2025年8月22日
Pleryon Therapeutics Limited ("Pleryon"), a biotechnology company dedicated to addressing unmet clinical needs through innovative polymer-based therapeutics, today announced the completion of RMB 35 million (US$5 million) Series A financing round. This round was led by China’s prominent life science venture capital firm Efung Capital.
This financing brings the total capital raised by the company to over RMB 100 million (US$14 million). The proceeds from this financing will support Pleryon’s pipeline expansion and advancing its core programs P001X and P002 into clinical studies for osteoarthritis and dry eye disease. The company plans to initiate patient recruitment for both programs in 2026.
Pleryon’s team comprises industry and academic veterans from leading global pharmaceutical companies and top universities, bringing extensive experience in technology translation and clinical development for Pleryon’s first-in-class modalities. Since successfully closing its Pre-A round in 2022, the company has established strategic partnerships with leading CDMOs and CROs in Europe and the U.S, covering critical areas such as process development, GMP manufacturing, and clinical development, to ensure efficient and high-quality innovation translation.
“We appreciate the support from our new and existing investors in this round of financing. It is a testament to our cutting-edge technology, solid IP, and global product development strategies” Dr. Yu Yu, Founder and CEO of Pleryon Therapeutics. " This will be a pivotal year for Pleryon as we will transfer into clinical stage company by moving two programs into clinical trial. Both osteoarthritis and dry eye disease suffer from inadequate treatments requiring frequent dosing with limited efficacy. Our pipeline aims to deliver revolutionary, long-acting, and safe solutions. This financing will propel our core programs into clinical validation."
P001X and Osteoarthritis
Osteoarthritis represents a severely overlooked global unmet medical need, affecting over 500 million patients and ranking as a leading cause of disability among the elderly. P001X is a first-in-class synthetic polymer inspired by a natural glycoprotein lubricin, offering a novel mechanism for osteoarthritis treatment. This candidate has demonstrated greater lubricity than native lubricin, has exceptional preclinical efficacy and safety across multiple in vitro and in vivo models, with production scalability achieved through controlled chemical synthesis. The new treatment is expected to capture the growing global osteoarthritis drug market which has reached $6 billion.
Pleryon plans to initiate first-in-human trials for P001X in 2026.
P002 and Dry Eye Disease
Dry eye disease is another major global unmet need, impacting over 300 million patients. Existing therapies including hyaluronic acid and anti-inflammatory drugs suffer from significant limitations, with patient satisfaction below 30%, highlighting the urgent demand for safer and more effective options. The global dry eye market exceeds $5 billion, reflecting its substantial commercial potential.
Pleryon is developing multiple dry eye candidates, with P002 emerging as another breakthrough from its innovative platform. Building on the lubricin-inspired strategy, P002 employs a distinct polymer design to achieve prolonged ocular surface lubrication and tissue protection. Preclinical studies show outstanding efficacy and safety across different models.
Pleryon aims to commence first-in-human trials for P002 in 2026.