China's Chengdu New Radiomedicine Technology and the radiotherapy CRDMO Mitro Biotech bagged a combined $94m in their respective new financing rounds during March. Meanwhile, Beijing Varnotech Biopharm secured $83m for its vaccine candidates for the prevention of herpes zoster and respiratory syncytial virus infections. 

On the new company creation front, using Series A financings as a proxy, start-ups have not escaped the challenging funding environment. Here we update trends in those first-time rounds for 2023.

Private Company Financings: Year-end data from Pitchbook/NVCA, like recent Evaluate numbers, show venture fundraising slid from the third to fourth quarters. However, Taiho increased its VC fund by $100m, Ji Xing closed a $162m series D round and MAPS raised more than $100m.

Nucleic acid-based therapies are poised to revolutionize medicine – just as antibodies did thirty years ago.