China-based molecular drug developer Connect Biopharma closed a $115m series C round yesterday that included Lilly Asia Ventures, a corporate venture capital vehicle for pharmaceutical firm Eli Lilly.
Investment management firm RA Capital Management led the round and RA Capital principal Derek DiRocco is joining the company’s board of directors. Boxer Capital, HBM Healthcare Investments and Qiming Venture Partners filled out the participants.
Connect is looking to identify immune modulating molecules that will form the basis of treatments for inflammatory and autoimmune diseases.
The series C funds will support ongoing phase 2 clinical trials for a drug candidate dubbed CBP-201 in a skin condition known as atopic dermatitis, and for a second candidate, CBP-307, in a bowel disease called ulcerative colitis.
The company will also use the cash to explore additional indications for GBP-201 and prepare for phase 3 studies for its two lead candidates.
Zheng Wei, Connect’s co-founder and chief executive, said: “Connect is focused on innovating best-in-class therapies to address patient need globally, and our ability to attract top-tier global investors is an important validation of the potential value of our pipeline and its underlying technologies.
“We believe that our wholly-owned and growing pipeline, technology, scientific and clinical expertise and world-class investors position us for success in continued execution of our near-term objectives and attaining our long-term vision of improving care and outcomes for patients with inflammatory and autoimmune disease.”
Qiming Venture Partners led a $20m series A round for Connect in 2017 that included Northern Light Venture Capital, Lapam Capital and Cowin Venture Capital which the company said followed $5m recently supplied by Cowin, Anlongmed Fund and XinYue Equity.
Connect added $55m in a January 2019 series B round led by Advantech Capital and backed by Qiming Venture Partners, Northern Light Venture Capital and Cowin.
