Legend Capital leads Series A for China CDMO CoJourney
China and US-based contract development and manufacturing organisation (CDMO) CoJourney has raised a Series A of USD 30m led by Legend Capital.
GL Ventures, Legend Star Investment Management and Lake Bleu Capital also took part in the round. The proceeds will go towards the expansion of the company's US presence in terms of organisation buildup and commercial manufacturing capabilities.
Founded in 2021, CoJourney is based in China’s Zhejiang province and in Philadelphia in the US. It supports the end-to-end custom development and manufacturing of gene-based medicines, including plasmids, viral vectors, and mRNA. Manufacturing facilities currently span 130,000 square feet.
The company claims to have built a proprietary technology platform and scalable processes to meet the demands of commercial-scale manufacturing. It has supported clients from drug delivery through the entire regulatory process, including investigational new drug (IND) applications in the US and other regions.
“I am proud of the highly innovative CDMO platform that CoJourney has built. Our streamlined manufacturing processes and state-of-the-art quality systems and industry-leading cost structure will allow us to deliver the highest-purity products to our clients with unprecedented turnaround times and cost structure. We believe this is the new model for cell and gene therapy CDMOs,” said Lijun Wang, CEO of CoJourney, in a statement.
Similar investments include a CNY 500m (USD 71m) Series D towards the end of last year for Beijing-based contract research organisation (CRO) Safe Pharmaceutical Research Institute. The new capital was earmarked for the development of cell gene therapy (CGT) research capacity.
Biotech and pharmaceutical businesses remain relatively attractive targets for US dollar-denominated funds because they do not involve military or other sensitive applications, said one investor in the space, without referencing CoJourney specifically. Rising US-China tensions have prompted investors to scrutinise potential targets for technology-related regulatory risks.
As to the CDMO industry in China, James Huang, founder of healthcare-focused Panacea Venture, said last year that it was undergoing consolidation. Many of the smaller players – often drug developers that received government incentives to establish drug manufacturing facilities in industrial parks – are struggling to stay afloat.
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