Leman Biotech Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Leman Biotech"), a clinical-stage biotechnology company dedicated to the research, development, production, and commercialization of innovative metabolic immunotherapies, is pleased to announce the completion of new financing totaling USD 7 million in Angel+ and Angel++ rounds. New shareholders include Fuho Capital, Yunfan Technology Investment, and private financial investors, while original shareholders Tiantu Capital and XtalPi continue to support Leman Biotech. Additionally, Leman Biotech and its metabolically enhanced CAR-T projects have received various non-dilutive grants amounting to approximately USD 2.7 million. To date, Leman Biotech has secured around USD 20 million in angel financing and project funding. This financing will primarily support the IND application of metabolically enhanced CAR-T cell therapy and the acceleration of clinical research of metabolically enhanced cell therapies for solid tumors.
Co-founded by Professor Li Tang's team from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) and AI-driven drug R&D company XtalPi in July 2021, Leman Biotech began official operations in February 2022. Meta 10, the core technology of Leman Biotech, has shown great potential to treat solid tumors in preclinical models, with research published in top international academic journals such as Nature Immunology (2021) and Nature Biotechnology (2024). Based on Meta 10, Leman Biotech has established technology platforms with its independent intellectual property rights for the discovery, R&D, and production of biological macromolecule drugs and new immunotherapy cell therapies. The company also utilizes cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) technology to iteratively optimize existing drugs, forming three core R&D pipelines: the metabolic reprogramming platform, the metabolically armed cell therapy platform, and the AI-enabled superkine platform.
Leman Biotech’s unique metabolically enhanced CD19 CAR-T cell therapy is currently undergoing investigator initiated trial (IIT) at the First Affiliated Hospital of University of Science and Technology of China (Anhui Provincial Hospital) and the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine. The project has successfully enrolled and treated more than 20 adult patients with relapsed and refractory leukemia/lymphoma, all of whom have achieved complete remission (CR) and have been discharged. Additionally, the IIT clinical trial of metabolically enhanced CD19 CAR-T was successfully launched at the Children's Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine at the end of March 2024, expanding the therapy's indication to include relapsed or refractory CD19-positive B-cell hematologic malignancies in pediatric patients.
Notably, the metabolically enhanced CD19 CAR-T cell therapy achieved CR in more than 20 patients with an extremely low drug dose—as low as 1% of the commercial CAR-T dose equivalent. This breakthrough could significantly shorten the production cycle of the drug and reduce the production cost of CAR-T, potentially lowering the price of generally expensive cell therapy and increasing the possibility of its inclusion in the Chinese national medical insurance reimbursement list in the future.
Leman Biotech’s IIT clinical data have gained significant attention from peers both domestically and internationally, with the company invited to deliver oral presentations at the Late-Breaking Minisymposium of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) 2024, the Late-Breaking Abstracts of the American Society for Gene and Cell Therapy (ASGCT) 2024, the "Gene Therapy, Cellular Immunotherapy, and Vaccination - Biology & Translational Research" session of the European Hematology Association (EHA) 2024, and the annual meeting of the Chinese Society for Cell Biology (CSCB) 2024, among other top academic events. This new round of financing will further advance the clinical development of our metabolically enhanced CAR-T cell therapy.
Statements from Key Investors and Stakeholders
Dr. Shuhao Wen, Chairman of XtalPi:
"With deep immuno-oncology research knowledge and efficient developmental plan, Leman Biotech team has quickly established a comprehensive drug development platforms for metabolic reprogramming technology within the last two years and has a comprehensive product pipeline. Through continuous technological innovation, Leman Biotech is expected to significantly reduce the production cost and sales price of cell therapy drugs, making high-tech achievements benefit the people and create real social value, which is the original intention of our investment in Leman Biotech."
Mr. Guoxing Wei, Partner of Tiantu Capital:
"The team of Leman Biotech not only has a forward-looking development blueprint but also shows excellent execution capabilities. Since its establishment, the company has rapidly achieved a series of remarkable progression, fully demonstrating its unique qualities as an innovative and high-growth biopharmaceutical enterprise."
Dr. Hao Cheng, Partner of Fuho Capital:
"In recent years, cancer immunotherapy has developed rapidly, and the clinical demand and market space are huge. We are full of confidence in the technical strength and great potential of Leman Biotech in the field of cancer immunotherapy. We look forward to Leman Biotech providing patients with solutions with better efficacy and higher accessibility as soon as possible and making an important contribution to the development of the field of cancer treatment."
Professor Li Tang, Co-Founder and Chairman of Leman Biotech:
"Thank you very much for the recognition and support from new and existing investors. It is this support that turns the 'idea' of the laboratory into a 'cure' to tackle diseases and save patients. We are also grateful to the clinical investigators and their teams for their efforts and execution, enabling metabolically enhanced CAR-T cell therapy to achieve new breakthroughs in clinical research. Special thanks to our patients and their families for their trust and support, which has greatly strengthened our confidence in developing innovative cancer drugs! This financing will help us accelerate the advancement of our core pipeline to clinical translation, speed up development of new technologies, and further expand the application scope of the Meta 10 technology platform, so that safe, effective, and accessible metabolic reprogramming drugs can benefit the majority of cancer patients earlier."
About Fuho Capital
Fuho Capital is a VC investment institution focusing on the transformation of scientific and technological achievements and early investment in technology enterprises, specializing in healthcare, advanced manufacturing, and other fields. The management team has extensive experience in the industry and equity investment. Fuho Capital adheres to the investment philosophy of "professional, long-term, pragmatic, and collaborative" and focuses on biomedical investment with a dual strategy of "biomedical industry investment + leading company in industry sector." The firm has strategic cooperation with the Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Zhongshan Municipal Government, committed to promoting high-quality innovative drug companies in Cuiheng New District, Zhongshan City.
About Tiantu Capital
Founded in 2002, Tiantu Capital is one of the earliest professional institutions engaged in equity investment in China, with a professional investment team in Shenzhen, Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong. Tiantu’s VC team currently manages multiple funds with a cumulative asset management scale of over RMB 8 billion, investing in over 100 early-stage projects.
About XtalPi
XtalPi is one of the world-leading technology company using artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics to drive innovation. Founded in 2015 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), XtalPi aims to achieve digital and intelligent innovation in life sciences and new materials. The company offers innovative technologies, services, and products for the global biomedicine, chemical industry, new energy, and new materials industries, leveraging quantum physics, AI, cloud computing, and large-scale experimental robot clusters.
