China's gene scissors are starting to be priced.
Recently, the focus of innovative drugs has been either on ASCO or on the constantly declining stock market. As a result, two quite informative financing events in recent times have gone unnoticed for the moment:
On May 29th, Yaotang Biotech completed a nearly 500 million yuan Series C financing, led by Zhenxing Valley Capital. Almost simultaneously, Rejuvenate Bio completed a 210 million yuan Series C1 financing, focusing on Parkinson's disease and aging-related diseases.
Yaotang Biotech is engaged in in vivo gene editing, while Rejuvenate Bio is involved in chemically induced cell reprogramming. Two years ago, it was unlikely that either of these two tracks could have attracted funding. At that time, the primary market for biomedicine was still in a deep adjustment period. The first question investors would ask was "Is there any progress in BD?" and the second was "How long can the company last with the money on the books?" Early-stage platform companies were generally regarded as "having too distant prospects and being too difficult to exit."
The wind is changing, and money is flowing back to the underlying technology platforms.
This round of financing was not obtained by telling stories
The difference between in vivo editing and in vitro editing directly determines the ceiling of this track.
The representative of in vitro editing is CAR-T: collecting the patient's cells, modifying them in vitro, and then reinfusing them. The whole process requires cold chain transportation and full-process medical monitoring, and the cost of a single treatment is hundreds of thousands of dollars. It is a technological miracle but also has a ceiling in terms of accessibility.
The logic of in vivo editing is more straightforward: delivering the gene scissors to the target cells in the patient's body, eliminating all the in vitro operation processes. If it can stand firm in terms of safety, the cost curve of in vivo editing will be much steeper than that of in vitro editing.
Yaotang Biotech's pipeline covers multiple fields such as the liver, nerves, and ophthalmology. It has not only demonstrated its delivery ability in one organ or one disease but has also carried out systematic verification in multiple target organs. The scalability of the platform is the core reason why it was able to obtain nearly 500 million yuan in this round of financing.
What is more worthy of attention is the structure of this round of financing.
The leading investor, Zhenxing Valley Capital, has invested in many leading companies during the previous cycle of innovative drugs. The participation of Shanghai Guotou Pioneer represents the systematic entry of state-owned capital into the gene editing track. The combination of the leading investor and state-owned capital shows that this round of financing was not obtained by telling stories.
"The return of the value of underlying technologies"
From 2023 to 2025, the primary market for biomedicine in China experienced a continuous adjustment. The total financing amount shrank by more than half from the peak in 2021, and a large number of early-stage platform companies exited the market due to their inability to secure follow-on financing. During the contraction period, funds were concentrated in two directions: clinical-stage companies with clear pipelines and smooth BD progress, and industrial infrastructure represented by CXO.
The financing data since 2026 is sending new signals. Yaotang Biotech's Series C, Rejuvenate Bio's Series C1, along with the previous financings completed by several gene therapy and stem cell companies, paint a picture of "the return of the value of underlying technologies."
There are three levels of factors driving this return.
The technological maturity has reached a critical point. Gene editing tools have continuously improved in terms of precision and safety, from CRISPR-Cas9 to base editors and then to prime editing. The in vivo delivery system is also expanding from AAV to non-viral vectors such as lipid nanoparticles, providing more options for different target organs. The technology no longer needs to be introduced. Capital no longer asks "Can this technology be used?" but "In which diseases can it be used, for how long, and with how much safety?"
Clinical data is providing answers. Globally, the early clinical data of in vivo gene editing in diseases such as transthyretin amyloidosis and hereditary angioedema have verified the transformation path from mechanism to clinical application. Yaotang Biotech's six clinical pipelines at different stages of advancement are the most direct evidence on this path.
The rigid demand in an aging society is increasing. In China, the population aged 65 and above has exceeded 200 million, and the number of Parkinson's disease patients has exceeded 3 million, and these numbers are still growing. Existing drugs can only improve symptoms but cannot reverse the course of the disease. If gene editing and cell replacement therapies can intervene at the root cause level, their value will subvert the existing logic.
Policy is also confirming this trend. In 2026, the "Regulations on the Clinical Research and Transformation Application of New Biomedical Technologies" were officially implemented, and the review and approval path for in vivo gene editing is being established from scratch. With clear policy support and a well-matched regulatory framework, it is logical for capital to follow up.
Pricing logic
The most valuable aspect of the gene editing track lies in its pricing logic in the next decade.
The pricing of global gene editing therapies is generally between 1 million and 3 million US dollars, which is the market range for single curative therapies. However, the cost structure of in vivo editing is completely different.
Currently, the CDMO cost, cold chain transportation cost, and hospitalization monitoring cost of in vitro editing almost account for more than half of the terminal price. If in vivo editing can achieve universal production, that is, one dose of the drug can be used for all patients, then its marginal cost will decline rapidly as the production scale expands.
The current average gross profit margin of global biological products is about 85%, but this data mainly reflects the manufacturing efficiency of large-scale biopharmaceuticals such as PD-1 inhibitors and GLP-1 receptor agonists, and cannot be directly compared with the cost structure of gene editing products.
Once in vivo gene editing achieves universal production, its pricing model can be based on the treatment course, indication, or regional market. This switch in the pricing model means that the market penetration speed and depth of in vivo gene editing will far exceed those of in vitro editing.
This is why capital is now starting to bet on underlying technology platforms again. They are betting on the disruptive ability of in vivo gene editing as a technological paradigm in terms of therapy replacement, business models, and other aspects. Especially when its long-term cost curve is lower than the existing paradigm, it is only a matter of time before capital floods in.
Look, the wind is rising.
This article is from the WeChat official account "Medical Shine", author: Zhang Qinghuan, published by 36Kr with authorization.