$35 million boost for Rona Therapeutics: A new era in RNA medicine begins!

Rona Therapeutics, a clinical-stage company leading the way in nucleic acid drug research and development, has successfully completed a Series A+ financing round, raising $35 million. This investment round was spearheaded by LongRiver Investments, with significant contributions from Zhaode Investment, BioTrack Capital, Zhongqi Capital, and Lilly Asia Ventures.

With this new funding, Rona Therapeutics plans to expand its innovative pipeline of small interfering RNA (siRNA) therapies. The company has already achieved notable milestones, including the advancement of two leading siRNA metabolic programs into global development stages and showcasing differentiated clinical data and platform value. These programs are geared towards addressing metabolic, obesity, renal, and neurodegenerative diseases through Rona’s proprietary RNA platform.

Ms. Stella SHI, CEO and Founder of Rona Therapeutics, expressed enthusiasm about the new investment: “We are thrilled to welcome LongRiver Investments and our other new investors as we progress more best-in-class and first-in-class siRNA programs into global development and catalyze potential business development opportunities.”

A representative from LongRiver Investments, soon to join Rona’s board, highlighted the company’s progress: “Rona Therapeutics has successfully brought two best-in-class siRNA metabolic programs into global development and demonstrated differentiated clinical data and platform value. We look forward to partnering with the Rona team to unlock the potential of RNA medicine as transformative therapies to patients globally.”

Rona is set to advance its first program, RN0191, into Phase 2 clinical trials in Australia and China for hypercholesterolemia treatment, following successful Phase 1 studies. Another promising candidate, RN0361, targets hypertriglyceridemia and is poised to enter clinical trials in the second quarter of 2024.

Besides metabolic diseases, Rona Therapeutics is making significant strides in the development of treatments for CNS degenerative diseases. The company has established a proprietary extra-hepatic delivery platform, which is crucial for treating complex conditions such as ALS and Alzheimer’s disease, traditionally challenging with conventional drug therapies.

Rona’s innovative approach in leveraging next-generation siRNA platforms for diseases with significant unmet medical needs could revolutionize treatment paradigms across multiple therapeutic areas.