Illustration of Unike Biopharma’s ZT long-acting protein and peptide drug platform with engineered proteins, therapeutic applications, laboratory research, China biotech innovation, and financing represented by rising stacks of coins.

Unike Biopharma Raises Tens of Millions of RMB to Advance Long-Acting Protein and Peptide Drug Platform

September 11, 2026 4 Min Read

Hangzhou-based Unike Biopharma has completed an angel financing round worth tens of millions of RMB, giving the young biotech fresh capital to advance a broad pipeline of long-acting protein and peptide therapeutics built around its proprietary ZT technology platform.

The financing was led by Lanhe Capital, with Riemann Hypothesis serving as exclusive financial adviser. Proceeds will primarily support pipeline research and development, preclinical validation and regulatory filings as Unike moves several programs toward the clinic. (CLS)

Founded in April 2026 and based in Hangzhou’s Binjiang District, Unike is unusually young to already be talking about a sizable pipeline. The company is positioning itself not simply as a developer of individual drugs, but as a platform biotech focused on solving one of the persistent challenges facing protein and peptide medicines: how to make biologically active molecules last longer in the body without sacrificing their therapeutic function. (CLS)

The ZT Platform Is the Centerpiece

Unike’s strategy revolves around its proprietary ZT long-acting protein and peptide technology platform, which uses a specialized ZT carrier to modify therapeutic molecules.

The company says the platform addresses several limitations that have historically complicated protein and peptide drug development, particularly short circulating half-life, poor stability and difficulties associated with molecular modification. (ByDrug)

The technology is designed around three particularly important capabilities: extending drug half-life, preserving biological activity and enabling the construction of multi-target molecules.

According to the company and its financial adviser, the ZT carrier can resist enzymatic degradation while slowing renal filtration and clearance, allowing attached therapeutic molecules to remain in circulation for longer periods. The platform also contains multiple potential connection sites, providing flexibility for designing multi-target and multifunctional fusion proteins. (投资界)

That combination could be important. Extending half-life is useful only if a modified molecule retains sufficient potency and biological activity. At the same time, the industry’s growing interest in bispecific, multispecific and multifunctional therapeutics means that platforms capable of supporting increasingly complex molecular designs could have value well beyond conventional half-life extension.

Unike says the underlying technology has undergone more than two decades of development, iteration and pilot-scale validation and has received patent protection across major markets including China, the United States, Japan and Europe. (CLS)

More Than 20 Novel Drug Candidates Already Planned

Despite being established only this year, Unike has already assembled a surprisingly broad portfolio.

The company says it has laid out more than 20 Class 1 innovative drug candidates based on the ZT platform, spanning areas including metabolic diseases, oncology, autoimmune diseases and rare diseases. Multiple programs are reportedly approaching or already in IND-enabling development, although detailed candidate-level data have not yet been publicly disclosed. (ByDrug)

That breadth reflects the company’s platform-based business model.

Rather than depending entirely on internally commercializing every asset, Unike intends to combine proprietary pipeline development with out-licensing, customized technology development, collaborative R&D and patent licensing. The company says it has already established cooperation intentions with several multinational pharmaceutical companies and major domestic drugmakers involving pipeline licensing and joint development. (ByDrug)

If those discussions turn into formal transactions, they could provide an early test of how pharmaceutical companies value the ZT platform.

Taking on Established Half-Life Extension Technologies

Long-acting protein and peptide drugs are hardly a new idea. Pharmaceutical developers already use approaches such as PEGylation, Fc fusion and albumin fusion to increase molecular size or otherwise reduce clearance and extend systemic exposure.

Unike’s argument is that ZT can offer a more flexible alternative.

Its financial adviser says the platform potentially offers advantages including low immunogenicity, biodegradability, relatively low manufacturing costs, shorter development cycles and applicability across a wide range of protein and peptide molecules. The carrier’s multiple connection sites could also make it particularly useful for designing multifunctional therapeutics. (投资界)

Those claims remain to be demonstrated clinically. At this stage, the company’s disclosed pipeline is largely preclinical, and there are not yet human data establishing that ZT-based drugs can deliver better pharmacokinetics, safety, efficacy or manufacturing economics than established half-life-extension approaches.

That will ultimately be the important test.

Financing Moves Unike Toward the Clinic

The new capital should help provide that opportunity.

Unike says the angel-round proceeds will be directed toward pipeline development, validation and clinical-regulatory applications, accelerating both R&D and the eventual industrialization of its long-acting protein and peptide portfolio. (CLS)

The company was founded by Dr. Zou Peijian (邹培建), and its core team includes researchers and drug developers with backgrounds at leading research institutions and pharmaceutical companies. Unike is positioning the combination of its technology, intellectual property and development team as the foundation for a scalable drug-development platform rather than a single-asset biotech. (CLS)

That distinction matters.

China’s biotech sector has spent much of the past several years demonstrating that it can rapidly develop competitive individual drug candidates. The next wave is increasingly about whether Chinese companies can build proprietary technology platforms capable of repeatedly generating differentiated molecules and ultimately licensing those technologies or assets globally.

Unike is still at a very early stage, and its ZT platform has considerable clinical validation ahead of it. But with more than 20 programs planned, several candidates moving toward IND-enabling development and new financing behind the platform, the company now has an opportunity to show whether its approach to long-acting proteins and peptides can translate from an interesting technology into clinically differentiated medicines.