Degron Therapeutics Co. Ltd.

Degron Therapeutics on Thursday padded its series A with a $40-million extension, bringing its total capital raised to $95 million. The financing, led by Lapam Capital, was triggered by the biotech and its molecular glue degrader technology reaching several milestones, CEO Lily Zou told FirstWord. Additional investors in the round include GTJA Investment Group, Fortune Capital, CSPC & Growth, ApicHope, GF Xinde, CASSTAR, Kinghall Ventures and GAGE Capital. Degron's lead candidate, DEG6498, was cleared for clinical testing in advanced solid tumours in the US and China last year, and the first patient was dosed with the Human antigen R (HuR)-targeting degrader in November. Plus, since the company's $22-million series A in 2022, it's added four new programmes to its discovery pipeline: two in the autoimmune disease space, one for a metabolic disease, and a fourth in development for an infectious disease.The breadth of diseases that Degron is attempting to tackle with molecular glues speaks to the capabilities of its de novo degrader discovery platform, dubbed GlueXplorer. Since the company's founding in 2021, GlueXplorer has created more than 10,000 structurally differentiated molecular glue degraders across more than 150 non-IMiDs cores. GlueXplorer boasts a structurally differentiated molecular glue library alongside a body of wet-lab research for Degron's programmes, including proximity, degradation, structural and activity data "that you can't buy or shortcut your way to," Zou said. The company is also building AI tools that learn from its dataset "to help us stay on the cutting edge of molecular glue degrader discovery," she added. But what really sets Degron apart from others in the protein degrader space, Zou said, is the experience the team has gained from discovering and validating each new target, and from advancing its portfolio of programmes."The data is what makes the platform hard to replicate," she explained. "Molecular glue degrader data lives in a fundamentally different chemical and mechanistic space than the inhibitor data big pharma has accumulated over decades — and it's very hard to generate. That's Degron's real moat."GlueXplorer is already attracting interest from big pharma. In 2024, Takeda inked a discovery deal worth up to $1.2 billion with Degron to develop degraders spanning oncology, neuroscience and inflammation.Drugging the undruggable in cancerThe first asset to emerge from GlueXplorer, DEG6498, is also the first HuR-targeting molecular glue to reach the clinic. HuR is an RNA-binding protein that stabilises the mRNAs of many pro-cancer survival genes and is overexpressed across several tumour types. However, its lack of catalytic pocket makes it undruggable with conventional small molecules, and its intracellular location makes it unreachable by antibodies.Degron is the first to open "a route to a target the field has long recognised as important but couldn't drug," Zou said. The company has also generated data showing the importance of HuR in tumour biology. Thanks to a mix of internal research and academic collaborations, Degron discovered that tumours driven by BRAF oncogene mutations require HuR to survive, Zou noted. "In preclinical studies, we demonstrated that cancer cells resistant to current standard-of-care treatments remain sensitive to the HuR degrader, justifying one of our initial patient selection strategies in our clinical trial design," she explained.

Degron Therapeutics, a targeted protein degradation company that operates out of Shanghai, China, has secured additional capital to fund its lead oncology asset and expand its preclinical immunology pipeline. The Series A extension closed at USD 40 million, bringing total capital raised to USD 95 million. The round was led by Lapam Capital, with participation from GTJA Investment Group, Fortune Capital, CSPC & Growth, ApicHope, GF Xinde, CASSTAR, Kinghall Ventures, and GAGE Capital. Proceeds are earmarked for continued clinical development of the company’s lead asset, advancement of two immunology programs to development candidate stage, and ongoing expansion of the proprietary GlueXplorer platform. Degron’s lead program, DEG6498, is a first-in-class oral small-molecule molecular glue degrader targeting HuR (Human antigen R), an RNA-binding protein with roles in cancer, inflammation, and metabolic disease. The compound entered the clinic in late 2025, with the first patient dosed in November, and is currently in dose escalation in a Phase I study in patients with advanced solid tumors. HuR has historically been considered undruggable by conventional small-molecule approaches, and DEG6498 works by inducing an interaction between the E3 ubiquitin ligase component cereblon and HuR, directing the protein for targeted degradation. Degron states it has secured IND clearances in both the US and China for its lead program. Beyond DEG6498, the company’s pipeline spans oncology, inflammation, metabolic disorders, and rare diseases. Two immunology programs are being advanced toward investigational new drug filings, with development candidate selection targeted for 2026. Degron was founded in 2021 by Yong Cang, a professor at ShanghaiTech University, around the GlueXplorer platform — a de novo molecular glue discovery engine. The platform has generated more than 10,000 structurally differentiated compounds across more than 150 novel non-IMiD cores, supported by complementary screening and validation approaches. The company said the platform is designed to identify glue degraders against targets that have resisted conventional drug discovery, including transcription factors and RNA-binding proteins. Degron has also established a collaboration with Takeda to apply molecular glue degrader approaches across additional therapeutic areas, though terms of that arrangement were not disclosed in the current announcement. This article was generated with AI assistance and reviewed and edited by the AllSci editorial team Explore more at AllSci News: https://allsci.com/news/ Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked * Comment * Name * Email * Website Privacy Terms About Us Copyright © 2026. AllSci Corp. All rights reserved.

Olga Yastremska /Getty Images Degron Therapeutics will have stiff competition in immunology, as Novartis inked a $5.7 billion agreement with Monte Rosa Therapeutics last year to develop molecular glues for undisclosed immune-mediated conditions. Degron Therapeutics has raised $40 million in a series A extension that will not only bankroll the continued development of its lead asset but also help the Chinese biotech expand its molecular glue platform into immune-driven diseases. Not much is known yet about Degron’s immunology push, but the company plans to identify a molecular glue candidate that it can move forward with this year, according to a news release on Thursday. If this pans out, Degron would be treading a relatively uncharted path, as the vast majority of activity in the molecular glue space is focused on oncology. Last month, for instance, Roche deepened its partnership with C4 Therapeutics, paying $20 million upfront and betting up to $1 billion in milestones for two glue-antibody conjugates, which the pharma plans to advance for undisclosed oncology targets. Other cancer-focused glue deals from Big Pharma include Lilly’s $1.2 billion play with Magnet Biomedicine and Roche’s $2 billion alliance with Orionis Biosciences. Collaboration Lilly Hops On Hot Molecular Glue Train With $1.2B+ Magnet Deal The molecular glue space has attracted several Big Pharma players over the past few years, including Novo Nordisk, Pfizer and Novartis. February 28, 2025 · 2 min read · Tristan Manalac Read more Still, Shanghai-based Degron will go up against a giant in the immunology arena, with Novartis in September 2025 inking a $5.7 billion agreement with Monte Rosa Therapeutics to develop molecular glues for undisclosed immune-mediated conditions. Degron is also playing in the cancer space, with the bulk of its series A haul earmarked for its lead candidate DEG6498, currently in Phase 1 testing for advanced solid tumors. The company started dosing patients in this trial late last year. Designed to be available orally, DEG6498 is a potentially first-in-class molecular glue degrader that targets the human antigen R (HuR) protein, which according to the biotech’s website is a central player in driving cancer, inflammation and metabolic disorders—and yet is considered undruggable. DEG6498 triggers the targeted destruction of HuR by binding it to the cell’s internal degradation machinery. With Friday’s series A extension, Degron’s total raise has now hit $95 million, a sum that includes the biotech’s initial debut proceeds of $22 million in June 2022. In May 2024, Degron again received an infusion of capital when it secured a Takeda partnership. The companies at the time did not provide a specific financial breakdown of the agreement, only disclosing that its total value could hit $1.2 billion . Degron’s series A extension was led by China-based Lapam Capital, with participation from Fortune Capital, CSPC & Growth, GTJIA Investment Group, ApicHope and others.