Panacea leads $40m Series C for China's XWPharma

CDIB Capital, Hontai Capital, and Trinity Fund came in as new investors. WI Harper, Johnson & Johnson Innovation, WuXi Ventures, and KTB Network re-upped. It follows a $17 million Series B in 2017 led by WI Harper and Elements Capital with support from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB), the latter of which led a Series A in 2014. Total funding amounts to $63 million, according to AVCJ Research.

XWPharma focuses on nervous system disorders targeted primarily at the China market and developed via collaboration with foreign companies. The company has helped identify at least nine candidate compounds that have entered clinical trials, one of which received approval from US and Japanese regulators. Its lead program is currently targeting narcolepsy and Parkinson’s disease among other conditions.

“The XWPharma team brings together decades of drug discovery, development and commercialization expertise with a notable track record of success,” James Huang, founder of Panacea, said in a statement. “The company’s neuroscience pipeline includes highly promising, original chemical compounds targeting validated biology that de-risks each program at an early stage of development.”

Huang, former of KPCB, set up Panacea in 2017 with a focus on incubation as a way of avoiding high valuations in later stages and minimizing execution risk by shaping companies from the outset. A debut fund closed last year at $180 million for early-stage investment. Recent activity includes participation in an $80 million Series B for cancer drug developer Oncologie.

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

• Topics
• Greater China
• Healthcare
• Technology
• Early-stage
• China
• Panacea
• CDIB Capital
• WI Harper Group
• Pharmaceuticals