Junshi Biosciences a leading innovation-driven biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery, development and commercialization of novel therapies, announced that the company has established a joint venture with Immorna, a fast-growing biotechnology company focusing on the process development and optimization of mRNA and delivery vehicles and the research and development of new nucleic acid drugs, to develop and commercialize new drugs for the global market in the fields of cancer, infectious diseases, rare diseases, and other diseases, based on the mRNA technology and other technology platforms.
Immorna’s unique mRNA construction and established versatile process platform are suitable for the development of self-replicating mRNA as well as conventional non-replicating mRNA products, enabling the construction of a customized form of mRNA molecule for a specific disease. In terms of delivery vehicles, Immorna has developed several nanoliposome particles (LNP) suitable for different administration methods and has technical capabilities in the field of research and development of new non-LNP delivery vehicles.
Under the terms of the agreement, Junshi Biosciences will inject at most 799 million RMB in cash into the joint venture. The initial investment is 200 million RMB, of which 50 million RMB will be used to subscribe to 50% of the registered capital of the joint venture. Immorna will invest in the joint venture company with intellectual property rights involved in the mRNA technology platform. The 50 million RMB in the estimated asset value of the platform will be used to subscribe to other 50% of the registered capital of the joint venture company.
“As the mRNA Technology Platform gradually matures, its potential in a variety of fields—including infectious diseases, cancer, rare diseases, and other diseases has become increasingly evident,” says Dr. Ning Li, Chief Executive Officer of Junshi Biosciences. “This is highly consistent with the therapeutic areas covered by Junshi Biosciences’ R&D pipeline and our desire to explore the next generation of innovative therapeutics. Immorna has a wealth of experience and expertise in mRNA industrialization. We look forward to working together to develop more revolutionary therapeutics for patients worldwide through our mRNA Technology Platform with domestic intellectual property rights and promote public health on a global scale.”
“Immorna is very pleased to reach a strategic collaboration agreement with Junshi Biosciences, under which a joint venture company has been created,” says Dr. Zihao Wang, Chief Executive Officer of Immorna Therapeutics. “We are very confident that this new entity will allow us to take advantage of each other’s core competency, quickly and efficiently utilize the versatile mRNA platform technology in immunotherapy and infectious disease prevention, and continue our search for new directions of the application.”
