EpimAb Biotherapeutics, Inc.

Excalipoint, incorporated in the Cayman Islands, is paying $10 million upfront to China’s Lepu Biopharma in return for the rights to two preclinical T-cell engagers.\n A new Caribbean company has emerged to enter the increasingly crowded T-cell engager space. Excalipoint, incorporated in the Cayman Islands, is paying $10 million upfront to China’s Lepu Biopharma in return for the rights to two preclinical assets.Lepu can earn up to $847.5 million in development and commercial milestones, along with royalties from potential sales, according to an August 1 release (PDF).Not content with just out-licensing assets, Lepu is also investing in Excalipoint, obtaining shares worth 10% of the new company through a subsidiary. The Cayman company has also secured a $41 million series A fundraising, with investors YuanBio Venture Capital and Apricot Capital leading the charge.The two assets, CTM012 and CTM013, were developed by Lepu using the Shanghai-based outfit’s T-cell engager TOPAbody platform, the company said in the release. CTM012 has already obtained investigational new drug approval, Lepu added.The company didn’t disclose the two assets’ targets, but is angling CTM012 for solid tumor, according to its 2024 annual report.Lepu’s pipeline primarily consists of antibody-drug conjugates and immuno-oncology-focused bi- and trispecific antibodies. Offloading the development of these T-cell engagers to Excalipoint “is in the best interests of the company and its shareholders as a whole,” Lepu said, “because it allows the company to earn cash from them immediately that can “directly fuel the company’s strategic R&D focus and late-stage product commercialization efforts.” “Furthermore, the transaction complements the company’s diversified globalization strategy by expanding the reach and impact of the company’s innovative pipeline on a global scale,” Lepu added.This isn’t Lepu’s first time seeking external partners this year. The biotech netted $47 million in near-term cash from ArriVent BioPharma in January for a preclinical gastrointestinal cancer ADC.The Lepu-Excalipoint deal represents the latest example of the increasingly popular “NewCo” model among Chinese biotechs, in which the original drug developer offloads mostly early-stage assets and partners with investors to form new companies outside of China.And biotech has been going bonkers for T-cell engagers in recent years. AbbVie has bought into the modality twice this year, securing one phase 1 asset from China’s Simcere Zaiming for an undisclosed upfront payment and up to $1.05 billion in milestones in January and then inking a multi-program pact with Xilio Therapeutics for $52 million upfront a month later.TCG Labs Soleil’s Juri Biosciences also looked to China for its T-cell engager, finding one for metastatic prostate cancer from EpimAb Biotherapeutics in May.

In collaboration with The Column Group, TCG Labs Soleil runs a venture-biotech model with its own R&D hub.\n TCG Labs Soleil has secured $400 million to boost the firm’s ability to advance its biotech portfolio companies while also expanding its R&D capabilities globally.The San Francisco-based company’s fundraise is the exact same size as its inaugural fund of $400 million last year, according to a July 24 release.TCG Labs Soleil runs a venture-biotech model with its own R&D hub in collaboration with industry VC heavyweight The Column Group.The firm aims to help single-asset biotechs move their candidates through clinical proof of concept, which often occurs in phase 2 trials. The company also works to position its portfolio biotechs as ideal candidates for strategic partnerships, according to the release.The organization has expanded globally, establishing an R&D site in Shanghai. The move underscores the firm’s desire to create a worldwide network that supports both internally and externally sourced programs.Just this May, TCG Labs Soleil’s Juri Biosciences offered EpimAb Biotherapeutics up to $210 million biobucks for exclusive licensing rights to the Chinese biotech’s T-cell engager designed to treat metastatic prostate cancer. Since launching in 2024, TCG Labs Soleil has created more than 10 portfolio companies across several indications and modalities.“The TCG Labs Soleil model gives us the flexibility and control to invest decisively in the highest-potential single-asset programs, while remaining agile in how and when we engage with biopharma partners,” Peter Svennilson, managing partner at TCG Labs, said in the release. “With this new funding, we can continue building the portfolio and position each program for success, whether through in-house development or an early strategic transaction.”Editor\'s note: This story was updated at 1:50 p.m. ET to clarify the year TCG Labs Soleil emerged.

TCG Labs Soleil is firing on all cylinders, with the venture firm and biotech R&D operator doubling its initial pool of capital to $800 million and opening a Shanghai unit, it said Thursday morning. The Bay Area firm broke cover with $400 million in February last year to build single-asset biotech companies that are supported by a centralized R&D organization. The goal is to run Phase 1 trials, and sometimes Phase 2 proof-of-concept studies, to gather clinical data that would entice a drugmaker to buy the company that houses that investigational treatment. Aditum Bio and others are deploying similar models, investing in single-asset companies formed around near-clinical-stage drugs that the venture firm supports through early human trials. “The model is really working,” said Jin-Long Chen, CEO of TCG Labs Soleil, in an interview. He noted the new $400 million comes from “largely the same” limited partners as the first batch of $400 million but declined to disclose specific investor names. So far, TCG Labs Soleil has constructed more than 10 companies. That includes Juri Biosciences, which formed around the exclusive global license to a KLK2- and CD3-targeting T cell engager from Shanhgai-based EpimAb Biotherapeutics . EpimAb stands to gain up to $210 million from the pact, which revolves around metastatic prostate cancer, the companies said in May. Now, TCG Labs Soleil is itself expanding to Shanghai. The firm has opened an office in the megacity, which is one of the bustling hubs in China’s quickly sprawling biotech sector. The country’s biotech scene has caught the industry by storm and led to a flurry of cross-border deals. “The science, there’s really no border,” Chen said. TCG Labs Soleil is establishing a research hub in Shanghai and could eventually run clinical trials in China, as well, he added. The firm does not have China-based limited partners, it said. China’s biotech ecosystem has grown into one of the world’s leaders in new drug development and clinical trial operations. Some Western drugmakers and investors are flocking to the country’s biotech campuses to source their next big medicines. “It’s all about efficiency,” chief operating officer Lucinda Quan said in a joint interview. “Having boots on the ground there, keeping an ear to the innovation that’s happening there. But also we use a number of CROs globally, including in China, so having boots on the ground to manage those relationships, to cut down on the time zone differences is just all about adding to our efficiency.” The firm has been quite efficient since its unveiling. It’s grown to about 60 people and has a suite of preclinical drug programs spanning solid tumors, COPD, migraine, obesity, thyroid eye disease and other conditions.