Ally Bridge leads $25m round for Shanghai Hua Medicine
Ally Bridge Group, a healthcare-focused PE firm, has led a $25 million Series B round of funding for Hua Medicine, a Shanghai-based clinical-stage biotech company.
New investors Frontline BioVentures and TF Capital and existing investors Arch Partners, Venrock, Fidelity, WuXi PharmaTech and SAIL also participated.
Hua Medicine develops drugs for the treatment of diabetes and central nervous system (CDS) diseases including strokes. It will use the new capital to start a Phase 2 trial of its leading assets in Chinese diabetic patients. The firm also plans to invest in early-stage drug R&D focused on the treatment of CDS disease in the US, while starting the pre-clinical development of its other pipeline assets.
"Hua Medicine represents a great example of world-class innovation in China, where locally-developed innovative drugs at affordable prices are strongly needed, with the additional opportunity of taking such innovation overseas," Frank Yu, founder and CEO of Ally Bridge, said in a statement.
Yu is also co-founder of Themes Investment Partners, a China-focused PE fund. Ally Bridge manages over $500 million in assets in the US, Europe and China, focusing on companies with disruptive technologies for the bio-pharmaceuticals and medical devices industries.
It recently made its first investment in Europe, participating in a EUR6.6 million ($8 million) round of funding for Pieris, a Munich-based clinical-stage biotech firm.
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