China’s ORI Healthcare Fund leads $100m round for UK biotech firm
ORI Healthcare Fund, a Chinese sector-focused fund launched by former investment banker at Goldman Sachs, has led a $100 million Series C round for Kymab Group, a UK bio-pharmaceutical company focused on antibody drug discovery.
Shenzhen-listed Hepalink Pharmaceutical, an LP in the fund, also participated in the round as a co-investor. Other existing backers including Wellcome Trust, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Malin Corporation, CF Woodford Equity Income Fund and Woodford Patient Capital have made follow-on investments.
Established in 2010, Kymab is headed by industry veteran David Chiswell, who also co-founded Cambridge Antibody Technology. The biopharma firm focuses on four main therapeutic areas: immuno-oncology, auto-immunity, haematology and infectious disease. It has developed its own platform for internal drug discovery programs and partnerships with third-party pharmaceutical companies.
Kymab previously raised $120 million across two rounds of funding. It will use the new capital to advance its pipeline of experimental antibody drugs. The first of these is expected to commence clinical development next year.
"ORI Fund and Hepalink bring deep experience of the pharmaceutical industry. Hepalink has a global reach for their products and have biologics manufacturing capability in the US. This investment will help us maximise the potential of the Kymab pipeline as we develop and commercialise monoclonal antibody medicines for patients worldwide," said Kymab's Chiswell in a statement.
ORI Healthcare Fund was set up by Simone Song, former head of China healthcare at Goldman Sachs. With a $200 million corpus, it invests in healthcare companies globally. The investment team consists mostly of former Goldman Sachs bankers and healthcare scientists.
Hepalink, which was previously backed by Goldman Sachs, produces active pharmaceutical ingredients for the likes of Sanofi-Aventis, Fresenius-Kabi, and Novartis. The company went public in 2010. In addition to ORI Healthcare Fund, it has committed capital to two TPG Capital biotech funds.
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