Shanghai-based Beyang Therapeutics Co., Ltd., has closed an oversubscribed USD 30 million Series A financing round to advance its AI-driven drug discovery platform and two clinical-stage pipeline candidates targeting retinal disease and acute leukemia, the company said.
Legend Capital and Shanghai Healthcare Capital co-led the round, with participation from China Medical System Holdings Limited, Fenglei Capital, Shanghai Sci-Tech Innovation Center Capital, and Harbor & Canton Capital. Existing backers Root Venture Partners and YuanBio Venture Capital also participated. The financing follows a series of earlier rounds including a Pre-Series A led by Ming Bioventures and a Pre-Series A+ completed exclusively with Root Venture Partners. Proceeds will fund continued development of Beyang's ExCEED platform, advancement of its lead pipeline candidates through clinical and pre-clinical development, and expansion of its international research and business development teams.
Founded in 2021 by Qiyue Hu, whose background spans Pfizer, Merck, and Hengrui, Beyang built the ExCEED platform internally from industry expertise rather than academic licensing. The platform integrates generative AI, computational simulation, and absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion, and toxicity (ADMET) prediction into a closed-loop molecular design and optimization engine. It ranked 8th globally among more than 350 participants in the OpenADMET blind prediction challenge, the company said.
The lead asset, BT01001, is a small-molecule eye drop designed to treat retinal diseases including diabetic retinopathy. In pre-clinical studies, it demonstrated ocular tissue exposure comparable to intravitreal injections of aflibercept, a standard-of-care anti-VEGF agent, while offering a non-invasive alternative to injection-based administration. BT01001 has completed Phase I single ascending dose and multiple ascending dose studies in healthy subjects and received IND clearance from both the US FDA and China's National Medical Products Administration. The company is advancing toward first-in-patient trials.