Recently, Suzhou Inhal Pharma Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Inhal Pharma"), a leading domestic innovative dry powder inhalation (DPI) company, successfully completed round A financing, raising more than 50-million-yuan RMB (about US $6.8 mn) in funds. Ever since the company’s founding in June 2020, Inhal Pharma has made significant breakthroughs in the development of dry powder inhalation formulations and inhalation devices, with its valuation increasing by up to 5 times.

This round A financing was led by Beijing Saiying Capital, which focuses on the health and medical field, and received follow-up investment from several high-quality institutions. After this investment, Inhal Pharma plans to establish a Beijing subsidiary to push its flagship products to the clinical stage and strive to occupy a leading position in the domestic market. In addition, Inhal Pharma will also rapidly promote the development of innovative formulations and innovative devices through cooperation with strategic partners.

Rooted in Canada,

Thirty years of technology accumulation

Suzhou Inhal Pharma Co., Ltd. was co-founded by Professor JINGXU ZHU, academicians of the Royal Canadian Academy of Sciences and the Academy of Engineering, and Dr Shi Kaiqi. It is a technological innovation enterprise focusing on the research and development of inhalation formulations, inhalation devices and supporting equipment. Inhal Pharma is committed to building a professional "Drug, Device, and Machine" integrated lung-targeted drug delivery platform to achieve interconnection with upstream and downstream companies and provide global pharmaceutical R&D companies with one-stop solutions in the field of inhalation drug delivery, serving the needs of patients.

The company's founder, Professor Zhu, has led a team engaged in inhaled drug delivery research since 1994. He has accumulated 30 years of experience in inhaled drug delivery research and development, and has achievements in inhaled drug screening and evaluation, powder mist prescription design and optimization, and the development of dry powder inhalation devices. Among them, development of precise quantitative packaging technology and equipment for ultrafine powder drugs and the construction of a lung-targeted drug delivery system have laid a solid foundation for the sustainability and technological breakthroughs of Inhal Pharma.

Inhal Pharma Office and R&D Site

 Honours witness the past,

Embark on a new journey again

In the past three years, Inhal Pharma has received several awards and honours, including international and national innovation and entrepreneurship competitions, academician workstations, etc., and was selected as the Suzhou Industrial Park Leading Talent Project and Suzhou Industrial Park Leading Talent Project in 2021 and 2023 respectively. Innovation and Entrepreneurship Leading Talent Project.

Suzhou Park Leading Talent Project

 Suzhou Gusu Leading Talent Project Certificate

Academician workstation

DPI technology innovation never stops

The Inhal Pharma team has three core technologies: ultra-fine powder preparation and fluidization technology, ultra-fine powder drug quantification technology, and low-resistance inhalation flow channel design, development and verification technology and has accumulated more than 50 Chinese and American inventions in related fields. patent. In the field of inhalation preparation prescription, Inhal Pharma has constructed a carrier-free dry powder inhalation preparation prescription system, which can be widely used in dry powder inhalation delivery of small molecules, peptides, and biological macromolecules; in the field of inhalation device development, Inhal Pharma has the ability to develop a variety of Capabilities for complex inhalation devices and innovative inhalation device products, including reservoir, blister, capsule and disposable inhalation devices.

In addition to inhalation devices in the DPI field, in the past three years, the Inhal Pharma team has also developed a variety of customized medical device products and related equipment for several innovative pharmaceutical companies and consumer goods companies to achieve continuous innovation. In terms of precision filling, Inhal Pharma uses a rotating fluidized bed to generate a stable gas-solid two-phase system, thereby realizing the filling of ultra-fine powders at the mg level and microgram level. Inhal Pharma is one of the few companies in the world that can realize the collaborative development of DPI "preparation prescriptions, inhalation devices, and filling equipment".

Reservoir type inhaler device

Blister type inhalation device

Filling equipment

Disposable inhalation device

With R&D personnel as the core,

Build an excellent team

Inhal Pharma is an interdisciplinary R&D team. The background of the team spans pharmacy, chemical engineering, pharmaceutical engineering, industrial design, mechanical engineering, and other professional fields. More than 30% of them have doctorates and 80% are R&D personnel. They are mainly distributed in the four areas of formulation development, analysis and testing, inhalation device and mechanical equipment development. departments.

Professor Zhu Jingxu, Chairman of Inhal Pharma, is an academician of the Royal Academy of Canada/Academician of the Academy of Engineering and a global expert in particle science. Academician Zhu is the first graduate of Tsinghua University after China resumed the college entrance examination in 1977. After graduation, he worked at UBC and Shell. Since 1982, Academician Zhu has been engaged in research work on solid fluidization and particle technology. He works in several internationally renowned fluidization and particle science research institutions in three continents, the United States and Europe, and is a well-known fluidization and particle science expert at home and abroad. Academician Zhu's ultrafine powder fluidization technology has been successfully used in many industrial fields. Its application and industrialization in the pharmaceutical field are exclusively carried out by Inhal Pharma, which is mainly reflected in the ultrafine powder quantification and precision filling of prescriptions.

Dr. Shi Kaiqi, general manager of Inhal Pharma, is committed to the development of new pharmaceutical materials, drug particle technology, and innovative preparation technology. He has presided over more than 10 projects including the National Natural Science Foundation of China Youth Project, the Royal Society International Cooperation Project, the Li Daksan Innovation Project, the Nottingham China Health Research Project, and the Municipal Science and Technology Innovation 2025 Major Project. He has rich experience in industrialization transformation in the fields of environmentally friendly tissue fixation materials, ultra-fine powder electrostatic spray dry coating technology, and dry powder inhalation preparation technology. He has achieved the improvement of existing biomedical technology through technological innovation, industrial chain integration and capital assistance. and innovation. Dr. Shi Kaiqi applied his experience in chemical engineering and biomedicine to the field of inhaled preparations, grasped the company's overall development direction and strategy formulation, and led the company's R&D and business teams to jointly develop a few new inhaled drugs and generic drugs.

Dr. Zhang, the formulation director of Inhal Pharma, has worked for many companies such as Chia Tai Tianqing, Simcere Pharmaceuticals, Fosun Pharma, etc., and was responsible for multiple inhaled formulation development projects. During his eight years as a senior project manager at Chia Tai Tianqing Pharmaceutical Group, he was responsible for the R&D and registration filing of dozens of products, including inhaled preparations, and completed two EU filings; later he served as deputy director of R&D for Simcere Pharmaceuticals , establishing a R&D management system, quality management process, and building a GMP production base for respiratory drugs. Later, he entered Fosun Pharma's Suzhou CMC Center and led the cooperative development of dozens of soft mist generic drugs and improved drug products with Belgium's SOFTHALE NV (Softhale). Dr. Zhang is one of the few domestic leaders who has accumulated experience in multiple projects in the field of R&D management of inhaled preparations. As a core manager, he has led the R&D of multiple inhaled preparation projects and participated in and presided over the construction of inhaled product production workshops of some companies. and equipment procurement research, and has extensive experience in the operating principles and product compatibility of dry powder inhalation product production equipment.

Dr. Dong, head of device development at Inhal Pharma , graduated from chemical and environmental engineering and focused on many important research areas. His areas of expertise include particle dynamics, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and discrete element method (DEM) simulations, mechanical equipment optimization and design, etc. As the leader of the Inhal Pharma device development team, Dr. Dong has successfully developed various types of DPI products, including reservoir-type, blister-type, capsule-type dry powder inhalation devices and innovative disposable devices. Furthermore, he is involved in the design and manufacture of auxiliary equipment required during the development, production, and testing of devices. In addition, as the main person in charge or participant of the project, Dr. Dong has applied for and completed a few government-funded scientific research projects, with a total project funding of over 10 million and nearly 30 patent applications. Dr. Dong's multi-field professional knowledge and experience have made him a key promoter of Inhal Pharma in the field of inhaled formulation technology, making important contributions to the company's innovation and product development.

  Broad application market,

continued growth potential

According to the statistical report of the World Health Organization, respiratory diseases account for three of the top ten causes of death in the world, and the disease mortality rate among urban residents ranks fourth, second only to malignant tumors, heart disease, and cerebrovascular disease. The recent outbreak of COVID-19 is also one of them.

Inhaled preparations are one of the main solutions for treating respiratory diseases. Compared with ordinary oral preparations, the drugs in inhalation preparations can directly reach the site of absorption or action, and the absorption effect is fast, which can avoid the first-pass effect of the liver, reduce the dosage, and improve bioavailability; compared with injection preparations, it can reduce local tissue damage Mechanical damage can reduce or avoid some adverse drug reactions and improve patient compliance. Therefore, it has attracted more and more attention from drug developers in recent years. Interferons, vaccines, etc. can be inhaled for prevention, and small molecules and large molecules can be inhaled for targeted administration. It is a golden therapy for the treatment of lung diseases such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. In recent years, it has also been used to treat pulmonary infections, cystic fibrosis of the lungs, and respiratory tract tumors. It is also used for systemic diseases such as diabetes, mental illness, and pain relief. It is widely used.

Inhal Pharma's product layout strategy not only focuses on the treatment of respiratory diseases, but also actively explores the wide application of dry powder inhalation preparations (DPI) in the fields of diabetes, mental illness, and inflammation treatment. Inhal Pharma establishes strategic cooperation with innovative drug companies to jointly develop innovative DPI products to meet clinical needs in different fields.

In addition, Inhal Pharma has made significant breakthroughs in the field of consumer products based on DPI technology based on the advantages of DPI products, such as high drug deposition rate, rapid onset of action, and easy portability. The company plans to launch epoch-making innovative products in 2024 to further consolidate its leadership in the consumer medical technology segment.

About Saiying Capital

Saiying Capital is jointly established by listed pharmaceutical companies, state-owned financial platforms, professional pharmaceutical industrial parks, etc., with its headquarters in Yizhuang, Beijing. Saiying Capital focuses on investment in the fields of medicine, health, and life sciences. It is currently the vice-chairman unit of the Biomedicine Professional Committee of the Beijing Venture Capital Alliance, with a total management fund of several billion yuan. Saiying Capital has a deep understanding of the development trends of medical technology, has deeply cultivated the domestic pharmaceutical market, and has completed dozens of investments and mergers and acquisitions of medical and health companies; adhering to the concept of "capital power assists the development of the medical industry", it provides professional expertise and resources to enterprises and entrepreneurs. strong support. The fund management team has a profound background in the medical and health industry and rich venture capital experience. It pragmatically accumulates and drives innovation to help strategic partners achieve long-term development