METiS Pharmaceuticals Gets Over 100 Million Yuan

Hangzhou-based METiS Pharmaceuticals has closed two rounds of financing — an angel+ round and a pre-A round — raising over 100 million yuan ($15 million), per a company statement on Thursday.

The angel+ round was led by Sequoia Capital China with participation of Source Code Capital, pharmaceutical technology company XtalPi, Frees Fund, and Forcefield Venture, while its Pre-A round was led by Lightspeed China Partners and joined by 5Y Capital (formerly known as Morningside Venture Capital) and other existing investors.

New economy-focussed China Renaissance facilitated the two deals. The fresh vehicle will be used to shore up its AI- driven technology platform and develop partnerships with drug makers.

With a team of MIT researchers, the three-year-old METiS leverages AI technology to develop smart novel drug candidates through preclinical trials.

“We will continue to support the new generation-driven technology in innovative drug research, which will transform the traditional way of drug developing,” said Xi Cao, a partner at Sequoia Capital China, in the statement.

METiS Pharmaceuticals is a venture-backed, preclinical biotech company. Our team of MIT researchers and serial entrepreneurs built the world's first AI-driven formulation platform to enable targeted, smart novel drug candidates. Through the integration of machine learning, quantum simulation, and high -throughput experimentation, we enable formulation scientists to rapidly, comprehensively and intelligently develop clinically differentiable products. These disruptive ways of working fundamentally transform drug development, and drug product lifecycle management, and ultimately bring more quality drug products to patients.

On the AI pharmaceutical track, METiS is a unique company. It is the first company in the world to use artificial intelligence to drive "preparation optimization" to improve the properties of original drugs through formulations, thereby improving the efficiency of new drug development.

AI pharmacy is an emerging technology that uses artificial intelligence algorithms to improve the efficiency and success rate of new drug development. It is mainly divided into two directions. One is the formulation optimization direction where METiS is located. The technical threshold is extremely high. There is no competing product in the world. The other is the use of AI A number of high-quality companies have emerged in this direction for the discovery of drug molecules.

"At present, 90% of the new drugs in the development process mostly have poor kinetic properties, and some new model drugs (New Modality) also lack drug delivery solutions," said Dr. Lai Caida, co-founder and CEO of METiS.

The core advantage of formulation optimization is that the rate of research and development of innovative drugs is higher, the risk is lower, and the market is faster. Because this method is to "stand on the shoulders of giants", to improve the delivery of known drugs, or to adopt new methods of old drugs, so as to develop 505(b)(2) innovative drugs.