- Funding from long-term investors to build leading delivery platform and scalable drug discovery engine to enable modular and programmable medicines

- Company is harnessing the potential of RNA therapeutics to deliver medicines to liver and extrahepatic tissues with specific, stable and prolonged effects

SHANGHAI, April 7, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Rona Therapeutics, a fully integrated platform company dedicated to the discovery, development and manufacturing of RNA therapeutics announces the successful completion of $33 million Series A financing to advance proprietary delivery platform and initial pipeline of therapeutics. The round was supported by a group of blue-chip investors including Lilly Asia Ventures, CMB International, Platanus, Fontus Capital and Lanting Capital.

Founded in 2021, Rona Therapeutics aims to establish innovative and disruptive RNA medicines with proprietary platform to enable therapeutics with more specific, stable and prolonged effects. The RNA medicines from Rona Therapeutics are modular and programmable modalities targeting disease areas across metabolic diseases, neurological diseases and ophthalmology diseases via different delivery systems. The company is building state-of-the-art facilities to expand nucleic acid synthesis, delivery platform, oligonucleotide chemical modification, RNA biology and manufacturing capability to realize the potential of powerful RNA therapeutics.

"We are grateful to have strong support from leading life science investment firms in this financing round. The ability to impact at RNA level will lead to transformative wave of new medicines in this era," said Stella SHI, CEO and co-founder of Rona Therapeutics. "We are looking forward to working with collaborators and financial partners, as our company vision is to turn this powerful technology into therapeutics to benefit patients."

"Since launch, Rona Therapeutics has made remarkable progress in building delivery platform and advancing therapeutics into IND. The company is well positioned to become a major player in this space with scalable platform and high potential pipeline programs," said Dr. Chuan He, scientific advisor of Rona Therapeutics.

"With decades-long exploratory work to decode nucleic acid therapeutics, Rona has the potential to become a leader in RNA medicines to discover and develop transformative therapeutics," said Dr. Roberto Guerciolini, scientific advisor of Rona Therapeutics.

About Rona Therapeutics

Rona Therapeutics is a pioneering RNA therapeutics platform company dedicated to discovery and development of modular and programmable RNA medicines to deliver to patients around the world. The company is founded by industry veteran with deep expertise in RNA therapeutics program execution and world leading scientific advisors with rigorous biology understanding in the RNA space.

About Lilly Asia Ventures

Lilly Asia Ventures (LAV) is a leading biomedical venture capital firm founded in 2008, with offices in Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Palo Alto. Our vision is to become the trusted partner for exceptional entrepreneurs seeking smart capital and to build great companies developing breakthrough products that treat diseases and improve human health.

About CMBI

Incorporated in Hong Kong, CMB International Capital Corporation Limited ("CMBI") is an integrated financial institution providing comprehensive and professional services to institutional, corporate and individual customers both domestically and overseas. As a wholly-owned subsidiary of China Merchants Bank ("CMB"), CMBI leverages CMB's synergy and coordination in domestic and overseas markets as well as CMB's strong resources and outstanding social reputation. CMBI and its subsidiaries have been actively implementing diversified business strategies and have established main business segments including Corporate Finance, Asset Management, Wealth Management, and Equity and Structured Finance.

About Fontus Capital

Fontus Capital was founded in 2015, with focus on life science, specializing in pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device and services around the world. Our mission is to improve the lives of patients and offer innovative solutions to address the unmet medical needs.

About Lanting Capital

LanTing Capital (LTC) is a cross-border, pharmaceutical-focused strategic private equity firm. Founded by pharmaceutical veterans and asset management experts, LTC leverages our unparalleled industry knowledge and network plus deep financial market know-how across the USA, China and Europe to unlock unique cross-border growth opportunities for our portfolio companies and investors. LanTing is currently operating in Princeton (USA), Milan (Italy), Saanen (Switzerland), and Hangzhou (China).

For more information on Rona Therapeutics, including how partnership opportunities, and job openings, visit www.ronatherapeutics.com.

For Further information,
Please Contact: BD@ronatherapeutics.com