With Ties to Eli Lilly, Innovent Biologics Scores $100 Million

January 22, 2015
By Riley McDermid, BioSpace.com Breaking News Sr. Editor

The biosimilar boom is continuing Thursday, after Chinese startup Innovent Biologics said it has raised $100 million in a Series C funding round from a suite of venture capitalists intent on making the company a frontrunner for biotechs in the booming Asian market.

Originally backed by Eli Lilly and Company ’s Lilly Asia Ventures, this round was led by Chinese VC shop Legend Capital, and included Singapore-based Temasek and two unnamed partners and two unnamed partners. They now join Fidelity Biosciences, Fidelity Growth Partners Asia, Lilly Asia Ventures and Frontline Bioventures in staking the company.

All of that money will be ploughed right back into Innovent’s eight antibody products, which include one approved IND and three additional filed applications. The company has been closely-watched by investors because three of its candidates are biosimilars for Big Pharma blockbusters, including IBI303, a TNF like AbbVie 's Humira; IBI301, which hopes to compete with Roche 's Rituxan; and cancer therapy IBI302.

“We’re delighted to have the support of some of the most well-respected investors in the world for this round of financing,” said Michael Yu, co-founder, president and CEO of Innovent, in a statement.

So far, Innovent has an existing pipeline of six proprietary monoclonal antibodies and four biosimilar and said Thursday that two of those candidates will enter clinical trials in 2015.

“We believe we have built a unique organization in that we’re able to not only develop and advance an internal pipeline of high quality biologic therapeutics, but we’re also well positioned to serve as an ideal partner for pharmaceutical and biotech companies seeking to further develop and market complex biologic drugs throughout Asia,” said Yu. “This financing enables us to continue progressing our internal pipeline of complex biologics while simultaneously furthering our operational capabilities as the premier biologics company in China meeting international development standards.”

Innovent closed a $25 million Series B round in 2012, which it immediately used to kit out a Shanghai-based research and development campus that has earned stamps of approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and European regulators. That capacity for quickly producing biosimilar drugs that will automatically pass muster with regulators has investors salivating over Innovent’s potential as a major player in the lucrative Asian patient population.

“We believe Innovent is inimitably positioned to both successfully develop its own internal pipeline of biologic compounds and, with its extensive manufacturing capabilities and relationship with the Chinese government, offer partners a cost-efficient option for developing and selling biologic drugs in China and other markets,” said Darren Cai, executive director of Legend Capital.

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