3W leads $43m Series E for China's CANbridge

Casdin Capital, Summer Capital, SPDBI, and Yaly Capital also came in as new investors. They were joined by existing backers Hudson Bay Capital, RA Capital, Lyfe Capital, and local biotech counterpart Tigermed.

It follows a $98 million Series D in February led by General Atlantic and WuXi AppTec, a leading contract research organization in China. That round also featured RA, Hudson, Tigermed, and YuanMing Prudence Fund. General Atlantic and Wuxi AppTech had the right to each invest an additional $10 million should CANbridge satisfy certain conditions. It is not clear whether this has happened.

Previous investors in the company include Qiming Venture Partners, Biossom Investment Management, and TF Capital.

CANbridge recently received marketing approval in China for its first rare disease candidate, Hunterase, which targets Hunter syndrome, an aggressive genetic disorder that typically kills sufferers as children or young adults. Meanwhile, Nerlynx, a breast cancer treatment with regulatory approvals in the US and Europe, has been cleared for commercialization in Taiwan.

Hunterase and Nerlynx are two of three products currently being marketed outside of mainland China, along with Caphosol, a mouth rinse used to treat oral inflammation and ulcers. The pipeline otherwise includes five products at the preclinical stage targeting various rare diseases, one cancer drug at the phase one trialling stage, and one cancer drug in phase three trials.

CANbridge leverages a number of partnerships, including a rare disease treatment development program with WuXi Biologics, a sister company of WuXi AppTec, and two collaborative agreements with the Horae Gene Therapy Center at the UMass Medical School for rare disease gene therapy research. CANbridge teamed up with Korea’s GC Pharma for the rollout of Hunterase.

“As a leading pharmaceutical company in the rare disease sector, we believe CANbridge is well-positioned for commercialization of innovative drugs, and applaud its successful execution in drug development,” Cathy Chen, a managing director at 3W, said in a statement. “We are impressed by management’s extensive experience and past track record and are truly excited to share in the next chapter of CANbridge’s success.”

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• Topics
• Greater China
• Healthcare
• Technology
• Expansion
• China
• 3W Partners
• Lyfe Capital
• Pharmaceuticals