Deals and Financings

Two prominent China-US healthcare investment firms plan to join forces. WuXi Healthcare Ventures and Frontline BioVentures will merge to form 6 Dimensions Capital (see story). Together, the two firms have almost $800 million under management. 6 Dimensions plans to continue growing by starting two new funds, one dollar-based and the other renminbi. Dr. Ge Li, Chairman and CEO of WuXi AppTec, will serve as Chairman of 6 Dimensions, and Dr. Leon Chen, Managing Partner of Frontline, will be the firm's CEO. WuXi Ventures has focused on innovative US startups, while Frontline is an established China venture firm. 

The upcoming Hong Kong IPO for WuXi Biologics, a CRO/CMO, will raise up to $513 million, according to sources (see story). That values WuXi's biologics subsidiary at $2 billion, if WuXi follows the common practice of offering 25% of its shares (Hong Kong requires that companies must offer at least that much in an IPO). WuXi Biologics filed for the IPO in January, but the filing did not contain details of the offering. WuXi has still not announced these details officially, though the reports sound definitive. The $513 million transaction is a large increase over the $300 million January whisper number. Preparations for the IPO are expected to launch soon. 

Shanghai's Zai Lab filed in the US to begin raising $150 million for its own venture fund. The company isn't talking about the fund yet, but its CEO, Samantha Du, PhD, is listed as the General Partner (see story). Dr. Du has a high profile in China, having served as CEO of Hutchison MediPharma, partner at Sequoia Capital China, and since 2014, as Founder, Chairman and CEO of Zai Lab. In three years, Zai has in-licensed seven drug candidates from six companies. The official name of the fund is Zai Venture Fund I, suggesting venture capital could be an ongoing Zai activity. 

WuXi NextCODE is talking to investors about another fundraising, this one for $200 million, said Reuters (see story). The company, which is part of WuXi AppTec's genomics operation, completed a $75 million Series B round earlier this month. The funding is drawing interest from top-tier investors such as Hillhouse Capital and Sequoia Capital, said Reuters, which attributed the information to two people with direct knowledge of the activity. WuXi hopes to close the latest round in July, Reuters said. 

Symic Bio, a Bay-area matrix biology company, announced a $30 million B financing that included two prominent China-focused investors: HEDA Ventures and Ally Bridge Group (see story). Symic CEO Ken Horne expects these investors will help Symic form China partnerships, according to BioCentury. Symic focuses on therapeutics for the sponge-like extracellular matrix in the body that provides an environment in which cells develop. The company has two drug candidates in clinical development. 

CANbridge Life Sciences of Beijing completed a $25 million Series B round from China investors (see story). The company, which has raised $40 million to date, said it expects to announce additional strategic transactions this year. CANbridge will use the money to fund clinical trials of its two lead candidates, both of which are oncology drugs. CANbridge focuses on developing Western drug candidates in China and North Asia. Lapam Capital, a Beijing life science VC, led the round and was joined by other China life science investors. 

VoxelCloud, a Los Angeles-China medical artificial intelligence company, raised $10 million in a Series A round led by Sequoia Capital (see story). Using AI and cloud computing, VoxelCloud plans to provide automated readings of medical images, which will be used as the basis for care plans in four areas: lung cancer, diabetic retinopathy, coronary heart disease and liver disease. The company is headquartered in Los Angeles and has research teams in Shanghai and Suzhou. 

Israel's EarlySense partnered with Shenzhen Lachesis mHealth to introduce its remote monitoring system in China (see story). The EarlySense device, called LIVE, is a pad that is placed under a mattress or on a chair to provide constant vital sign monitoring. The passive system does not require the patient to turn it on or wear any equipment. Lachesis has included the LIVE device in its Intelligent Hospital Ward Solution system. EarlySense says the product is useful for either home monitoring, nursing homes or hospitals if the patient is not attached to a monitor. 

Company News

Janssen Pharmaceutica, an R&D arm of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), plans to increase its investment in China to develop new drugs for lung disease, especially cancer (see story). The company said it would launch the new drugs in China first, then expand their reach to the rest of the world. The parent, J&J, will establish a global R&D center in China to further the work. Over the next five years, Janssen plans to launch more than ten new pharmaceutical products and expand its offerings in 50 existing medicines. 

Trials and Approvals

Celltrion (KOSDAQ: 068270), a South Korean biosimilar company, received CFDA approval to begin clinical trials of Remsima, a biosimilar to Johnson & Johnson’s (NYSE: JNJ) arthritis treatment Remicade (see story). Remsima has the distinction of being the first foreign antibody biosimilar approved for an efficacy/safety test in China, according to Celltrion, which filed for trial approval in January 2014. That's a long time to wait, even for China. Rensima is already marketed in Europe and the US.

Guangzhou Xiangxue Pharma received an IND approval from the CFDA to begin clinical trials of a novel treatment for glioblastoma (see story). The candidate, KX-02, is a Src protein tyrosine kinase inhibitor that Xiangxue in-licensed from Athenex Pharma of New York State in 2012. KX-02 was granted the IND approval less than a year after filing (the wait time will be lowered to two months under new rules) as a Class 1 New Drug in China. Athenex received approval to begin US clinical trials for the drug in 2014.

Xynomic Pharma, a US-China oncology startup, entered a strategic partnership with the University of California San Francisco to conduct a Phase II/III clinical trial of its lead drug, abexinostat (see story). Abexinostat is an HDAC inhibitor that is designed to overcome chemotherapy resistance, and Xynomic expects it will prove to be best-in-class. The company in-licensed global rights to abexinostat from AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV) three months ago (see story). Headquartered in Cheyenne, Wyoming, Xynomic also has operations in China. 

Disclosure: none.