Leman Bio Completes Nearly RMB 200 Million in New Financing to Accelerate Clinical Translation of Metabolism-Enhanced Immune Cell Therapy | Exclusive Report by 36Kr
Text by | Hu Xiangyun
Edited by | Hai Ruojing
36Kr learned that Lemang Biotech has recently completed a new round of financing of nearly 200 million yuan. This round of financing was jointly led by Yuecai Zhongyin, an institution under Yuecai Holdings, and XtalPi, with follow - on investments from Kuangshi Zhixing, Mony Valley, Tailong Investment, Zhongshan Venture Capital, and individual financial investors. The old shareholder Fuhui Venture Capital continued to increase its investment. The raised funds will be mainly used to promote the Phase I clinical registration study of the ultra - low - dose metabolic - enhanced CAR - T cell drug, accelerate the R & D and verification of the automated production process, and initiate the clinical translation of metabolic - enhanced solid tumor cell therapy drugs.
Lemang Biotech is an innovative pharmaceutical company incubated and invested by XtalPi (HK:02228). The company has independently developed two AI + metabolic reprogramming technology platforms, META 10 and META 10 - AI. It is expected to develop cell therapy products with "better efficacy and safety, lower dosage, and lower production costs" by precisely regulating the metabolic function of exhausted T cells.
Currently, Lemang Biotech has laid out multiple core product pipelines for hematological tumors, solid tumors, and autoimmune diseases. Among them, the metabolic - enhanced CD19 CAR - T therapy has carried out IIT clinical trials (investigator - initiated clinical studies) for multiple hematological tumors and autoimmune diseases, and has submitted an IND (registration clinical) application for the indication of relapsed/refractory diffuse large B - cell lymphoma, with approval expected to be obtained in the first half of this year. In addition, the metabolic - enhanced cell therapy for solid tumor indications such as cervical cancer, liver cancer, and cholangiocarcinoma has also entered the IIT clinical stage.
Lemang Biotech's R & D pipeline (Source: Lemang Biotech's business plan)
Tong Dudu, the executive director of Lemang Biotech, believes that although several CAR - T therapies have been approved in China, there is still much room for improvement in efficacy (such as indicators like the complete remission rate (CR)), and the high price is not conducive to commercialization. "It is a general trend for enterprises to continue to improve product efficacy and reduce production costs through various technical paths."
Based on the underlying mechanism research of the IL - 10 immunometabolic factor's resistance to T - cell exhaustion, the Lemang Biotech team has confirmed that it can achieve metabolic reprogramming of exhausted T cells by enhancing the oxidative phosphorylation metabolism of terminally exhausted T cells, thereby improving the efficacy of tumor immunotherapy.
To put it simply, after traditional CAR - T cells enter the human body, they are continuously stimulated by tumor antigens in the tumor microenvironment, resulting in an imbalance in energy metabolism and a rapid transition to a terminally exhausted state, which leads to a decline in proliferation and killing functions. Therefore, a higher dosage is required to achieve the therapeutic effect.
The metabolic - enhanced CAR - T of Lemang Biotech improves the energy metabolism of exhausted CAR - T cells through autocrine IL - 10, reverses the terminally exhausted state, allows a small amount of infused CAR - T cells to continuously proliferate in the body, and enhances the "killing power" of individual cells, thus achieving efficient killing of tumor cells. This also lays the foundation for the company's "low - dosage administration plan".
Take the treatment of autoimmune diseases as an example. It is reported that in 2025, the company focused on promoting the IIT clinical trial for the indication of systemic lupus erythematosus. With a dosage only one - thousandth of the conventional CAR - T treatment dosage, many moderate - to - severe patients achieved complete remission according to the DORIS criteria without taking any medication. In terms of safety, the "CRS (cytokine release syndrome, a clinical grading for evaluating adverse reactions of immunotherapy) of patients during the treatment process was basically grade one, manifested as mild fever."
"We enrolled more than 10 patients. Starting from the second patient, we no longer performed lymphodepletion pretreatment. Lymphodepletion pretreatment is equivalent to a small - scale chemotherapy, which not only causes significant side effects but also increases the cost of hospitalization. If our lymphodepletion - free plan is finally feasible, it is expected to realize the 'outpatient - style administration' of CAR - T treatment. After the patient receives the infusion, they only need to go to the hospital for monitoring when adverse reactions occur to ensure that the symptoms do not worsen." Tong Dudu explained.
Tong Dudu said that currently, the lymphodepletion - free treatment plan has been evaluated in the treatment of autoimmune diseases, and in the future, the metabolic - enhanced CAR - T is also expected to achieve a lymphodepletion - free treatment plan for tumor indications.
In addition, in the treatment of hematological tumors, the metabolic - enhanced CD19 CAR - T also disclosed relevant clinical progress. In October last year, the clinical results of Lemang Biotech published in "The Lancet - Haematology" showed that for the indication of relapsed/refractory acute B - lymphoblastic leukemia, the overall response rate of 12 enrolled patients was 100% one month after treatment, and they all achieved 100% CR at three months; the relapse - free survival rate and overall survival rate at six months reached 91% and 100% respectively. "This indicates that the product has certain advantages in both the CR rate and the durability of efficacy." Tong Dudu explained.
It is also understood that Lemang Biotech has laid out an in - vivo CAR - T pipeline. In 2025, affected by several cross - border pharmaceutical company mergers and acquisitions, in - vivo CAR - T has become one of the highly concerned sub - directions in the domestic CGT field.
When asked why the company still invests resources in in - vivo CAR - T research when multiple clinical trials of the metabolic - enhanced CD19 CAR - T have been carried out, Tong Dudu said that this is also "a verification of the universality of the company's technology platform." "If our immunometabolic reprogramming technology can solve problems such as insufficient efficacy and safety in the popular field of in - vivo CAR - T, it can better prove the strength of the technology platform."
Currently, the in - vivo CAR - T pipeline of Lemang Biotech using the lentiviral approach "has shown good results in animal experiments and reproduced the phenomenon of low - dosage and high - efficiency expansion in hematological tumor indications", and it is expected to initiate an IIT clinical application in the first half of this year.
In terms of out - licensing, Lemang Biotech has held discussions with several cross - border pharmaceutical companies and domestic pharmaceutical companies and obtained TS.
Tong Dudu shared that in the field of hematological tumors, since many cross - border pharmaceutical companies have already reserved relevant products, they have higher requirements for data. "For example, they prefer to introduce products that have at least entered Phase II clinical trials or have shown 'game - changing' advantages at the IND stage." In the field of solid tumors, although cross - border pharmaceutical companies maintain a high level of attention, "outstanding IIT clinical data are the foundation", otherwise, it is difficult to promote substantial cooperation.
Compared with pipeline cooperation, technology platform licensing has become a more feasible cooperation option for domestic CGT enterprises. "Many cross - border pharmaceutical companies have their own in - house research targets or indications and have often seen initial results, but the efficacy has not met expectations. At this time, they hope to introduce advanced technology platforms to help them solve problems in the development of one or more pipelines. This is also the direction in which our immunometabolic reprogramming technology platform is more attractive to cross - border pharmaceutical companies." Tong Dudu said.
References:
1. "The Lancet - Haematology" published the clinical study results of Lemang Biotech's metabolic - enhanced CD19 CAR - T in the treatment of relapsed/refractory B - ALL patients
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/y7fTVdspMYEigru0FQV9ww
2. XtalPi empowers Lemang Biotech to achieve major results in cell therapy, with 1‰ dosage of CAR - T enabling multiple patients with systemic lupus erythematosus to achieve complete remission and be discharged from the hospital