AsianScientist (Apr. 7, 2014) – Chinese biotechnology company RuiYi, Inc. has raised US$15 million in Series B financing from existing investors to develop their pipeline of monoclonal antibodies.
The financing will primarily support the continued development of RuiYi’s lead asset, RYI-008, a novel anti-IL-6 monoclonal antibody (mAb), as well as new therapeutic mAbs targeting G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs). Among the promising new mAbs are a first-in-class mAb to cannabinoid receptor 1 (CB-1), a commercially validated but previously intractable drug target.
In addition, RuiYi has expanded its leadership team, appointing Erik Karrer, Ph.D. as chief scientific officer and Brian Campion, Ph.D. as vice president of business development.
RuiYi’s first drug candidate, RYI-008, a novel anti-IL-6 monoclonal antibody, has a unique pharmacologic profile with the potential to define a new paradigm in the treatment of autoimmune diseases and cancer. Last year, RuiYi announced a collaboration with Genor BioPharma to develop the antibody in China.
RuiYi’s iCAPS, a GPCR drug discovery platform, can isolate and present functional GPCRs in their correct conformation to identify selective antibody inhibitors or activators with great specificity for more effective therapeutics. Using iCAPS, RuiYi has identified another drug candidate, RYI-018, which is highly specific and selective to CB-1, a known therapeutically relevant and commercially validated GPCR target.
GPCRs are a valuable class of targets for therapeutic intervention with approximately 30 percent of today’s approved drugs modulating these proteins. Many GPCRs remain under-explored as therapeutic targets because selective targeting GPCRs and their transmembrane nature have not been amenable to classical drug discovery techniques.
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Source: RuiYi.
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