VCs commit $65m to China vaccine developer CanSino Biologics
SDIC Fund Management, a GP under China’s State Development & Investment Corporation, has led a $65 million round of funding for CanSino Biologics, a China-based vaccine developer.
Gopher Asset Management, Fortune Capital and Goldstone Investment also came into the round as new investors, while existing backers including Lilly Asia Ventures (LAV) and Qiming Venture Partners re-upped. According to AVCJ Research, LAV invested $10 million in CanSino in 2013 and then returned, alongside Qiming, with a $30 million commitment two years later.
The company was founded in 2009 by a group of overseas-trained Chinese scientists who had previously worked for the likes of Sanofi Pasteur and Wyeth Pharmaceuticals. They operate out of an R&D facility in Tianjin Economic & Technological Development Area.
CanSino focuses on vaccines for Ebola, tuberculosis, cervical cancer, pneumonia, meningitis and tetanus, among others. It has four products undergoing clinical trials in North America, Africa and China, and three new drug submissions pending approval from the China Food & Drug Administration. The company will use the new capital to commercialize late-stage vaccines currently under development and to construct a new manufacturing campus in Tianjin.
"Our mission is to promote the transformation of Chinese industries. Through comprehensive due diligence, the CanSino team has demonstrated impressive achievements and a strong pipeline. We believe this company will make significant contributions to public health locally and globally, and will become a leading biopharmaceutical company in China,” Dazhong Lü, managing director of SDIC, said in a statement.
SDIC participated in the investment through the Future Industry Investment Fund, which focuses on advanced manufacturing technologies. The GP manages and advises more than RMB50 billion ($7.2 billion) of capital for a wide range of investors, including State Development & Investment Corporation, National Social Security Fund (NSSF), financial institutions, state-owned enterprises and private-held corporates.
It is a frequent investor in the healthcare space, having backed pharmaceutical companies such as Innovent Biologics, Ascentage Pharma Group, and Suzhou Ribo Life Science. Earlier this month, SDIC agreed to provide $47 million in funding to US-listed energy storage and delivery solutions developer Maxwell Technologies.
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