Qiming, Hillhouse back China's Jacobio Pharma

The funding will primarily be used for further R&D, including the advancement of Jacobio's core product – JAB-3000 – an anti-tumor drug that has been approved for phase one clinical trials in the US and China. Other treatments in the company's pipeline are in the preclinical stage, although it expects to have three or four more candidates ready for clinical trials in the next two years, according to a statement.

Jacobio was founded in 2015 by Yinxiang Wang, who previously established A-share listed Betta Pharmaceuticals. Qiming also took part in the company's $20 million Series B round, which was led by Lilly Asia Ventures in 2017.

Investor interest in China's Biotech industry has escalated in recent years on the back of policy reforms, rising public and private healthcare expenditure, and a rapidly aging population. An average of 4.29 million cancer cases are reported every year, while the number of patients with malignant tumors reached 3.8 million in 2014, data from China's National Cancer Study Center show.

This has made China the second largest pharmaceutical market in the world. It is forecast to be worth $167 billion by 2020, up from US$108 billion in 2015, representing annual growth of 9.1%, according to a 2016 report from the US International Trade Administration.

PE and VC investment in drug development in China increased from $306 million in 2014 to $1.3 billion last year, AVCJ Research's records show. This figure surpassed $2.1 billion in the first half of 2018.

Qiming, which raised $1.4 billion for two China-focused VC funds and a US healthcare vehicle earlier this year, is a prolific investor in the space. Recent healthcare deals include leading Series A rounds for CureGenetics and Alpha Biopharma. Hillhouse is also active in the space, having taken part in sizeable investments in the likes of CStone Pharma and Innovent Biologics.

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• Topics
• Greater China
• Healthcare
• Expansion
• China
• Qiming Venture Partners
• Hillhouse Capital Management
• Growth capital