Lynk Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd. raised ¥200 million (US$28 million) in a series C1 financing round to accelerate the clinical development of its second-generation and third-generation JAK inhibitors for cancer and autoimmune diseases.

Cutia Therapeutics Ltd. raised HK$465 million (US$65 million) in a Hong Kong IPO on June 12, with almost half of the proceeds going toward furthering its lead product to treat adipose accumulation. Cutia’s shares moved a little higher on the first day of trading, opening at HK$21.80, rising 0.46% and closing at HK$21.95.

Biopharma financings are continuing a faster pace than last year, with $25.82 billion raised in the first five months of 2023, up 20.46% from $21.44 billion in the same time period last year. Value is down compared to 2021’s $59.29 billion and 2020’s $48.03 billion but it is more than 2019’s $23.21 billion from January to May.

Immutep Ltd. announced an AU$80 million (US$52.1 million) capital raise that consists of a AU$50 million placement and a AU$30 million entitlement offer to eligible shareholders to fund clinical programs for lead candidate eftilagimod (IMP-321, efti), a lymphocyte activation gene-3 (LAG-3) fusion protein and major histocompatibility complex class II agonist that stimulates both innate and adaptive immunity for treating cancer.

After a steep drop in biopharmaceutical IPOs in the first half of 2023, investors have come to expect that the slowdown in new listings of Chinese companies will continue for some time. Without the key influx of cash that equity financing can generate, biopharma companies are ramping up other activities to generate cash, particularly by out-licensing drugs with the potential for global expansion.

Coherent Biopharma Co. Ltd. raised $100 million in series B and B+ financing rounds to step up its efforts to develop its bi-targeting ligand-drug conjugate (Bi-XDC) drugs and get them to market. Suzhou, China-based Coherent plans to use its newly expanded war chest to support the clinical trials of three candidates, CBP-1008, CBP-1018 and CBP-1019, as well as an IND application for CBP-8008 in China and the U.S., the company told BioWorld.

Biopharma financings are pacing more than $300 million higher than at the end of April last year, but are well behind the total through April 2021 when the value of financings more than doubled any recent year due to the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Through the end of April, biopharmas have raised $19.83 billion this year, compared to $17.5 billion through the same month in 2022, $53.7 billion in 2021, $24.04 billion in 2020 and $19.53 billion in 2019.