YuanMing, Matrix lead $50m round for China's Adlai Nortye

DT Capital Partners and Yahui Investment also took part in the round. The company listed on the National Equities Exchange & Quotations (NEEQ), also known as the New Third Board, in 2017.

Adlai established itself as a developer of peptide and protein drugs for metabolic diseases but has since expanded into the cancer treatment space. It has a breast cancer drug – Reolysin – that is ready for phase three clinical trials and a solid tumor drug in phase one trials. Other tumor treatments are in the discovery or pre-clinical stages.

Reolysin was granted fast track designation by the US Food & Drug Administration in May of last year and Adlai purchased the development and commercialization rights for China, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan from Canada-based Oncolytics in November. It paid $21.2 million, and could pay up to $65.4 million on the achievement of certain milestones.

Global rights – excluding all Asian markets apart from China – to the solid tumor drug were acquired from global pharmaceutical company Eisai in January.

“Adlai Nortye is committed to building itself into a global immuno-oncology company,” said Eric Yu, an investment director with Matrix, in a statement. "The core global team has rich experience and strong execution, and its deep understanding of clinical needs makes the company stand out in the international competition."

Matrix recently raised $750 million for its fifth China venture capital fund, which invests in technology, education, energy and financial services, as well as healthcare. YuanMing is a healthcare specialist that focuses on China-US cross-border deals.

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• Topics
• Greater China
• Healthcare
• Early-stage
• China
• Venture
• Matrix Partners