WuXi, Boyu, Oriza commit $150m to China's CStone

CStone will use the new capital to move products currently in its pipeline into the clinical testing stage and to reach out to non-Chinese companies for opportunities to collaborate and share research. Its research covers five main therapeutic areas, including oncology, cardiovascular diseases, rheumatoid arthritis, hematology and autoimmune diseases.

The company also announced the appointment of Frank Jiang as CEO. Jiang joins CStone from leading pharmaceutical developer Sanofi, where he has worked both in the US and in China. For the last 10 years he led Sanofi's Asia-Pacific R&D division, which encompasses both China and Japan.

"With a strong portfolio of assets and an experienced management team, CStone will emerge as a leading R&D platform in China to provide innovative immunotherapy for oncology diseases," said Yanlin Cao, managing director of Boyu, in a statement. "We look forward to sharing our expertise and resources with CStone, and working with other shareholders and the management team to build a world-class biotech company to bring clinical benefits to patients globally."

Boyu is said to have recently closed its third China-focused fund at $2 billion. The predecessor vehicle closed in 2014 at $1.5 billion. The firm's investments include a 2014 commitment of $2.5 billion to Singapore-listed Global Logistic Properties and participation in the 2015 take-private of WuXi PharmaTech.

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• Topics
• Greater China
• Healthcare
• Early-stage
• Venture
• China
• Boyu Capital