Biotech firm Arnatar Therapeutics has been secured $50 million in Series A round in order to expedite the development of its therapeutic portfolio, expedite clinical trials, and establish a foothold in China.
According to a statement, Eight Roads, a global venture platform that makes investments in Asia, Europe, Israel, and the US, and Chinese healthcare-focused investment firm 3E Bioventures led the round together.
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A number of domestic investment firms, including Huajin Capital, Gaorong Capital, Jifeng Ventures, New Alliance Capital, and Yijing Capital, as well as the corporate venture capital (CVC) division of Transfar Group and Legend Star, an early-stage investment platform of Chinese conglomerate Legend Holdings, took part in the transaction.
Arnatar is a San Diego, California-based company that was founded in 2022 and specializes in the discovery and development of antisense drugs, a technology that allows for the regulation of gene expression within cells to treat an almost limitless range of ailments.
This strategy makes use of antisense compounds to combat a variety of illnesses by controlling the expression of a certain factor that either causes or contributes to the condition in question. Small interfering RNAs (siRNA) and more adaptable antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) are two examples of how antisense approaches have changed over time.
Arnatar has developed cutting-edge platforms in these two areas to treat diseases of the liver and extrahepatic organs, addressing both common and uncommon disease indications.
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Drs. Xuehai Liang, who oversaw antisense research at US biotech business Ionis Pharmaceuticals, and Yanfeng Wang, who was an executive at Merck & Co., Novartis, and Ionis, among other companies, founded Arnatar.
Prior to the Series A funding round, in September 2022, Arnatar secured a seed round of about 100 million yuan ($13.8 million) from Apricot Capital, a Chinese investment firm that specializes in healthcare.
About Arnatar
At Arnatar, innovative medicines that modify the origin of diseases by reducing or raising the expression of particular genes that cause or contribute to disease are developed through a variety of state-of-the-art RNA targeting antisense technologies.
