Jilin Huisheng Biopharmaceutical Co. Ltd., a non-wholly owned subsidiary of Sihuan Pharmaceutical Holdings Group Ltd., has raised ¥500 million (US$70 million) in a series A round. Huisheng, which has developed a pipeline of programs addressing both diabetes and its complications, plans to use the new funds to speed up its clinical trials and purchase manufacturing equipment, according to Che Fengsheng, executive director and chairman of Sihuan Pharma.
E-nitiate Biopharmaceuticals Co. Ltd. has raised ¥100 million (US$14.4 million) in a series A round to speed up the clinical trials of its lead assets, QY-201 and QY-101, and expand the pipeline. “Our strategy is to focus on the ‘blue ocean’ of the dermatosis market,” said Shi Jun, chief medical officer at E-nitiate Biopharma. “The first step is to enter China’s autoimmune skin diseases market.”
Startup Avelos Therapeutics Inc. raised $8 million in series A funding that will launch the company’s biomarker-driven cancer therapy pipeline using its synthetic lethality platform. Participating in the series A funding were SV Investment, UTC Investment, Quad Investment Management, Timepolio Asset Management, Mirae Asset Venture Investment and Mirae Asset Capital.
Canwell Biotech Ltd. raised more than ¥100 million (US$14.8 million) in a series A+ financing. The funds will help accelerate trials for its pipeline of anticancer assets, such as the TLR7 agonist CAN-1012, and preclinical development of other projects too, CEO Henry Yu told BioWorld. The State Development and Investment Corporation Venture Capital Co. Ltd. was the round’s sole investor.
Glubio Therapeutics Inc. has raised $22 million in a series A+ round to support the development of its targeted protein degradation drugs. With the investment, Glubio expects to file INDs for two molecular glue degraders for hematological malignancies in early 2023 in both China and the U.S.
Helixon Ltd. raised ¥500 million (US$75 million) in a series A round for its artificial intelligence (AI) drug development platform. The Beijing-based company is building a next-generation AI computing platform by combining it with self-developed high-throughput experimental technologies, aiming to provide drug developers with an intelligent system for molecular computation, simulation and design.
Tessa Therapeutics Ltd. has a closed a $126 million series A financing round to advance its ongoing clinical development, which includes the initiation of a pivotal trial of autologous CD30-CAR-T therapy (TT-11) and advancement of allogeneic CD30.CAR EBVST therapy (TT-11X) programs.
Meta Pharmaceuticals Inc. has raised $15 million in seed and pre-series A rounds in six months for the pipeline and AI platform development. Shenzhen, China-based Meta Pharma plans to use the new funds to support its three candidates to enter clinical trials, as well as the development of its Meta-map platform for pipeline expansion.
Profoundbio Inc. closed a $70 million series A financing round that will see it advance its two lead antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) programs to the clinic. The Suzhou, China, and Woodinville, Wash.-based company has raised a total of more than $138 million in the past two years.