Sequoia, HighLight lead $80m round for China's BrightGene

The company was established in 2001 and received funding from Lilly Asia Ventures in 2010. AVCJ Research's records indicate that Suzhou International Development Venture Capital invested the same year, with SDIC Fund Management – an arm of China's State Development & Investment Corporation – and Suzhou Industrial Park Bioventure Investment coming on board in 2014.

BrightGene specializes in high-end generic drugs, producing active pharmaceutical ingredients and finished dosage forms for complex treatments that address cancer, chronic kidney disease, and deep vein thrombosis. Its manufacturing facilities have been approved by regulators in the US, EU, Japan, Korea, and China.

The company, which has an R&D team of 300 people, is also working on innovative new drugs that target diabetes, fatty liver disease, and several types of cancer. The new funding will go towards ongoing development efforts and launching clinical trials for drug candidates in the pipeline. Jiandong Yuan, BrightGene's chairman, noted that in the past progress on new drugs has been slow because of the resource demands of the ongoing generics business.

However, there are also plans to increase its production capacity for pharmaceutical ingredients and construct an additional plant that will focus on generic complex injectables.

• Tweet  
• Facebook  
• LinkedIn  
• Google plus  
• Save this article  
• Send to  

• Topics
• Greater China
• Expansion
• Healthcare
• China
• Sequoia Capital
• HighLight Capital