LKtime Biotechnology Co., Ltd. (referred to as LKtime Biotech for short), a biopharmaceutical CDMO company with the service philosophy of "being your most trustworthy one-stop biologics CDMO partner", recently announced the completion of a 190 million yuan Series B financing round. This round was led by Zhongshan Venture Capital Co., Ltd. (referred to as "Zhongshan VC"), with renewed investment from Cuiheng Venture Capital and participation from West Bay Capital, among others. The funds will be used to further expand LKtime's commercial production facilities, upgrade its Shanghai innovation R&D center and pilot plant, and continuously optimize the company's high-standard biologics R&D and production capabilities to meet the growing demand for innovative large molecule CDMO services.

Zhang Lei, Founder and CEO of LKtime Biotech, stated: "Currently, there is severe homogeneous competition among CDMO platforms. The model of relying solely on platform systems and hardware facilities to incubate biosimilars or antibody drug projects is gradually exiting the historical stage. From generics to innovative drugs, Biotech leaders are becoming clearer in their thinking, with higher demands for the quality of their biological products and the capabilities of their contracted technical platforms. The entire biologics field has not yet formed a widely recognized model for CDMO operations and team building, as the workload from R&D to commercial production in CDMO is enormous, and most CDMO practitioners are passive laborers rather than active participants. Now, the biologics market is dominated by innovative drug projects, with innovative attributes in both molecular design and production processes, but domestic platforms capable of providing matching customized CDMO services have not yet taken shape. Additionally, to ensure excellent efficacy and safety in clinical trials and reduce development risks, biotech companies are placing more emphasis on in-depth research into druggability and critical quality attributes from the early stages of development, working closely with CDMO partners to control product quality from the source. Therefore, having flexible customized production capabilities and advanced technology platforms is crucial to meeting the constantly upgrading industry development needs."

Since its establishment in 2021, LKtime Biotech has been focusing on providing high-standard large molecule CDMO services from DNA to IND/BLA for innovative biopharmaceutical companies, helping clients efficiently break through bottlenecks in biologics development and production. In just three years, the company has built "1 R&D center + 2 production centers" and possesses a "dual expression platform" including mammalian cells (CHO and 293 cells) and microorganisms (yeast, E. coli). It has successfully operated over 70 large molecule drug (antibodies, vaccines, recombinant proteins, peptides, etc.) development and production projects, accumulating rich R&D and production experience in the CDMO field.

"As a professional investment institution deeply rooted in the biopharmaceutical industry, we are optimistic about LLtime Biotech's development prospects in the field of innovative biologics," said Zhang Cheng, Chairman of Zhongshan VC. "Against the backdrop of increasingly complex innovative drug R&D, pharmaceutical companies' demand for high-quality, customized CDMO services is growing daily. LKtime Biotech has advanced technology platforms and rich project experience, capable of providing end-to-end solutions from early development to commercial production, effectively meeting the urgent market needs."

Speaking of the strategic significance of this round of financing, Zhang Cheng emphasized: "The completion of this round of financing will inject strong momentum into LKtime Biotech, continuously expanding its production scale, enhancing technological reserves, optimizing service processes, and further expanding into new industry upgrades in multiple areas of biologics, thereby further releasing production potential. It will also provide necessary support for LKtime to settle in Zhongshan and build a biopharmaceutical ecosystem in the Greater Bay Area. We believe this will not only consolidate LKtime Biotech's leading position in the industry but also enable it to better seize the historical opportunities of the rapidly developing biologics CDMO market."

Large molecule biologics are hailed as the fastest-growing and most innovative niche market in the life sciences and biotechnology fields. The rapidly developing biologics industry will further stimulate demand in the CDMO sector, bringing enormous market opportunities for LKtime Biotech. The successful completion of this financing round will further strengthen LKtime Biotech's technological capabilities, expand production capacity, and help the company provide higher quality and more efficient innovative drug CDMO services to meet the urgent needs of domestic and international biopharmaceutical companies, promoting the healthy and sustainable development of the large molecule pharmaceutical industry.