2021 Global RNA Therapy Financing Top 10

RNA is an important macromolecule in organisms.
Genetic information is transferred from DNA to RNA through transcription, and then translated into protein from RNA, which regulates a variety of physiological activities of living organisms
.

RNA therapy mostly acts on mRNA, and achieves the purpose of treatment by silencing or activating the expression of target genes

There are many types of RNA therapy.
The types of RNA therapy that have been marketed are: (1) RNA interference (RNAi) therapy, mainly small interfering RNA (siRNA); (2) antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) therapy; (3) messenger RNA (mRNA) therapy; (4) aptamer
.

In 2021, the enthusiasm for financing in the field of RNA therapy is obvious to all
.

According to the PharmaInvest database and public information, in 2021, there are many Chinese companies in the top 10 global RNA therapy financing TOP10.

1.
Aibo Biological

1.
Aibo BiologyAibo Biology

Financing amount: over 1.
1 billion US dollars

Financing Amount:

Funding round : B round (2021/4/7), C round (2021/8/19), C+ round (2021/11/29)

Financing round

Investment institutions: PICC Capital, SDIC Ventures, Temasek, Invesco Development Market Fund, Zhengxin Valley Capital, Hillhouse Ventures, Yunfeng Fund, Eli Lilly Asia Fund, Boyu Investment, SoftBank Vision Fund, Wuyuan Capital, etc.

Investment agency:

Company website:official website:

Aibo Bio was founded by Dr.
InBev in 2019.
The company is located in Suzhou and focuses on the research and development of mRNA drugs.
In October last year, it completed a 150 million yuan A round of financing
.

This year, Aibo Biotechnology is undoubtedly the most popular innovative biomedical company in China.

Abbio has established an mRNA and nano-delivery technology platform with independent intellectual property rights, and its product pipeline covers the fields of infectious disease prevention and treatment and tumor immunity
.

The new crown mRNA vaccine ARCoVaX jointly developed with the Academy of Military Sciences and Watson Biosciences is the first mRNA vaccine approved for clinical trials in China and has entered clinical phase III

2 , LaRonde

2 , LaRonde LaRonde

Financing amount: US$490 million

Financing Amount:

Financing time and round: A round (2021/5/10), B round (2021/8/30)

Financing time and round:

Investment institutions: Flagship Pioneering, funds and accounts advised by T.
Rowe Price Associates, Invus, CPP Investments, etc.

Investment agency:

Company official website: official website:

Laronde was incubated by Flagship Pioneering, a well-known venture capital firm, and was established in 2017.
The company is located in Cambridge, USA and focuses on the development of circular RNA therapies
.

Laronde received US$50 million in Series A financing and US$440 million in Series B financing in 2021

Because eRNA has no free ends, it will not be recognized by the innate immune system or exonuclease, and has the characteristics of high stability and prolonged efficacy
.

In addition, the expression of eRNA therapeutic proteins has the characteristics of modularity and programmable.

3 , re-Connaught Jian  

3 , re-Connaught health   complex Connaught Jian  

Financing amount: more than 200 million US dollars

Financing Amount:

Funding round: D1 round (2021/5/7), D2 round (2021/9/24)

Funding round:

Investment institutions: China National Regulatory Fund, Everbright Capital, China Life Health Fund, Shenzhen Venture Capital, etc.

Investment agency:

Company official website: official website:

Founded in 2015, Fonogym has offices in Canada and China.
Since its establishment, it has received more than 250 million US dollars in multiple rounds of financing.
Among them, this year's D1 round of financing was 80 million US dollars and the D2 round of financing exceeded 120 million US dollars
.

The company was initially committed to the research and development of a new generation of oncolytic viruses based on tumor immunotherapy, and this year it focused on the deployment of mRNA technology platforms

4 , Sri Lanka microorganisms

4 , Sri Lanka microbes Adams microorganisms

Financing amount: 1.
2 billion yuan

Financing Amount:

Financing round: undisclosed (2021/6/1)

Funding round:

Investment institutions: China Merchants Health, Sequoia Capital China Fund, Jinglin Investment, WuXi AppTec, etc.

Investment agency:

Company official website: official website:

Microbiology was established in Shanghai Zhangjiang in 2016, focusing on the research and development of mRNA drugs
.

So far, it has received nearly 220 million US dollars in multiple rounds of financing

5 , Deep Genomics

5 , Deep Genomics Deep Genomics

Financing amount: 180 million US dollars

Financing Amount:

Funding round: C round (2021/7/28)

Funding round:

Investment institutions: SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board, Fidelity Management & Research Company, Alexandria Venture Investments, etc.

Investment agency:

Company website: official website:

Located in Toronto, Canada, Deep Genomics was founded in 2015 and is an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven RNA therapy development company
.
So far, it has obtained multiple rounds of financing of more than 200 million US dollars
.
Deep Genomics uses the AI ​​Workbench platform to realize the rapid discovery and development of genetic drugs.
The main drug developed is Steric Blocking Oligonucleotide (SBO)
.
SBO is a fully modified antisense oligonucleotide (ASO).
RNase H (a ribonuclease) cannot recognize the binding of oligonucleotides and mRNA, so the mRNA will not be degraded (ASO is degraded by RNase H cleavage Target mRNA), SBO plays a regulatory role by blocking access to regulatory proteins and modifying the secondary structure of RNA
.
Deep Genomics' therapy pipeline covers diseases such as the central nervous system and metabolism, and has a number of collaborative projects with BioMarin Pharmaceutical
.

Source: Deep Genomics

6 , Omega Therapeutics

6 , Omega Therapeutics Omega Therapeutics

Financing amount: 126 million US dollars

Financing Amount:

Financing round: C round (2021/3/30)

Funding round:

Investment institutions: Flagship Pioneering, Invus, Fidelity Management & Research Company, funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, etc.

Investment agency:

Company website: official website:

Omega Therapeutics was founded in 2017 and was incubated by Flagship Pioneering, dedicated to regulating gene expression from the epigenetic direction
.
Since its establishment, Omega has received more than US$210 million in financing and successfully listed on the Nasdaq in July this year
.
The epigenome controller OEC developed by Omega is a modular and programmable mRNA-encoded therapy.
The linker connects the DNA binding domain and epigenetic effector protein.
OEC is delivered into the cell through lipid nanoparticles to play a role.

.

Source: Omega

At present, Omega's pipeline has a variety of research therapies for multiple indications in the fields of regenerative medicine, oncology, and single-gene diseases
.

Source: Omega

7.
1E Therapeutics

7.
1E Therapeutics

Financing amount: US$120 million

Financing Amount:

Funding round: Seed round (2021/12/9)

Funding round:

Investor: Marius Nacht

investor:

Company official website: official website:

1E Therapeutics is a biotechnology company located in Israel, established in July 2021.
The chief scientist of 1E is Dr.
Ido Bachelet.
He received his medical doctorate from Hebrew University and completed his postdoctoral studies at MIT and Harvard University’s George Church laboratory.
Work
.
The main investor in the seed round of 1E is Marius Nacht, the co-founder of CheckPoint, a serial entrepreneur who is considered to be the most famous investor currently active in the Israeli biomedical field
.
1E's goal is to develop first-in-class RNA targeted therapy based on a proprietary drug design platform
.
The details disclosed by the company are very limited.
According to internal employees, the laboratory established by 1E Therapeutics in Rehovot Science Park is comparable to large established pharmaceutical companies, and the equipment cost alone is as high as tens of millions of dollars
.
The company currently has dozens of researchers and is expanding its team
.

8 , Entrada Therapeutics

8 , Entrada Therapeutics Entrada Therapeutics

Financing amount: 116 million US dollars

Financing Amount:

Financing round: B round (2021/3/31)

Funding round:

Investment institutions: Wellington Management Company, Redmile Group, TCG Crossover, Greenspring Associates, etc.

Investment agency:

Company website: official website:

Entrada Therapeutics was founded in 2016 and is committed to the development of intracellular delivery technology.
The company is located in Boston, USA
.
Since its establishment, Entrada has received US$175 million in financing and successfully listed on the Nasdaq in October this year
.
The endosomal escape vector developed by Entrada can efficiently deliver proteins, peptides and nucleic acids into cells, which is very effective for the treatment of diseases where the target is located in the cell
.
Entrada has applied endosomal escape vector technology to the delivery of antibodies, enzymes and oligonucleotides.
There are many therapies for neuromuscular diseases in the pipeline
.

Source: Entrada

9 , PepGen

9 , PepGen PepGen

Financing amount: US$112.
5 million

Financing Amount:

Financing round: cross round (2021/8/5)

Funding round:

Investment institutions: RA Capital Management, Oxford Sciences Innovation, CureDuchenne Ventures, Viking Global Investors, etc.

Investment agency:

Company official website: official website:

PepGen is a biotechnology company based in Oxford, England, founded in 2018, focusing on the development of oligonucleotide therapies and their delivery technologies
.
Up to now, PepGen has received nearly 160 million US dollars in financing
.
Oligonucleotide therapy can treat disease by targeting pathogenic RNA sequences, increasing or decreasing the expression, splicing, or interaction with proteins of the target RNA
.
However, in neuromuscular diseases, the delivery effect of nucleic acid to the affected muscle tissue is not good, and an effective delivery vector is needed to interact with the target RNA in the cell
.
PepGen's Enhanced Delivery Oligonucleotides (EDO) platform uses cell penetrating peptide technology to achieve efficient drug delivery in skeletal muscle, cardiac muscle, smooth muscle and other tissues
.
The current PepGen pipeline focuses on neuromuscular diseases, including Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and type 1 myotonic muscular dystrophy (DM1)
.

Source: PepGen

10 , the Shape Therapeutics

10 , the Shape Therapeutics the Shape Therapeutics

Financing amount: US$112 million

Financing Amount:

Funding round: B round (2021/7/15)

Funding round:

Investment institutions: Decheng Capital, Breton Capital, Willett Advisors, New Enterprise Associates, Mission BioCapital

Investment agency:

Company official website: official website:

Shape Therapeutics was founded in 2018 and is headquartered in Seattle, USA.
The technology developed by Shape is based on Dr.
Prashant Mali's work during his postdoctoral research in the laboratory of Professor George Church
.
Since its establishment, Shape has received nearly US$150 million in financing (A round of 35.
5 million US dollars, B round of 112 million US dollars), and in August this year reached over 3 billion US dollars of cooperation with Roche, Shape will use a proprietary platform for development For the treatment of Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and other rare diseases
.
The technology developed by Shape has three major directions: RNAFix, RNASkip and Delivery-AAVid
.

RNAFix, RNASkip, and Delivery-AAVid platform (Source: Shape) Among them, RNAfix is ​​a gRNA (guide RNA) that edits single bases by recruiting ADAR enzymes (a natural RNA editor); RNAskip is an inhibitor TRNA (transfer RNA), used to treat diseases caused by premature termination mutations (that is, the mutation of a certain amino acid codon to a stop codon, leading to premature termination of peptide chain synthesis), can identify premature termination codons, so that Translation reads through to produce fully corrected proteins; Delivery-AAVid Capsid Discovery Platform can produce AAV vectors with better delivery characteristics, which can effectively deliver RNAfix and RNAskip payloads and other payloads to specific tissues
.
Shape currently has no public pipeline projects
.