How do industrial investors balance science and capital issues after 6 years of entrepreneurship?

How can a domestic innovative pharmaceutical company establish and promote an innovative drug pipeline? Previously, there were generally two models
.

Five or six years ago, most domestic pharmaceutical companies usually chose the license in model to quickly introduce advanced therapies and innovative drugs into the Chinese market
through cooperation with European and American pharmaceutical companies.

Five or six years ago, most domestic pharmaceutical companies usually chose the license in model.

In the past one or two years, many domestic pharmaceutical companies have proposed "source innovation"
.

The founders of Oriental Biomedicine (hereinafter referred to as Oriental Strategy) agreed on:

Dongfang Luo is an innovative pharmaceutical company founded in 2016, co-founded by investors in the pharmaceutical industry such as Oriental Gaosheng, Morningside Venture Capital, Tiger Pharmaceutical, Jincheng Pharmaceutical, Dezhan Health and so on
.

As an innovative pharmaceutical company initiated by an industrial investor, Dongfang has slightly developed after 6 years, how to balance science and capital? What kind of path has been taken?

01 Medicine is a weak cyclical and highly dispersed sunrise industry

01 Medicine is a weak cyclical and highly dispersed sunrise industry

Before founding Dongfang Liu, Qiu Sinian was the chairman of Oriental Gaosheng, with a fund size of 7 billion yuan, and led the largest pharmaceutical merger and acquisition transaction
in China in 2015.

Qiu Sinian is also known as China's most representative biomedical post-80s investor
.

In the process of acquisition, Oriental Gaosheng conducted research
on the pharmaceutical industry.

Qiu Sinian believes that "although the medical reform has had a great impact in recent years, the pharmaceutical industry has always been growing
rapidly.

10 years ago, there were more than 5,000 pharmaceutical companies in China, which far exceeded other industries, of which listed and unlisted companies occupied half of the country, and M&A transactions were very active
.

Around 2015, after the release of the most important "No.

In 2016, Oriental was established
slightly following the development trend.

Although Dongfang slightly focused on license in the beginning of its establishment, when most companies choose this model for rapid development, it will undoubtedly lead to the rise in the cost of license in
.

"When we first started with the license in, whether it was a down payment or a milestone, it was within an acceptable range
.

After the homogenization and white-hot of the license in model, Dongfang chose to transform for the first time: retaining the profitable license in projects introduced earlier, and quickly establishing an independent research and development platform
based on the technology and experience of the previous promotion of the project.

After the homogenization and white-hot of the license in model, Dongfang chose to transform for the first time: retaining the profitable license in projects introduced earlier, and quickly establishing an independent research and development platform
based on the technology and experience of the previous promotion of the project.

02 How does an innovative pharmaceutical company balance scientific issues with capital issues?

Dongfang Luo has always believed that enterprise development is not a purely scientific problem, nor is it a pure capital problem
.
There needs to be a balance between the
two.
In balancing the two, trust between team members is important
.

"In the face of areas where I am not good at, I can only choose partners who believe in me
.
Similarly, I believe that the intersection of talents from different professional backgrounds and educational backgrounds will make the development of the company more comprehensive
.
Qiu Sinian told Arterial New Medicine
.

Earlier this year, Dr.
Li Shu, a longtime friend of Qiu Sinian, joined Dongfang Luo as the company's CEO
.
As a leading talent in the medical and health industry in Hainan Province, Li Shu has been the leader
of many major national projects.
"Over the past 20 years, I have worked in state-owned enterprises, started a business with scientists, and now I am starting a business
with investors.
These three different experiences gave me a deeper understanding of
starting a pharmaceutical company.
Dr.
Li Shu said
.

This is also a little different from most pharmaceutical companies in the East, which is not founded by simple scientists, nor by simple entrepreneurs, but by industrial investors and scientists with comprehensive experience
.
Such a team background has brought three advantages
to the development of Dongfang Liu.

Co-founded
by industry investors and scientists with comprehensive experience.

First of all, compared with the enterprises directly founded by scientists in the early days, scientists may have a deep study of a certain segment or a certain technology, but they are also prone to be limited to the segments of their own research, lacking the overall operation
of the company and the market.
Based on the founder's previous M&A and investment experience in the pharmaceutical field, Dongfang has comprehensive insights into the pharmaceutical market at home and abroad and different segments and technologies, providing a broad vision
for the development of start-ups.

，

Secondly, based on the founding team's previous rich M&A and investment experience, Dongfang slightly has a more accurate
grasp of capital.
In the early days of establishment, some enterprises founded by scientists lacked relevant experience in controlling capital, and there were certain field barriers to communication between capital and scientists, which made it difficult
for many start-up pharmaceutical companies to raise funds in the early stage.
Qiu Sinian revealed, "Since our establishment, there has been no shortage of financing, and the company has maintained close exchanges
with investors.
”

Secondly, based on the founding team's previous rich M&A and investment experience, Dongfang slightly has a more accurate
grasp of capital.

Finally, in the face of many jobs that cannot be rapidly promoted because of professional barriers, Dongfang Luo can often move forward
smoothly by quickly integrating resources.
Since its establishment, Oriental has been more inclined to choose industrial investors in the process of financing, rather than simple financial investors
.
Up to now, Dongfang Luo has been recognized by investors in the industries of Oriental Gaosheng, Morningside Ventures, Tiger Pharmaceutical, Jincheng Pharmaceutical, Dezhan Health and other industries, with a cumulative financing amount of more than 800 million yuan
.

Finally, in the face of many jobs that cannot be rapidly promoted because of professional barriers, Dongfang Luo can often move forward
smoothly by quickly integrating resources.
In the process of financing, Oriental is more inclined to choose industrial investors than simple financial investors
.

"We start from the whole industry chain of pharmaceutical development, looking for partners
who can make up for the shortcomings of our various links.
" For example, Tigermed is the leading CRO enterprise in China, and they can provide us with valuable resources in the preclinical and clinical stages; Jincheng Pharmaceutical is very good at the field of API intermediates and can provide us with valuable experience; Dezhan Health can bring us successful experience
in commercialization.
Qiu misses the introduction
.

03 Nucleic acid drugs and antibody drugs are combined with a dual strategy

03 Nucleic acid drugs and antibody drugs are combined with a dual strategy

With the eyes of industrial investors, Dongfang has selected the layout of nucleic acid drugs
in many segments of the pharmaceutical industry.

Li Shu introduced that in the early years, Dongfang had seen many advanced fields of biomedicine through the integration of global resources, including cell and gene therapy
.

Why did you choose to lay out nucleic acid drugs? Because nucleic acid drugs are typical representatives
of third-generation pharmaceutical technology.
In the new crown epidemic, the performance of nucleic acid drugs is eye-catching
.
Because the nucleic acid drug itself is a storage medium, the designer can design the most advanced immunological knowledge or pharmaceutical knowledge in the nucleic acid drug fragment during the
development phase.
In addition, in the production process, nucleic acid drugs have the robustness
of the production process.
Once the process platform is established, the subsequent sequence changes have little impact on the process, which can achieve the characteristics
of rapid mass production, stable supply and safety.

In fact, nucleic acids have been developed as a new class of drugs for 30 years
.
In the past 30 years, scientists from all over the world have not given up the exploration
of DNA as a drug.
Until 2021, India launched a new crown vaccine, which is also the world's first human DNA vaccine.

"Why keep exploring? Because DNA acts as a reservoir of protein sequence information, we are free to genetically engineer as much of the antigen information
we want.
Why has there been a breakthrough in the past 30 years? I don't think it's a breakthrough, it's a natural outburst
.
Li Shu said, "In the past, the main difficulty in the development of nucleic acid drugs was not in the nucleic acid itself, but in the development
of delivery systems.
" The development of delivery systems lags behind the development of
nucleic acid drugs themselves.
In recent years, with the breakthrough of people's delivery systems, nucleic acid drugs have naturally ushered in their own highlight moments
.
”

With a keen understanding of the industry, Dongfang has laid out the nucleic acid drug track
a few years ago.

Its core project, ABC-3100, treats cervical precancerous lesions
caused by HPV16/18 infection.
The HPV vaccines currently available on the market are all preventive vaccines that neither clear persistent HPV infections nor help restore lesions
that have already formed.

For cervical precancerous lesions, there are currently no therapeutic drugs in the world, generally treated by surgery, and its side effects are obvious
.
ABC-3100 is an HPV therapeutic vaccine that works
by inducing specific antiviral cell immunity against the HPV pathogenic protein E6/E7 target.
Compared with surgical resection, ABC-3100 not only completely removes the virus, realizes the transformation of diseased tissues, but also preserves the integrity of the female cervix, and is expected to become the first treatment choice for
women of childbearing age in the future.

ABC-3100 is an HPV therapeutic vaccine that works
by inducing specific antiviral cell immunity against the HPV pathogenic protein E6/E7 target.

At present, ABC-3100 is carrying out clinical phase III trials in China and is expected to be approved for listing
in about 2 years.
Once approved, ABC-3100 will be the world's first therapeutic DNA vaccine and the world's first drug to treat various precancerous lesions caused by HPV virus, including cervical precancerous lesions, precancerous lesions, vulvar precancerous lesions, etc
.

At present, ABC-3100 is carrying out clinical phase III trials in China and is expected to be approved for listing
in about 2 years.

"Through a forward-looking layout, we have introduced the ABC-3100 project to China for clinical development
.
At the same time, we are working to achieve the localization of the nucleic acid drug
.
This is the opposite development process with most nucleic acid pharmaceutical companies in China
.
Li Shu introduced that most domestic pharmaceutical companies start from the early stage of drug development, step by step to develop and promote technology, and finally move towards commercialization; Dongfang Slightly is rapidly introducing and optimizing the latest technology while preparing for localized production
.

In addition to nucleic acid drugs, Dongfang has also laid out antibody drugs
synchronously.

Li Shu believes that the biggest difference between Dongfang and other Biotechs is that after the birth of the company, investors select projects, rather than laying out innovation pipelines
based on a technology platform of scientists.
"So we don't have the shackles of a technology platform, and once we find a good project, we will lay it out
quickly.
"

"So we don't have the shackles of a technology platform, and once we find a good project, we will lay it out
quickly.
"

Recently, Dongfang Luo launched the antibody drug project ABC-5100
against the new crown virus.
The new crown virus is mainly transmitted through respiratory infection, and establishing antiviral immunity in the respiratory mucosa can not only prevent viral infection, but also quickly reduce the level of virus and the risk of
transmission after infection.
Therefore, allowing the respiratory tract to rapidly produce broad-spectrum immunity through nasal spray or nebulized inhalation is an important method suitable for the general population to end the new crown epidemic, which has become the consensus of the scientific community, but it is not easy
to achieve this way technically.

Recently, Dongfang Luo launched the antibody drug project ABC-5100
against the new crown virus.

ABC-5100 is a new broad-spectrum antibody drug
jointly developed by Dongfang Luo and the Institute of Microbiology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Unlike traditional IgG antibody drugs, ABC-5100 is administered in the form of IgM through nasal spray or nebulized inhalation, and its intended use is the prevention of the new crown virus and the early treatment
of infection.
In earlier studies, ABC-5100 has demonstrated high resistance to multiple new coronavirus variants, including different substrains of Omicrane, and has good temperature stability
.
Preclinical development of ABC-5100 is currently underway and is progressing well
.

The above two core projects actually represent the two technology platforms that Dongfang Luo is currently focusing on developing
.
In the next few years, Dongfang Luo will focus on the dual strategic layout
of the technology platform and drug pipeline of nucleic acid drugs and antibody drugs.

Li Shu concluded, "In recent years, China's investment in basic scientific research has been much greater than in the past, and we have also seen that many domestic scientists have made world-leading results
.
But how to translate these achievements into medicines, this road is still a long way
.
In the process of promoting innovative drugs, I think it is not only necessary for scientists to work hard, but also for a group of investors with experience and depth in industry cognition to participate in and jointly promote the transformation
of innovative drugs.
”

In the process of promoting innovative drugs, I think it is not only necessary for scientists to work hard, but also for a group of investors with experience and depth in industry cognition to participate in and jointly promote the transformation
of innovative drugs.