PRC drug company Ascletis raises $100 million
Newly launched Chinese pharmaceutical company Ascletis Inc. – which aims to license high-potential drug products from Western companies and develop them into medicines for China’s fast- growing market – has raised $100 million in private funding tranche led by Hangzhou Binjiang Investment Holding Co.
The Ascletis model aims to blend the experience and drug-licensing opportunities found in the US with the cost benefits of drug development in China. The company maintains a focus on drugs pertaining to various forms of cancers and infectious diseases, such as drug-resistant TB.
The funding round comes via an investment by Hangzhou real estate mogul Qi Jinxing.
Ascletis' head Jinzi Wu has previously worked in the US leading HIV drug research at GlaxoSmithKline, and received his PhD in cancer biology at the University of Arizona. In managing Ascletis, he divides his time between Research Triangle Park in North Carolina and Hangzhou, China.
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