RuiYi Closes $4 Million Venture Loan from Silicon Valley Bank

LA JOLLA, Calif. and SHANGHAI, June 11, 2014 /PRNewswire/ — RuiYi, Inc., a global therapeutic innovation leader, announced today the close of a $4 million debt financing from Silicon Valley Bank to advance a pipeline of novel monoclonal antibodies (mAb) targeting G protein coupled receptors (GPCRs). RuiYi plans to file an IND and initiate clinical trials in multiple countries in 2015 for the company’s lead asset, RYI-008, a novel anti-IL-6 mAb for rheumatoid arthritis and cancer. RuiYi will also be advancing RYI-018 into preclinical studies. Identified via RuiYi’s iCAPSTM platform, RYI-018 is a first-in-class monoclonal antibody to cannabinoid receptor 1 (CB-1), a commercially validated but previously intractable drug target.

“This non-dilutive financing from Silicon Valley Bank will support multiple pipeline advancements, including moving RYI-018 through protein engineering for IND-enabling studies, bringing RYI-008 into clinical trials and discovering additional drug candidates from our iCAPS platform,” said Paul Grayson, president and CEO, RuiYi. “Drug discovery and development is, by nature, a cost-intense business. To develop innovative, new medicines that can help patients and also be accepted by payers around the world, we are conscientious about using our capital most efficiently.”

Lei Lu, Senior Vice President of Finance & Operations added, “We appreciate this additional funding mechanism SVB brought to us. With RuiYi’s strategy of controlled burn and development through regional partnering, this funding, together with the $15m Series B financing closed in March, 2014, provides the company significant additional runway. The key to a successful financing is generating the appropriate combination of equity financing and debt to reach substantial valuation inflection points.  Silicon Valley Bank has been a vital part of this equation for multiple industries for decades.”

Silicon Valley Bank