Chinese antibody drug developer raises $150m

Guoxin Guoxin Dongwu Overseas Fund – an arm of China's largest state-owned investor State Development & Investment Corporation – is among the investors. It is joined by Shenzhen Capital Group, CCB Capital, BOCOM International, K.Wah Group, Lake Bleu Healthcare Fund, AIHC Capital, Orbimed Healthcare Fund Management, Apricot Capital, and Triwise Capital.

Akeso has more than 30 drugs in its pipeline, with 10 in clinical trial phases. A source participating in the funding round told AVCJ that one of Akeso's core products is an antibody drug called AK104, which is hoped to open up a new generation of tumor immunotherapy treatments.

"The phase one trial of AK104 has already brought good statistics, which gave us confidence to invest in the company," said the source. "This is the first drug of its kind in the clinical trial stage."  

Akeso has also attracted strong support from overseas and domestic pharmaceutical companies. In June, Sino Biopharm subsidiary Chia-Tai Tianqing set up a joint venture with Akeso to develop and commercialize drugs. Both parties own 50% interest in the joint venture. In 2015, US pharmaceutical giant Merck acquired exclusive global rights for an antibody discovered by Akeso for $200 million in development and commercialization milestone payments.

"This is the first pre-IPO funding round that Sino Biopharm has participated in as a leading investor for any Chinese biopharmaceutical start-up." said Xin Xie, vice president of Sino Biopharm, "We are developing a biopharmaceutical ecosystem that will benefit all patients worldwide."

Akeso's competitors in the antibody space include Innovert Biologics, Junshi Pharma, and Henlius, with the latter two having also received investment from Loyal Valley. All three companies are listed in Hong Kong with market caps respectively of HK$31 billion ($3.9 billion), HK$22 billion, and HK$25 billion.

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

• Topics
• Greater China
• Early-stage
• Healthcare
• China
• Pharmaceuticals
• Loyal Valley Capital
• CCB
• BoCom
• Shenzhen Capital Group
• OrbiMed