Cell Therapy Developer Senlang Bio Raises CNY 200 Million in New Funding Round

Healthcare, Financials Author: Jizhen Huang May 18, 2022 01:00 PM (GMT+8)

Founded in 2016, Hebei Senlang Bio is a clinical-stage biotechnology company dedicated to utilizing cell and gene engineering technologies to generate innovative and transformative cellular immunotherapies for solid and hematologic cancers.

Cells

Hebei Senlang Bio (Chinese: 河北森朗生物) announced the completion of a CNY 200 Million (USD 29.6 Million) financing round. This round of funding was exclusively invested by Qianhai FoF.

Senlang Bio has established a high-efficiency cell therapy innovation platform. Based on this platform, the team has developed various new types of pipelines targeting solid tumors including CD19-targeted CAR-T, CD7-targeted CAR-T, combination (Combo) CAR-T, and universal CAR-γδT. The pipelines under development are for the treatment of major hematological tumors such as acute lymphoblastic leukemia, lymphoma, and solid tumors such as liver cancer.

Among the pipelines, the new structure CD19 CAR-T has been iteratively upgraded. It is better than similar products in terms of safety profile, and the pipeline has entered Phase I clinical trials. The CD7 CAR-T for relapsed and refractory T-lymphocytic leukemia/lymphoma adopts a unique production process and has demonstrated excellent safety and efficacy (CR rate>90%) in the IIT study. The relevant data has been published In the journal “Blood" (impact factor 23.629) and has been presented for 4 oral reports and posters at the American Society of Hematology (ASH) in 2021.

Dr. Li Jianqiang, the chief scientist and founder of Senlang Bio, has over 20 years of experience in immunology and cell therapy, published 13 papers in Nature Medicine, Blood, Journal of Immunology, etc., cumulative impact index exceeds 60.

To date, CAR-T cell therapy is one of the most innovative gene therapies. The therapy is primarily used to treat blood-type cancers, in which patients' T cells are extracted and modified into CAR-T cells to precisely attack cancer cells. With the approval of CAR-T cell therapy globally, the domestic CAR-T cell therapy market is expected to boom.

Senlang Bio’s main competitors include Legend Biotech (Chinese: 传奇生物, NASDAQ: LEGN) Fosun Kite Bio (Chinese: 复星凯特) JW therapeutics (Chinese: 药明巨诺, HK:02126).