Qiming Venture Partners' portfolio company Structure Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: GPCR), a clinical stage global biopharmaceutical company focusing on novel oral small molecule therapeutics, successfully debuts on Nasdaq on February 3 Beijing Time. It issued at $15.00 per ADS, opened at $25.00 per ADS and up by 66.67%, representing a market cap of $915 million.
As an early investor, Qiming first invested in the company's series A round in 2019 and continued to participate in its A+ and B rounds. This successful IPO also marks Qiming's second IPO in 2023.
Co-founded by Raymond Stevens, Ph.D., a world-renowned pioneer in the field of structure-based drug discovery, and another Qiming's portfolio company Schrödinger (NASDAQ: SDGR), a leading player in computational physics-based drug design, Structure Therapeutics' platform enables conversion of biologics and peptide therapeutics into orally available small molecule drugs with enhanced pharmaceutical properties, including improved bioavailability and stability by leveraging structure-based drug discovery and computational chemistry expertise.
Targeting G-protein-coupled receptors, or GPCRs, Structure Therapeutics currently has a wholly owned pipeline of candidates, including GSBR-1290 targeting GLP-1R, for the treatment of type-2 diabetes mellitus, or T2DM, and obesity, with Phase 1 single ascending dose, or SAD study completed in September 2022, and next generation GLP-1R candidates designed with customized properties to achieve additional benefit.
In September 2022, the company completed a Phase 1 SAD and MAD study evaluating ANPA-0073 targeting the apelin receptor, or APJR, for the treatment of patients with diopathic pulmonary fibrosis, or IPF, and pulmonary arterial hypertension, or PAH. It is also advancing a differentiated lysophosphatidic acid 1 receptor, or LPA1R, antagonist for the treatment of IPF.
"We are pleased to have been one of the earliest investors and accompanied Structure Therapeutics all the way to the IPO today, a new milestone for the company", said Nisa Leung, Managing Partner of Qiming Venture Partners, "Ever since its inception, Structure Therapeutics has adopted an innovative approach to address current challenges and built a platform to find the best drug candidates. With a global team of experts and their decades of experience, we look forward to Structure Therapeutics further advancing product R&D, commercialization, and corporate development to produce better and more affordable medicines, addressing global unmet needs."
