality small molecule compounds, enabling thorough and efficient screening. The company leverages an artificial intelligence-enabled discovery platform to increase its discovery efficiency and tackle so-called undruggable targets.
The company has advanced two small molecules to the investigational new drug (IND) stage – one targeting autoimmune diseases such as psoriasis and lupus; and solid tumours such as ovarian, endometrial, and breast cancer.
There are three additional projects nearing the pre-clinical candidate stage. Pre-clinical development will begin in 2023, and IND certification will be submitted in China and the US in 2024.
Allorion has 53 full-time employees across China and the US, including 15 executive team members with an average of 15 years of experience in pharmaceutical or biotech companies. The scientific advisory board comprises professors and clinical professionals in areas such as chemical biology and clinical oncology.
The Series B capital will support upcoming phase-one and phase-two clinical trials in both China and the US, as well as the identification of clinical candidates for additional programmes. There are also plans to advance technologies including specialised molecule screening and discovery platforms, while building out the clinical development and business development teams.
“Allorion is also actively pursuing collaboration and co-development opportunities with several global pharma companies, who have shown great interest in our programs at this year's [JP Morgan Healthcare Conference], demonstrating a global recognition of our innovation,” CEO Peter Ding said in a statement.
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