US-based drug discovery platform developer Cullgen has secured a seed commitment of up to $15m from life sciences research and development firm GNI Group.
Cullgen is developing a drug discovery platform that works by stopping deterioration in the ubiquitin-proteasome system, a process responsible for cell growth, migration, signalling and death.
The company will initially concentrate on an oncology product before diversifying into inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. It will use the cash to drive the development of its core platform from research bases in the US, Japan and China.
Japan-based GNI’s president and chief executive, Ying Luo, sits on the Cullgen board of directors, along with GNI’s chief financial officer, Thomas Eastling. They join two of Cullgen’s co-founders, Yue Xiong and Jian Jin.