C-Bridge leads $100m round for China's Ascletis

Shenzhen-based Qianhai FoF, a foundation affiliated to outdoor advertising business Focus Media and WTT Investment also came in as new backers, while existing investors including Goldman Sachs and Tasly Pharmaceutical re-upped. C-Bridge and Goldman co-led Asceltis' $55 million Series A round in 2015. Goldman committed $20 million while C-Bridge, Tasly and Temasek Holdings-owned Pavilion Capital contributed the rest.

Ascletis will use the proceeds to expand its product portfolio and sales force. The company's current focus is chronic hepatitis C, for which it is developing two direct-acting antiviral agents, Danoprevir and Ravidasvir, licensed from Roche and Presidio Pharmaceuticals, respectively. They are two of four late-stage drug candidates in the Ascletis portfolio alongside treatments for liver cancer and HIV.

The company was founded by Jinzi Wu, who was previously vice president for global HIV drug discovery at GlaxoSmithKline. With two sites in China and one in the US, Ascletis seeks to leverage US and European innovation and pharmaceutical experience as well as China's relatively lower operating costs.

It seeks near-term sustainability and accelerated revenues through licensing late-stage clinical development drugs suited to the Chinese market and also works on longer-term discovery projects. The immediate objective is to become the first Chinese company to launch an innovative medicine for treating chronic hepatitis C patients in China.

"Ascletis is one of the most innovative drug developers in China. We are happy to see the remarkable progress it has made since our first investment in 2015," said Wei Fu, CEO of C-Bridge, in a statement. "With this second investment of US$100 million, we are excited that Ascletis will extend its pipeline into hepatitis B and other liver disease indications."

C-Bridge operates a dedicated healthcare fund that focuses on late-stage growth capital and buyout investment opportunities. LPs include major Chinese pharmaceutical companies, sovereign wealth funds and foundations. It claims to have $700 million under management across US dollar and renminbi-denominated pools.

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• Topics
• Greater China
• Healthcare
• Early-stage
• China
• C-Bridge Capital
• Pharmaceuticals
• Growth capital