Chinese Firm Pyrotech Therapeutics Completes CNY 700 Mn Series A Round of Financing

Currently, China's innovation resources in the field of biomedicine are mainly concentrated in the pharmaceutical industry, with very few companies focusing on drug development and innovation. Pyrotech (Beijing) Biotechnology Co., Ltd. pioneered the biotechnology platform and is committed to building a global leading Chinese biotechnology company.

Pyrotech (Beijing) biotechnology co., Ltd (hereinafter referred to as "Pyrotech Therapeutics", Chinese:炎明生物), headquartered in Beijing, announced on July 10, 2023, that it had completed a CNY 700 million(USD 97.37 million) Series A financing round, which was led by SDIC Venture Capital(Chinese:国投创业), co-led by China Venture Capital Fund(Chinese:国风投基金), and followed by China Taiping Medical and Health Equity Investment Fund(Chinese:太平医疗健康基金), China Life Asset Management Company(Chinese:国寿科创基金), and Lotus Lake Capital(Chinese:荷塘创投基金). MSA Capital(Chinese:和玉资本), Lilly Asia Ventures(Chinese:礼来亚洲基金), FreesFund(Chinese:峰瑞资本), LSV Capital(Chinese:中发展领创/生命园创投基金), BioTrack Capital(Chinese:博远资本), Greenwaters Fund(Chinese:青澜基金), and Beijing Changfa Industrial Operation Management Co., Ltd(Chinese:昌发展) continue to make additional investments.

The funds raised in this round will be used to advance the company's clinical-stage pipeline, accelerate preclinical studies of multiple projects, further expand the R&D pipeline, and improve the talent team.

Co-founded by Academician Shao Feng and Dr. Tienjing Deng in October 2020, Pyrotech Therapeutics has established a technology platform for "molecular switching of cellular focalization and innate immunity regulation" based on Academician Shao Feng's world-leading biological discoveries in the fields of natural immunity and cellular focalization, and selecting the key medical issues that have not yet been overcome in the fields of inflammation and oncology as the main research content. We have established the "Molecular Switch of Cellular Focal Death and Innate Immune Regulation" technology platform, and through independent research and development and cooperation with leading domestic and international medical translation organizations, we are committed to developing revolutionary and innovative drugs for the treatment of inflammation and tumors, to benefit patients with inflammation and tumors all over the world with the results of China's original innovations.

Pyrotech Therapeutics was founded based on a breakthrough discovery made by the company's co-founders in the laboratory on "cellular pyroptosis", a type of cell death that controls infections by stimulating a strong immune response. This highly inflammatory cell death occurs not only in the presence of pathogens but also as a result of other types of stimuli and damage. As a result, inappropriate immune responses can cause acute and chronic damage to many organs. Pyrotech Therapeutics' pioneering technology identifies molecules that inhibit excessive and harmful immune responses and also identifies molecules that promote theriomorphic responses in cancer cells, thus using these molecules to be able to eradicate tumors.

Pyrotech Therapeutics' R&D pipeline consists of multiple projects focusing on the areas of natural immunity and cellular focalization, with indications that include a wide range of inflammatory diseases and tumors. Inappropriate activation of the immune system is responsible for the majority of human diseases, including cancer, sepsis, and Alzheimer's disease, among other inflammatory-related diseases, and Pyrotech Therapeutics'rug discovery and development efforts are focused on modulating the immune system and targeting inflammatory diseases.

According to the CBSI information forecast, the global pharmaceuticals market reached USD 1,480 billion in 2022 and is expected to reach USD 1,569 billion by 2023. According to IQVIA data, the global biologics market will be USD 431 billion in 2022, and the CAGR for the next five years is expected to be maintained at 9.1%, which is far ahead of the expected growth rate of biologics compared to the expected CAGR of non-biologics of 3.4% for the next five years. At the same time, the proportion of biological drugs in the global drug market size has been steadily increasing, in 2020 the world's top ten best-selling drugs have been four monoclonal antibody drugs, all belonging to the biological drug category.

In terms of globalization talent strategy, Pyrotech Therapeutics has R&D centers in Beijing, Shanghai, and the United States, and has built an international first-class drug research and development team of more than 100 people, carrying out several small molecules and gene regulation of the world's first new drug development projects. Breakthrough progress has been made in several projects, including the development of cellular pyroptosis inhibitors and innate immune modulators, of which the innate immune agonists will enter the clinical stage in 2023, and the cellular pyroptosis inhibitors are about to finalize the clinical candidate compounds, which are expected to enter the clinical stage in 2024.

According to China Venture Capital Fund, Pyrotech Therapeutics focuses on the direction of natural immunity and cellular focalization covering several major disease areas with huge market space. The company has strong scientific achievement transformation and continuous innovation ability and has the strength to become an original innovative drug company with global influence, clinical benefit, and leadership based on China's local scientific discovery.

Mr. Li Feng, Founding Partner of MSA Capital, said that Since its establishment, Pyrotech Therapeutics has rapidly established its position as a leading global scientific platform in the fields of natural immunity and tumor immunity based on solid and efficient scientific achievements and clear disease translation strategies. Pyrotech Therapeutics has made breakthroughs in several new and difficult targets and programs. In response to the unresolved medical challenges worldwide, its scientific achievements are of inestimable significance to human health and great commercial value.

In this field, representative Chinese companies include WuXi Biologics (stock code: 2269.HK)(Chinese:药明生物) and Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceuticals Co.,Ltd.(Chinese:恒瑞制药), etc. Internationally, Genentech of the United States and Novartis of Switzerland are quite powerful.