BridGene Biosciences Announces $38.5 Million Series B Financing to Further Develop Its Next Generation Chemoproteomics Platform and First-in-Class Oncology Drugs

Funding to accelerate the discovery and development of drugs for high value and traditionally undruggable targets

SAN JOSE, Calif., July 27, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- BridGene Biosciences, Inc., a biotechnology company leveraging a proprietary chemoproteomic platform to discover and develop small-molecule drugs for high-value, traditionally undruggable targets, today announced the completion of a $38.5 million Series B financing by Lapam Capital, Junson Capital and Dyee Capital.

Proceeds from the offering will be used to further develop BridGene's chemoproteomic platform IMTAC^™, which enables the screening of small molecules against the whole proteome or against a prioritized target in live cells to discover drug candidates for high value and traditionally undruggable targets that drive diseases, including cancers.

The unique advantage of IMTAC^™ is that it can efficiently identify hits for two major types of traditionally undruggable targets. By using covalent small molecules, BridGene can identify hits for targets with shallow binding pockets. BridGene can also identify hits via live cell screening for targets with temporary binding pockets that only form in live cells such as protein: protein interactions. This brings unprecedented opportunities for the development of small-molecule drugs for traditionally undruggable targets.

The proceeds will also be used to develop BridGene's leading pipeline project, a covalent TEAD inhibitor, as well as a few other undisclosed first-in-class oncology pipeline projects, which were initiated based on discoveries using the IMTAC^™ platform.

"This financing, along with our collaboration with Takeda Pharmaceutical announced last year, significantly strengthens our resources to discover breakthrough medicines for patients," said Ping Cao, Ph.D., CEO and co-founder of BridGene. "Our pioneering work has expanded the scope of chemoproteomics technology from screening just covalent small molecules to also screening non-covalent small molecules, and from targeting just cysteine to targeting multiple amino acids.  Our technology uniquely enables us to discover small-molecule drugs for traditionally undruggable targets with unparalleled speed and efficiency. It also enables us to build a pipeline with first-in-class drugs targeting well-known high-value and traditionally undruggable targets. Our long-term goal is to find small-molecule drugs for the most important targets in the proteome."

"BridGene's chemoproteomics platform IMTAC^™ is impressive and unique. It breaks the limitations of traditional chemoproteomics technology and greatly expands its scope. BridGene has established an outstanding scientific team, which has extensive experience in chemoproteomic technology and drug development. We believe that BridGene has the potential to grow to a leading company in the field of drugging traditionally undruggable targets," said Mr. Zhihua Yu, Chairman of Lapam Capital.

About Lapam Capital
Headquartered in Beijing, Lapam Capital is a leading healthcare venture capital firm in China. Lapam is currently managing five RMB funds and one USD fund, with more than 10 billion RMB under management. Lapam Capital focuses on investments in early to middle stage fast-growing companies that have innovative pharmaceuticals and medical devices. It has invested in about 60 biopharmaceutical companies and 10 medical device companies to date, including Betta Pharma, RemeGen Co. Ltd., Clover Biopharmaceuticals, Yahong Meditech, Stemirna Therapeutics, Binhui Biotech, ImmuneOnco Biopharmaceuticals, Biostar Pharmaceuticals, Aibo Medical Robot Co. Ltd. and many other companies with great potential. Lapam Capital has a professional investment team with more than 20 years' international and domestic biopharmaceutical industry R&D and management experience and can provide comprehensive value-added supports for the invested companies.

About Junson Capital
Junson Capital is a global multi-asset investment management company with venture capital and private equity, public market investments, real estate investments, and alternative investments. With its long dedication to technology and healthcare, Junson Capital manages more than 30 portfolio companies and aims at backing disruptive technology and science leaders. As a global organization, Junson Capital has investment professionals located in Hong Kong, New York, Palo Alto and Singapore.

About Dyee Capital
Dyee Capital focuses on investments in the fields of healthcare and information technology. The management team has many years of investment, investment banking, and industry experience, as well as extensive market resources and professional post-investment service experience. Dyee Capital has invested in many innovative pharmaceutical companies, including Zelgen Biopharmaceuticals, Allist Pharmaceuticals, InventisBio, Ionova Life Science, Ark Biosciences, Leads Biolabs, Yingli Pharma, and Zhimeng Biopharma.

About BridGene Biosciences 
BridGene is a biotechnology company focused on discovering and developing innovative small molecules that drug traditionally undruggable targets, providing new paths to treat diseases. By using its proprietary chemoproteomics platform, IMTAC™, BridGene can screen small molecules against proteins in live cells to discover drug candidates for high value and traditionally undruggable targets. For this purpose, BridGene takes advantage of its proprietary, diverse library of tagged, drug-like small molecules. The ultimate goal is to enable breakthrough small molecule drug discovery with expanded mechanisms to treat diseases with targets previously inaccessible to small molecules. The uniqueness of BridGene's technology allows it to perform IMTAC™ screening for both covalent and non-covalent molecules, target different amino acids and discover new targets for disease treatments by deconvoluting phenotypic screening hits. The company is advancing a diversified pipeline of first-in-class drugs for targets in multiple disease areas. For more information, visit https://www.bridgenebio.com.

Contact

Tiberend Strategic Advisors, Inc.
Investors
Jonathan Nugent
+1-205-566-3026
[email protected]

Media
Bill Borden
+1-732-910-1620
[email protected]

Dave Schemelia
+1-609-468-9325
[email protected]

SOURCE BridGene Biosciences