China's Drug Farm secures $27m in first tranche of Series C
Drug Farm, a China and US-based developer of treatments for infection and immunological diseases, has raised USD27m in the first tranche of Series C funding led by Shanghai's YD Capital.
Jiashan County State-owned Assets Investment and Betta Capital, which is backed by Shenzhen-listed Betta Pharmaceuticals, also took part. In addition, two existing investors - Suzhou-based Wedo Venture Management and Shanghai-based Detong Capital - re-upped.
Drug Farm previously raised USD 56m in 2021 from BioVeda China Fund, WuXi Corporate Venture Fund, South China Venture Capital, Detong, and Zhejiang United Investment Group.
The company was founded in 2015 and focuses on innovative immune-modulating treatments. The fresh capital will support clinical trials for two key assets.
DF-006, which is currently undergoing phase-one trials with chronic patients, targets hepatitis B by stimulating local innate immunity in the liver. “There remains no effective cure for hepatitis B and DF-006 represents a new mechanistic approach to stimulate the body’s own immunity to help clear the infection”, said Ed Gane, a professor of medicine at the University of Auckland, in a statement.
Drug Farm has one other treatment - DF-003 - that is scheduled to begin clinical trials this year. It targets cardio-renal disease and a rare genetic inflammatory disease that can cause blindness.
The company has six drugs in its pipeline. The others, which are intended to treat cancer, Alzheimer's, and colitis, are still in the discovery and candidate selection stages.
Drug Farm uses genetic screening to identify drug targets in living animals with intact immune systems. For example, its platform generated a library of genetic mutations in mice and used that to connect specific genes to host immunity. Once a drug candidate has been identified, the company leverages deep-learning technology to accelerate the chemistry process.
Haoyue Capital acted as the exclusive financial advisor for the first tranche of the Series C.
More on Greater China
Latest News
Asian GPs slow implementation of ESG policies - survey
Asia-based private equity firms are assigning more dedicated resources to environment, social, and governance (ESG) programmes, but policy changes have slowed in the past 12 months, in part due to concerns raised internally and by LPs, according to a...
Singapore fintech start-up LXA gets $10m seed round
New Enterprise Associates (NEA) has led a USD 10m seed round for Singapore’s LXA, a financial technology start-up launched by a former Asia senior executive at The Blackstone Group.
India's InCred announces $60m round, claims unicorn status
Indian non-bank lender InCred Financial Services said it has received INR 5bn (USD 60m) at a valuation of at least USD 1bn from unnamed investors including “a global private equity fund.”
Insight leads $50m round for Australia's Roller
Insight Partners has led a USD 50m round for Australia’s Roller, a venue management software provider specializing in family fun parks.