Eight Roads leads $38m round for China biotech player Adcentrx
China and US-based biotech company Adcentrx has raised USD38m in an extended Series A round led by Eight Roads Ventures, with participation from F-Prime Capital, ABio-X, Delta Capital, and Trinity Innovation Fund.
ABio-X is an incubation platform established by specialist Asian healthcare investor CBC Group as a sleeve within its latest private equity fund. Adcentrx is a product of this platform, having joined the programme in 2020.
Wei Fu, CBC's founder and CEO, said in a WeChat statement that, with the completion of Adcentrx's round, every company backed by the incubation platform has secured follow-on funding in the past 12 months.
Adcentrx focuses on antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), a class of biopharmaceutical drugs designed as a targeted therapy for treating cancer. Unlike chemotherapy, ADCs are intended to target and kill tumour cells while sparing healthy cells.
Antibodies linked to an anti-cancer payload attach themselves to an antigen - typically proteins - that is only found in or on tumour cells. A biochemical reaction between the antibody and the antigen triggers a signal in the tumour cell, which absorbs the antibody and the anti-cancer payload. This kills the cancer.
Adcentrx claims to be pioneering the development of an ADC technology toolbox that addresses key components of protein conjugate design with a view to solving challenges that arose in previous generations of ADCs.
Its lead candidate, ADRX-0706, is expected to begin in-human stage-one clinical trials in the second half of 2023. The new funding will support the development of this and other pipeline drugs.
“ADCs as a therapeutic modality have flourished in recent years with a transformative inflow of active investment and strategic transactions. Adcentrx has demonstrated good potential of developing differentiated ADCs for unmet medical needs” said Tao Huang, a principal at Eight Roads, in a statement.
Other China-based ADC specialists that have received VC funding include ProfoundBio and Medilink.
Life Venture Partners and Lighthouse Capital served as financial advisors on Adcentrix's Series A extension.
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