Raising capital has always been a challenge for small to medium biotech firms worldwide, but the economic whiplash and the wider downturn across international markets post-pandemic have pushed Chinese biotechs to make-it-or-break-it scenarios for crossing the IPO threshold, speakers at the Chinabio Partnering Forum 2023 said in Shanghai.
Airna Corp. Inc. has launched through a $30 million financing to develop a pipeline of RNA editing therapeutics for treating rare diseases and prevalent diseases. It’s a wide spectrum of diseases made potentially more easily treatable because of the relatively recent revolution in RNA editing.
Having cast around for other routes, Histogen Inc. is throwing in the towel, its board having adopted a shutdown plan that includes the distribution of remaining cash to stockholders after a wind-down of operations. One of the company’s West Coast peers, Kinnate Biopharma Inc., had news, too. The firm disclosed the layoff of 70% of its workforce, including all employees at the Shanghai-based subsidiary Kinnjiu Biopharma Inc., leaving the outfit with 28 full timers.
Magnet Biomedicine Inc. emerged from stealth mode and pulled down a $50 million series A round co-led by founding investor Newpath Partners alongside Arch Venture Partners. The firm is advancing molecular glue discovery by way of rational selection and design, looking past known protein-protein interactions and what Magnet calls “tangential” degradation approaches to analyze the broader protein landscape and ultimately pair targets with rationally chosen presenters in the tissue where the disease manifests.
In the daunting shadow of previous years’ numbers, two companies jumped into this year’s relatively tepid IPO market. Rayzebio Inc. priced its upsized $311 million IPO of 17.2 million shares at $18 each. Gross proceeds of about $290.1 million are expected by the radiopharmaceutical cancer therapy developer. On Sept. 15, shares (NASDAQ:RYZB) closed up 33.3% at $24 each. Also, Neumora Therapeutics Inc. priced its IPO of 14.7 million shares at $17 each, looking for gross proceeds of about $250 million. The company, which is developing seven products targeting brain diseases, saw shares (NASDAQ:NMRA) close 4.4% downward at $16.25 on Sept. 15.
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