STEMVAC(EpiThany)

Boasting one of the biggest early-stage financings for a Chinese biotech, Excalipoint Therapeutics made its debut on Wednesday with a suite of technologies designed to cement the spot of T-cell engagers (TCEs) in the solid tumour space — as well as autoimmune diseases. The firm's $68.7 million in total funding includes a $41-million seed round from August 2025, co-led by Hongshan Capital, Apricot Capital and Yuanbio Venture Capital, with participation from 5Y Capital, Co-Win Ventures, Med-Fine Capital and Hony Capital. The company then added an additional $27.7 million to its funding pool after achieving "significant early clinical progress" within six months, co-founder and CEO Lei Fang told FirstWord. In October 2025, the company dosed the first patient in a Phase I/II study evaluating its lead candidate, EXP011, for DLL3-expressing cancers such as neuroendocrine tumours and small-cell lung cancer (SCLC). The tri-specific TCE targets DLL3, CD3 and 4-1BB.Excalipoint was able to move so quickly, Fang explained, in part due to the expertise of the founding team, and because of China's support for the biotech industry."China now has a highly sophisticated clinical research infrastructure and a strong network of experienced principal investigators with deep expertise in early-stage innovative drug development, including emerging modalities such as T-cell engagers in solid tumours," he said. "Combined with efficient clinical execution and access to large patient populations, this environment enables innovative therapies to move into clinical development rapidly while maintaining global-quality standards."The ability of Chinese drug developers to rapidly move candidates into the clinic and through testing has made homegrown assets attractive licensing targets for Western biopharmas over the past year (see – Vital Signs: Charting China's course westward into 2026).The extension round was co-led by MPCi and Centurium Capital with participation from Lilly Asia Ventures and Eisai Innovation Fund, as well as existing investors Apricot Capital and 5Y Capital. Key technologyAfter proving their mettle in blood cancers, TCEs reached a "turning point" when the FDA approved Amgen's Imdelltra (tarlatamab) for SCLC in 2024, Fang said. The immunotherapy modality offers several advantages over early checkpoint inhibitors, as well as current CAR-T cell therapies, Fang explained. TCEs represent the "next evolution" of PD-1 inhibitors by actively redirecting T cells to kill cancer cells, rather than just modulating existing immune responses. And the off-the-shelf biologics are more accessible, with scalable manufacturing, compared to a personalised cell therapy — and now are surpassing CAR-Ts by making their way into solid tumours. "We are now beginning to see important breakthroughs in solid tumours," Fang said of TCEs. However, he added, the field still has to overcome three biological barriers that have limited the modality's efficacy: insufficient T-cell activation, the immunosuppressive tumour microenvironment (TME), and the limited number of tumour-specific antigens.To address these challenges, Excalipoint has developed a trio of technologies. Its TOPAbody platform improves T-cell activation by adding 4-1BB co-stimulation alongside CD3 engagement, with the goal of converting "cold" tumours into inflamed "hot" tumours. Aiming to protect its candidates from immunosuppression within the TME, the company has created its T-Cell Immune Shield technology to integrate TME blockers into TCEs. Excalipoint is also using its TCE Probody masking technology to reach "untargetable" tumour-associated antigens with TCEs by selectively activating the therapy once it's inside a tumour, thereby maintaining safety."Together, these three platforms are designed to address the core biological barriers of solid tumours," Fang said. "Our broader vision is to take a systematic approach to T-cell immunotherapy, with the goal of fully unleashing the potential of T-cell–based treatments not only in cancer but potentially in other immune-related diseases in the future."He added that Excapipoint has been "very encouraged" by recent data in patients with autoimmune diseases demonstrating that CAR-Ts can effectively reset the immune system. "We believe that as next-generation TCE technologies evolve, they may eventually replicate similar immune-reset effects in autoimmune diseases as well," Fang said. What's up next in the pipelineWith Wednesday's funding, Excalipoint plans to advance its deep TCE pipeline.Behind EXP011, the company's next-most advanced asset is EXP012, a tri-specific antibody targeting CDH17, CD3 and 4-1BB. Expected to enter the clinic next half, the TCE is being developed for colorectal, gastric and pancreatic cancers. Exalipoint also disclosed three preclinical oncology programmes: EXP016 is a tri-specific antibody designed with its TOPAbody platform; EXP017, a multi-specific asset, was developed using the Immune Shield technology; and EP101 was built with the TCE Probody platform.The biotech is also developing EXP015, a tri-specific TCE derived from the TOPAbody platform, for IgG-associated diseases in immunology.