Stemirna Therapeutics Snares ￥10 million in Series A+ Round from Junshi Biosciences, Providing mRNA Vaccines

According to 36Kr.com, Hong Kong-listed company Junshi Biosciences announced the investment of 10 million yuan in the A+ round of financing of Stemirna Therapeutics ("Stemirna"), a biotechnology company of mRNA therapeutics and acquire 2.86% of its equity. The two company are going to cooperate in the development of innovative drugs and combination therapies. Stemirna Therapeutics is closing its A+ round of financing.

Stemirna was founded in the Zhangjiang Drug Valley of Shanghai, in 2016. Now it is located in the Jinqiao Pilot Free Trade Zone. It is committed to bringing mRNA therapeutics and high-end nanoparticle formulation platform to China.

The competitiveness of Stemirna lies in the mRNA synthesis platform and LPP nanometer delivery platform, which are currently used in the R&D of mRNA vaccines. Compared with traditional vaccines, mRNA vaccines have great advantages in terms of efficiency, production and safety. Multiple viral antigens can be incorporated into one single mRNA, allowing the production of complex, multi-antigen vaccines that are difficult to achieve with conventional technology.

Stemirna is developing mRNA-based personalized cancer vaccines. The tumor-specific mutations on patient cancer cell, called neoantigens, are identified via next-generation sequencing. The neoantigens can help the immune system distinguish between tumor cells and normal cells. Using algorithms developed by its bioinformatics team, Stemirna predicts neoantigens that will elicit a strong immune response and load them onto a single mRNA. After injection, the mRNA vaccine is translated into the desired neoantigens in the patient's dendritic cells and presented by MHC molecules, thereby activating tumor antigen-specific T cells to kill cancer cells.

Junshi Biosciences is an innovation-driven biopharmaceutical company which is dedicated to the discovery and development of innovative drugs and their clinical research and commercialization on a global scale. 

Based on the core platform technology of protein engineering, Junshi Biosciences stands at the frontier of R&D of macromolecular drugs. Junshi Biosciences has a leading edge in the PRC in the emerging field of immuno-oncology and for the treatment of autoimmune and metabolic diseases.