China cancer drug developer InxMed raises $50m
InxMed, a China-based biotech company focused on oncology treatments, has raised a USD 50m Series B round led by SDIC China Merchants Investment.
Additional contributions came from Lingjian Capital (AIHC), Shaanxi Growth Enterprise Leading Fund, and HosenCare Brothers. Existing investor Ennovation Ventures re-upped. Ennovation and China Growth Capital led a CNY 130m (USD 19m) round in 2020.
Founded in 2018, InxMed firm develops therapies targeting stroma microenvironment and drug resistance for hard-to-treat solid tumours. It aims to find solutions for oncology drug resistance and tumour metastasis, especially resistance to anti-PD-1.
PD-1 is a checkpoint inhibitor-based cancer treatment that has become popular in China. It prevents cancer cells from binding with a specific protein that renders immune cells unable to detect them.
The company has four drugs in its pipeline, according to its website. The most advanced is IN10018, a small molecule inhibitor that was granted fast track designation by the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of platinum-resistant ovarian cancer patients last year.
Once ovarian cancer progresses and becomes resistant to first-line platinum-based chemotherapy, few treatment options are left. Patients usually last no longer than 12 months. However, InxMed claims IN10018 has promising efficacy for this patient population when combined with chemotherapy.
The Series B proceeds will go towards accelerating clinical trials of IN10018 for multiple cancer types in the US and China.
“InxMed is focused on the development of innovative treatments to address the true global unmet medical needs. Our strategy is targeting the ecosystem fostered by tumour cells including tumour microenvironment to develop effective therapeutic regimens to combat or even cure cancer,” said Zaiqi Wang, founder and CEO of InxMed.
The company has teams based in Shanghai, Beijing, and Nanjing, as well as in the US, Canada, and Australia. It has sole global commercial rights to two of the four drugs, including IN10018. Others are the product of collaborations with the likes of Merck, Roche, and Boehringer Ingelheim.
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