December 2, 2014
By Riley McDermid, BioSpace.com Breaking News Editor
Canadian biopharma CANbridge Life Sciences has raised $10 million in a Series A round from Qiming Venture Partners and TF Capital, said the company Tuesday, funding it will use to expand business development and operations.
Previously funded primarily by angel investors until now, the new investors are a sign that bigger player are looking to get involved in CANbridge’s mission of developing Western drug candidates in China and North Asia. TF Capital, a venture fund initiated by the leading Chinese CRO, Tigermed, is one such a heavy hitter.
“CANbridge has attracted top-notch venture funds, with some of the most impressive track records in Chinese life science industry, for our Series A round, validating our ‘in China for Asia strategy’ and demonstrating their commitment to our model. CANbridge aims to bring life-changing Western therapies sooner to fast-growing, but medically underserved, Asian markets,” said James Xue, CANbridge’s founder, chairman and chief executive in a statement.
Beijing-based CANbridge focuses on accelerating development and commercialization of specialty healthcare products for serious and critical medical conditions in China and Korea and Taiwan. The company already has partnerships with Western biopharmaceutical companies to bring clinical-stage pharmaceutical, medical device or diagnostic products that are unavailable in China/North Asia to the region.
“CANbridge already has entered into partnerships with several Western bio-pharmaceutical companies to develop and commercialize oncology products with potential to treat millions of Chinese patients, a strategy we will continue to execute even more aggressively with the backing of our investors,” said Xue.
To date, it has an exclusive licensing agreement with U.S.-based Azaya Therapeutics, Inc., to develop and commercialize tumor drug ATI-1123 in China, as well as an agreement with EUSA Pharma, a Jazz Pharmaceuticals company, to commercialize oral mucositis therapy Caphosol in China.
Its new investors said Tuesday that they are excited about the possibilities of the deal, which could give them access to billions of new consumers in China and North Asia.
“We are very pleased to participate in CANbridge’s Series A round, together with TF Capital. With its seasoned management team, unique global R&D experiences and deep understanding of the China market, CANbridge holds great potential in bringing products with substantial values to China and Asia markets,” said William Hu, partner of Qiming Ventures. “We are excited to be a part of CANbridge’s journey to meet the unmet medical needs of Chinese and Asian populations.”
