AusperBio has raised $120 million in Series C financing to advance its lead chronic hepatitis B therapy AHB-137 through Phase III development and prepare for potential commercialization, while expanding a next-generation pipeline of siRNA and combination therapies aimed at achieving a functional cure for hepatitis B virus infection.
The financing brings AusperBio‘s total capital raised since 2024 to $360 million, providing substantial new funding as the biotechnology company transitions from clinical development toward potential commercialization.
The Series C was led by an undisclosed leading global strategic investor, with new investor RA Capital Management joining the round. Existing investors including HanKang Capital, Sherpa Capital, InnoPinnacle Fund, Qiming Venture Partners, YuanBio Venture Capital and CDH Investments also participated. (PR Newswire)
The financing will primarily support AHB-137, an unconjugated antisense oligonucleotide, or ASO, now in Phase III development in China for chronic hepatitis B (CHB). AusperBio will also accelerate its second-generation HBV candidate AHB-171, develop combination regimens built around AHB-137, and expand its broader oligonucleotide pipeline using the company’s proprietary Med-Oligo™ ASO and Au-HALO™ targeted-delivery platforms. (PR Newswire)
Financing at a Glance
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Financing | Series C |
| Amount raised | US$120 million |
| Total raised since 2024 | US$360 million |
| Lead investor | Undisclosed leading global strategic investor |
| New investor | RA Capital Management |
| Existing investors | HanKang Capital, Sherpa Capital, InnoPinnacle Fund, Qiming Venture Partners, YuanBio Venture Capital, CDH Investments |
| Lead program | AHB-137 |
| Development stage | Phase III — China |
| Second HBV program | AHB-171 |
| Core technologies | Med-Oligo™ ASO + Au-HALO™ targeted delivery |
| Primary objective | Functional cure of chronic hepatitis B |
AHB-137 Moves Toward Potential Commercialization
The largest portion of the new capital will support the continued development and potential commercialization of AHB-137, AusperBio’s most advanced drug candidate.
AHB-137 is an investigational unconjugated antisense oligonucleotide developed using AusperBio’s proprietary Med-Oligo™ ASO technology.
Unlike conventional chronic hepatitis B treatments that primarily suppress viral replication, AusperBio designed AHB-137 to attack HBV through multiple complementary mechanisms.
The candidate is designed to:
- suppress hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) production;
- inhibit HBV DNA replication; and
- promote immune reactivation against the virus.
Together, these mechanisms are intended to move patients toward what researchers describe as a functional cure for chronic hepatitis B. (PR Newswire)
A functional cure generally refers to sustained loss of circulating HBsAg, with or without development of anti-HBs antibodies, after treatment has ended—a substantially higher therapeutic goal than simply suppressing HBV DNA with long-term antiviral therapy.
Phase III AUSHINE Trial Already Fully Enrolled
AHB-137 has advanced rapidly through development.
The candidate completed a global Phase I study and has subsequently been evaluated across multiple Phase II studies. China’s Center for Drug Evaluation cleared the program to enter Phase III development in July 2025. (PR Newswire)
The pivotal AUSHINE study (NCT07246889 / CTR20252792) is a randomized, double-blind, multicenter Phase III trial evaluating AHB-137 in patients with HBeAg-negative chronic hepatitis B receiving stable nucleos(t)ide analogue therapy.
Participants receive 300 mg AHB-137 or placebo for 24 weeks on top of background NA therapy. (PR Newswire)
Importantly, AusperBio completed enrollment in December 2025.
A total of 577 patients were enrolled, and the study is now listed as active but no longer recruiting. (ICH GCP)
That means the $120 million financing arrives at an important point: rather than primarily financing enrollment of a large pivotal study, AusperBio can use the capital to support the trial through readout and regulatory activities while simultaneously building the infrastructure needed for a potential product launch.
Encouraging Functional-Cure Signals
The decision to advance AHB-137 into Phase III followed encouraging early clinical results.
AusperBio reported in late 2025 that AHB-137 monotherapy had achieved an approximately 30% functional cure rate in a group of HBeAg-negative CHB patients receiving stable nucleos(t)ide analogue therapy. The company presented the findings at the HEP-DART 2025 meeting. (PR Newswire)
Earlier Phase II results had also demonstrated substantial reductions in HBsAg, supporting China’s decision to grant AHB-137 Breakthrough Therapy Designation in July 2024. (PR Newswire)
Peer-reviewed Phase I results have also been published, describing the safety, pharmacokinetics and antiviral activity of AHB-137 in healthy volunteers and patients with chronic hepatitis B. (PubMed)
The pivotal Phase III program will now determine whether those encouraging earlier signals can be reproduced in a much larger, controlled population.
Why Functional Cure Matters in Hepatitis B
Chronic hepatitis B remains one of the world’s largest infectious-disease burdens.
According to the World Health Organization figures cited by AusperBio, approximately 254 million people worldwide live with chronic HBV infection, while roughly 1.1 million deaths occur annually, predominantly from complications including cirrhosis and liver cancer. (PR Newswire)
Existing nucleos(t)ide analogue therapies can suppress HBV replication very effectively. However, they rarely eliminate HBsAg or produce a durable functional cure.
As a result, many patients require long-term or potentially lifelong antiviral treatment.
That gap has made HBsAg reduction and functional cure major objectives of the next generation of HBV drug development.
AHB-137 is designed to address that problem upstream by suppressing HBV RNA and HBsAg production while simultaneously inhibiting viral replication and potentially allowing antiviral immune responses to recover.
AHB-171 Adds an siRNA Approach
AusperBio is not placing its entire HBV strategy on a single drug.
Part of the Series C proceeds will accelerate AHB-171, an investigational hepatocyte-targeted small interfering RNA (siRNA) therapeutic for chronic hepatitis B.
AHB-171 is designed to selectively suppress HBV gene expression in liver cells and produce potent, durable antiviral activity. (PR Newswire)
More importantly from a technology perspective, AHB-171 is the first clinical candidate generated from AusperBio’s proprietary Au-HALO™ liver-targeted delivery platform.
| Program | Technology | Approach | Development role |
|---|---|---|---|
| AHB-137 | Med-Oligo™ | Unconjugated ASO | Lead Phase III / potential commercial product |
| AHB-171 | Au-HALO™ | Hepatocyte-targeted siRNA | Next-generation HBV candidate |
| AHB-137 combinations | Multiple | Functional-cure combinations | Next-generation HBV strategy |
| Future programs | Med-Oligo™ + Au-HALO™ | ASO / siRNA / targeted oligonucleotides | Pipeline expansion |
AHB-171 therefore serves two purposes: it expands AusperBio’s HBV franchise while providing clinical validation for a second proprietary oligonucleotide technology.
Med-Oligo™: AusperBio’s ASO Engine
The technology behind AHB-137 is AusperBio’s proprietary Med-Oligo™ platform.
The platform uses the company’s insights into oligonucleotide design to optimize ASO drug properties and is intended to generate therapeutics capable of targeting diseases beyond hepatitis B.
AusperBio has said the modular platform could potentially be applied to viral infections, metabolic diseases, genetic disorders and immune diseases. (PR Newswire)
AHB-137 is effectively the first major clinical validation test of that technology.
If the drug succeeds in Phase III, Med-Oligo would have progressed from a discovery platform to producing a potentially commercial-stage medicine.
Au-HALO™ Adds Targeted Delivery
The second major pillar of AusperBio’s technology strategy is Au-HALO™, its proprietary targeted oligonucleotide-delivery platform.
AHB-171 uses Au-HALO to deliver siRNA selectively to hepatocytes, the liver cells in which HBV replicates.
Targeted delivery is one of the most important challenges in oligonucleotide drug development. RNA-based medicines can be highly potent, but their therapeutic value depends heavily on delivering sufficient drug to the correct tissue while limiting unnecessary systemic exposure.
AusperBio is therefore positioning Au-HALO not simply as an HBV technology, but as a potential delivery engine for a broader pipeline of targeted oligonucleotide medicines. (PR Newswire)
Building Combination Regimens Around AHB-137
The Series C will also fund development of next-generation combination approaches anchored on AHB-137.
This could become particularly important in chronic hepatitis B.
HBV persists through multiple biological mechanisms, including stable viral templates in infected hepatocytes, high levels of viral antigens and virus-associated immune dysfunction. For that reason, many researchers expect that achieving high rates of functional cure may ultimately require combinations that attack the virus through complementary mechanisms.
AusperBio is positioning AHB-137 as a potential backbone therapy within such regimens.
The strategy could combine AHB-137’s suppression of HBsAg and viral replication with additional antiviral or immune-modulating mechanisms designed to further increase functional-cure rates.
The company specifically identified these next-generation AHB-137-based combinations as a priority for the new financing. (PR Newswire)
From Clinical-Stage to “Near-Commercial”
AusperBio now describes itself as a near-commercial biopharmaceutical company, reflecting how far AHB-137 has advanced.
Its evolution can be summarized as:
Oligonucleotide platform → Phase I proof of concept → Phase II functional-cure signal → Phase III registrational study → commercialization preparation
The Series C is therefore different from a typical venture financing used primarily to establish proof of concept.
With AUSHINE already fully enrolled, AusperBio is simultaneously preparing for the possibility that AHB-137 becomes a commercial product while investing in the programs that could form the company’s second wave of growth. (PR Newswire)
Use of the $120 Million Series C
1. Complete AHB-137 late-stage development
Support the ongoing Phase III registrational program and coordinated global development strategy.
2. Prepare AHB-137 for commercialization
Build capabilities required to transition from clinical development toward a potential product launch.
3. Accelerate AHB-171
Advance the company’s first Au-HALO-derived hepatocyte-targeted siRNA candidate.
4. Develop AHB-137 combination regimens
Explore next-generation therapeutic combinations intended to raise HBV functional-cure rates.
5. Expand the oligonucleotide pipeline
Use the Med-Oligo and Au-HALO platforms to generate additional targeted oligonucleotide medicines for diseases with substantial unmet need. (PR Newswire)
Strong Investor Support
The financing also illustrates AusperBio’s ability to attract both specialist life-science investors and strategic capital.
New investor RA Capital Management is a major healthcare-focused investment manager with extensive investments across biotechnology and life sciences.
The round also received continued backing from existing investors including HanKang Capital, Sherpa Capital, InnoPinnacle Fund, Qiming Venture Partners, YuanBio Venture Capital and CDH Investments. (PR Newswire)
AusperBio has now raised $360 million since 2024, an unusually rapid accumulation of private capital that gives the company substantial resources to support late-stage development and pipeline expansion.
Outlook
The $120 million Series C marks a transition point for AusperBio.
The company is no longer simply attempting to demonstrate that an experimental ASO can reduce hepatitis B surface antigen. Its lead program is now in a fully enrolled 577-patient Phase III registrational trial, while management is preparing for potential commercialization. (ICH GCP)
At the same time, AusperBio is attempting to turn AHB-137 into the foundation of a broader HBV functional-cure franchise.
AHB-171 adds a complementary siRNA modality. Combination regimens could potentially increase functional-cure rates beyond those achievable with AHB-137 alone. And the Med-Oligo and Au-HALO platforms provide a route to expand beyond hepatitis B into other diseases.
The critical catalyst remains the Phase III AUSHINE trial.
Earlier studies have produced encouraging HBsAg reductions and functional-cure signals, but the pivotal study will provide the most important test yet of whether AHB-137 can deliver a clinically meaningful functional-cure benefit in a large controlled population.
If successful, the consequences could extend beyond a single drug.
A positive Phase III outcome would validate AusperBio’s Med-Oligo platform, support the company’s transition into a commercial biopharmaceutical company, strengthen AHB-137’s potential role as a backbone for future HBV combination regimens and provide additional validation for an increasingly competitive field seeking to move chronic hepatitis B treatment from long-term viral suppression toward functional cure.
With $120 million of new capital, $360 million raised since 2024, a fully enrolled Phase III program and a second targeted RNA therapeutic moving forward, AusperBio is now financed for one of the most consequential stages in its development: turning promising oligonucleotide science into a potential commercial therapy for chronic hepatitis B.
References
- AusperBio — $120 Million Series C Financing Announcement
- AusperBio — AHB-137 Phase III Clearance in China
- AusperBio — AUSHINE Phase III Enrollment Completion
- AHB-137 AUSHINE Phase III Study Record
- Peer-Reviewed AHB-137 Phase I Study — PubMed
- AusperBio — AHB-137 Clinical Development Update
- AHB-137 Functional-Cure Data
- AusperBio Official Website
