After a strong start in January, fundraising for Chinese biopharmaceutical companies saw a significant decline in February. Only nine privately held Chinese drugmakers secured financing during the month. Among them, seven disclosed funding amounts totaling $85 million. Compared to the previous month, the number of deals and total funding dropped by 63% and 83%, respectively.
Despite the overall downturn, AI-driven drug discovery firm XtalPi led two investments in February, both targeting preclinical-stage biotechnology companies.
On February 10, XtalPi announced a strategic investment in Alternative Bio and the establishment of an in-depth R&D collaboration. Alternative Bio is developing novel therapeutics targeting a previously untapped class of post-translational modifying enzymes. Their first co-developed project is a small-molecule inhibitor targeting the RAS-MAPK signaling pathway, specifically designed for RAS-mutant pan-cancer indications.
Four days later, XtalPi led a Series A1 financing round worth tens of millions of RMB for META Pharmaceuticals, a biotech incubated by XtalPi, Forcefield Ventures, and IMO Ventures. META Pharmaceuticals is advancing its META-1 small-molecule inhibitor program.
Meanwhile, Genuine Biotech joined a growing list of biotechs seeking to go public on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in February. The company received conditional approvals in China for its antiviral azvudine in 2021 and 2022, for HIV and COVID-19, respectively, and last month, it requested full approval for COVID-19. Founded in 2012, Genuine Biotech initially applied for an HKEX listing in 2022 but allowed the application to lapse.
Two Chinese biopharma M&A deals were announced in February.
Licensing deals also saw a sharp decline in February. Only nine licensing deals involving Chinese drugmakers were disclosed, compared to 21 in the previous month.
In-licensing activity was particularly sluggish, with only one in-licensing deal recorded. Shanghai-based SciClone Pharmaceuticals acquired exclusive rights from Eisai to develop and commercialize the FGFR inhibitor tasurgratinib in the Greater China region. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Chinese biopharma companies completed six out-licensing deals in February, with a total deal value of $2 billion and upfront payments amounting to $94 million. This marks a month-over-month decline of 92% in total deal value and 72% in upfront payments.
