Company Profile
Company Overview
Citrine is building the first rare disease ecosystem in China to bring a support network and much-needed treatments to individuals and their families affected by rare disease. While more than 800 rare disease drugs have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, less than 20 percent of these are available in China. Citrine, a biopharma company with offices in China and Boston, is dedicated to providing individuals and families in China affected by rare diseases with access to the best, most effective medicines and treatment protocols available in the world.
Citrine is doing this by in-licensing clinically validated assets developed in the U.S. and China; by leveraging China’s expedited regulatory pathways to achieve rapid approval of rare disease drugs; and by building an integrated platform that can support scalable commercialization of rare disease drugs via KOL engagement, patient acquisition, disease advocacy, and patient financial support.
Citrine is partnering with established biotech and pharmaceutical companies worldwide to in-license a set of clinically validated rare disease drugs that have already been approved by U.S. and European regulatory authorities, as well as products that are in clinical development in the U.S. or Europe. The company will then bring these drugs through clinical trials and through regulatory approval in China, via an accelerated approval process. Citrine’s initial therapeutic areas of interest are those within neurology, hepatology and nephrology, endocrine/metabolic, and pediatric oncology. The company is choosing initial drug targets based on both access to medicines that have been approved in other parts of the world, and on unmet patient needs in China. The company has interviewed physicians to understand where the biggest needs lie and is pursuing partnerships with companies developing drugs that meet those needs.
Company History
Citrine, founded by Eight Roads, F-Prime Capital, and Vivo Capital in 2019. In July 2020, closed an $80 million Series A financing led by Quan Capital, a China-based, healthcare-focused venture capital firm. The three founding investors, together with 3H Health Investment and WU Capital, also participated in the round.