Singapore biotech player gets $20m Series A

According to a statement, the capital will be used primarily to advance clinical trials for company’s lead development product, a cancer treatment known as LioCyx, in major hospitals in China and Singapore. Proceeds will also be used to broaden the product pipeline with a view to addressing viral-related solid tumors and chronic hepatitis B.

LioCyx focuses on a liver condition known as hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) that is said to be the second-deadliest cancer with 700,000 new cases reported every year. Asia Pacific accounts for about 80% of this burden, and Chinese patients represent about half. Lion TCR claims that its initial work on LioCyx for late-stage HCC has produced encouraging efficacy and safety results.

The Singapore government has made a number of efforts to develop the domestic biotech ecosystem, including concessions for public-private partnerships in the sector and the launch of a S$60 million ($47 million) medical technology accelerator program under state-owned Spring Seeds Capital. Local pharmaceutical manufacturing output is said to have tripled since 2000, totaling as much as S$16 billion as of 2016.

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• Topics
• Southeast Asia
• Healthcare
• Technology
• Early-stage
• Singapore
• Venture