HONG KONG – An immune-oncology drug developer in Beijing has successfully completed a first-round financing of more than ¥450 million (US$75 million).

Beigene Ltd.'s round included initial angel and strategic investors, new investors such as Asia-based investment firm Hillhouse Capital and Chinese private equity firm Citic PE along with an undisclosed blue chip U.S. public life sciences investment fund.

Beigene previously received $5 million and $9 million in May and September from its partner Merck Serono, the biopharmaceutical division of Merck KGaA.

"The $14 million milestone payment we received from Merck this year was far from enough for our clinical development; that's why we need new investment," Xia Qing, a spokesman at Beigene's government affairs department, told BioWorld Asia. "It usually takes about $1 billion for a drug to complete the development process from molecule screening to being launched in the market and 70 percent of the money would be spent on clinical studies."

Beigene is currently investigating three small-molecule inhibitor candidates in clinical development: BGB-283, BGB-290 and BGB-3111.

BGB-283 is a second-generation BRAF inhibitor candidate. BRAF is involved in sending signals linked to cell and cell growth. The drug potentially could be used to treat patients with cancers that harbor BRAF mutations and aberrations on the mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway. BGB-283 entered phase I studies in November 2013.

BGB-290 is an investigational, oral and potent inhibitor candidate of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) involved in cellular processes including DNA repair and programmed cell death. BGB-290 entered a phase I study in July.

BGB-3111 is an oral, highly selective and potent inhibitor candidate of Bruton tyrosine kinase (BTK) that entered phase I studies in August.

On May 5, 2014, Beigene announced that it achieved a clinical milestone in the collaboration with Merck Serono for drug candidate BGB-283 and triggered a $5 million payment from Merck to Beigene.

Four months later, on Sept. 11, the company achieved another clinical milestone for drug candidate BGB-290, which triggered another $9 million payment. Both payments will be used for clinical development. "The $75 million we raised this time is mainly for our next move in the capital market, also for clinical studies of course," Xia said.

"Beigene has quickly distinguished itself not only with a top-tier scientific foundation, but an ability to consistently execute its development plan and drive different targeted and immuno-oncology candidates into the clinic," said Ke Tang, vice president of Citic PE, in a statement. "Its noteworthy partnerships with industry leader Merck Serono, coupled with a rapidly evolving pipeline of potential best-in-class, wholly owned assets, make this an exceptional story that we are very pleased to support."

"We currently have three oncology candidates in phase I clinical testing with global best-in-class potential, a testament to our unique translational research platform that allows us to consistently deliver targeted therapeutics with the potential to address significant unmet needs for patients in a variety of cancer indications," said John Oyler, CEO of Beigene. "The proceeds from the financing will allow us to move forward in our clinical development as we prepare for multiple upcoming data readouts, and we also expect to bring two to three new drug candidates into the clinic during 2015 while investing in additional early stage pipeline programs."

Beigene's pipeline is not the only reason that the investors are interested in funding the company. A team of 150 scientists and staff has also won the investors' trust.

"[Besides our strong biologics pipeline] our investors are most attracted by our team," said Xia.

Besides the three oncology assets, Beigene is pursuing additional preclinical programs including a highly potent and potentially differentiated programmed cell death protein 1 monoclonal antibody candidate.

"With its significant geographical advantages, novel translational research platform and first-class biology, Beigene is truly a unique and unparalleled investment opportunity within the rapidly growing life sciences sector," said Michael Yi, partner at Hillhouse Capital.