Invesco leads $155m round for China's Brii Biosciences

GIC and Lake Bleu Capital also contributed. Invesco is participating via its NASDAQ-listed developing markets fund, which has $50 billion in assets under management. It follows a $260 million round in 2018 that featured Sequoia Capital, Arch Ventures Partners, 6 Dimensions Capital, Boyu Capital, Yunfeng Capital, and Blue Pool Capital.

The fresh capital will help advance the company’s infectious disease pipeline, which features four programs in phase-two clinical trials. Two of these therapies target hepatitis B and the others are focused on COVID-19. One is said to be able to completely block viral entry and neutralize live SARS-CoV-2 infection in cell culture assays. There are also products in development for tuberculosis and HIV.

Brii, which operates across China and the US, maintains an R&D program focused on central nervous system disorders, with three preclinical products in development. The company positions its R&D as significantly data-driven and maintains a partnership with Alibaba Group’s AliHealth unit to support digital applications. It also maintains partnerships with China’s WuXi App
Tec, WuXi Biologics, and US-based Vir Biotechnology.

The company is led by co-founder and CEO Zhi Hong, who was previously head of GSK’s infectious disease unit, where he was credited with building out a significant HIV program.

“Since our founding in 2018, Brii Bio has made tremendous progress toward our mission to accelerate the development and delivery of breakthrough medicines through partnerships and our own insight in highly differentiated medicine discovery,” Hong said in a statement.

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• Topics
• Greater China
• North America
• Early-stage
• Healthcare
• Technology
• China
• USA
• GIC Private
• Lake Bleu Capital
• Pharmaceuticals
• covid-19