METiS Pharmaceuticals

METiS Pharmaceuticals (剂泰医药) is an AI-driven pharmaceutical company founded by CEO Caida Lai (赖才达) alongside MIT-affiliated scientists including academician Hongmin Chen and Wenshou Wang, with early backing from FreeS Fund, which led its angel round in late 2019 and invested across four consecutive rounds through its 2026 IPO on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange . The company has positioned itself at the intersection of artificial intelligence and drug delivery, operating proprietary platforms—AiTEM for formulation development, AiLNP for lipid nanoparticle design, and AiRNA for mRNA sequence optimization—that it claims can compress preclinical formulation timelines from 1–2 years to under three months .

As of its 2026 listing, METiS carried over 10 pipeline programs spanning small molecules and nucleic acid therapies, including MTS-004, China's first AI-enabled formulation to complete Phase III trials, and MTS-105, a liver-targeted mRNA TCE candidate for solid tumors with FDA orphan drug designation . The company reported 2025 revenue of RMB 105 million primarily from partnership upfronts, and pursues a dual "platform cooperation plus product cooperation" model with more than 30 global pharmaceutical and biotech partners . Earlier investors also included Sequoia China, 5Y Capital, and Cao Xi's Lisi Capital .