Chinese drug developer RemeGen raises $100m
RemeGen, a Chinese drug developer, has raised a $100 million round led by Lilly Asia Ventures and Lake Bleu Capital.
Other investors include Vivo Capital, Janchor Partners, OrbiMed, Hudson Bay Capital, Loyal Valley Capital, and Guoxin Guoxin Dongwu Overseas Fund, an arm of China’s largest state-owned investor, State Development & Investment Corporation.
Founded in 2008, RemeGen has been focusing on the development of innovative biological drugs for the treatment of cancer, immunity diseases and ophthalmology diseases. It claims to have more than a dozen innovative drugs in the pipeline with five in the clinical trial stage, according to a statement.
The company’s founder, Jianmin Fang, is a professor at Tongji University in Shanghai and holds more than 40 patents. Fang is also the inventor of Conbercept, the first ophthalmic bio-drug commercialized in China.
The new funding will be used to accelerate the development of the RemeGen’s drug pipeline, especially in clinical trials and the construction of a commercial production base for the two most promising products RC18 and RC48.
RC48 is the first antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) drug that has entered human clinical trials in China, and has completed phase two clinical trials for gastric and urothelial cancers. ADCs combine three distinct molecules, including an antibody, an active tumor-killing drug, and a linker molecule that brings them together. RC18 is a biological drug for the treatment of autoimmune diseases.
In November, China's Akeso Biopharma, which specializes in antibody drugs, raised a $150 million Series D round led by Loyal Valley and Sino Biopharm, with support from Guoxin Guoxin Dongwu Overseas Fund and Orbimed. The firm filed for a Hong Kong IPO last month.
More on Greater China
Latest News
Asian GPs slow implementation of ESG policies - survey
Asia-based private equity firms are assigning more dedicated resources to environment, social, and governance (ESG) programmes, but policy changes have slowed in the past 12 months, in part due to concerns raised internally and by LPs, according to a...
Singapore fintech start-up LXA gets $10m seed round
New Enterprise Associates (NEA) has led a USD 10m seed round for Singapore’s LXA, a financial technology start-up launched by a former Asia senior executive at The Blackstone Group.
India's InCred announces $60m round, claims unicorn status
Indian non-bank lender InCred Financial Services said it has received INR 5bn (USD 60m) at a valuation of at least USD 1bn from unnamed investors including “a global private equity fund.”
Insight leads $50m round for Australia's Roller
Insight Partners has led a USD 50m round for Australia’s Roller, a venue management software provider specializing in family fun parks.