Biotech start-up AnHorn Medicines Co (安宏生醫) yesterday completed a series A funding of US$10 million, as its proprietary protein degrader and artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled screening platform attracted investors, the company said.
AnHorn said it would use the fund for research and development and to support future operations.
Investors in the series A financing include Taiwania Capital Management Corp (台杉投資管理), the Industrial Technology Research Institute (工研院), Hong Tai Electric Industrial Co (宏泰電工), Sunplus Technology Co (凌陽科技) and Black Marble Capital Management Co (萬豐資本), the company said.
AnHorn said it is developing a new protein degrader, dubbed BIGPRO, that can precisely eliminate disease protein and help the human body become healthy.
The drug can be used to address a broad range of life-threatening diseases, with a focus on the treatment of cancer and neuro-degeneration, the company said.
Developing protein degraders is a new trend in the healthcare business as the small-molecule drug costs less in production than large-molecule drugs, it said, adding that its outlook is promising.
With its expertise in chemistry and pharmacology, the company’s AI-enabled screening platform can speed up the process of finding durable proteins and boost research efficiency, AnHorn chairman Lin Chu-Chiang (林助強) said.
Following its establishment in 2020 with paid-in capital of NT$1 billion (US$32.59 million), the company has developed two experimental drug candidates, Lin said.
The company plans to apply an investigational new drug for one candidate from the US Food and Drug Administration next year, enabling it to enter phase 1 clinical trials, he said.
The US dollar was trading at NT$29.7 at 10am today on the Taipei Foreign Exchange, as the New Taiwan dollar gained NT$1.364 from the previous close last week. The NT dollar continued to rise today, after surging 3.07 percent on Friday. After opening at NT$30.91, the NT dollar gained more than NT$1 in just 15 minutes, briefly passing the NT$30 mark. Before the US Department of the Treasury's semi-annual currency report came out, expectations that the NT dollar would keep rising were already building. The NT dollar on Friday closed at NT$31.064, up by NT$0.953 — a 3.07 percent single-day gain. Today,
‘SHORT TERM’: The local currency would likely remain strong in the near term, driven by anticipated US trade pressure, capital inflows and expectations of a US Fed rate cut The US dollar is expected to fall below NT$30 in the near term, as traders anticipate increased pressure from Washington for Taiwan to allow the New Taiwan dollar to appreciate, Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行) chief economist Lin Chi-chao (林啟超) said. Following a sharp drop in the greenback against the NT dollar on Friday, Lin told the Central News Agency that the local currency is likely to remain strong in the short term, driven in part by market psychology surrounding anticipated US policy pressure. On Friday, the US dollar fell NT$0.953, or 3.07 percent, closing at NT$31.064 — its lowest level since Jan.
The New Taiwan dollar and Taiwanese stocks surged on signs that trade tensions between the world’s top two economies might start easing and as US tech earnings boosted the outlook of the nation’s semiconductor exports. The NT dollar strengthened as much as 3.8 percent versus the US dollar to 30.815, the biggest intraday gain since January 2011, closing at NT$31.064. The benchmark TAIEX jumped 2.73 percent to outperform the region’s equity gauges. Outlook for global trade improved after China said it is assessing possible trade talks with the US, providing a boost for the nation’s currency and shares. As the NT dollar
PRESSURE EXPECTED: The appreciation of the NT dollar reflected expectations that Washington would press Taiwan to boost its currency against the US dollar, dealers said Taiwan’s export-oriented semiconductor and auto part manufacturers are expecting their margins to be affected by large foreign exchange losses as the New Taiwan dollar continued to appreciate sharply against the US dollar yesterday. Among major semiconductor manufacturers, ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光), the world’s largest integrated circuit (IC) packaging and testing services provider, said that whenever the NT dollar rises NT$1 against the greenback, its gross margin is cut by about 1.5 percent. The NT dollar traded as strong as NT$29.59 per US dollar before trimming gains to close NT$0.919, or 2.96 percent, higher at NT$30.145 yesterday in Taipei trading