China-headquartered radiopharmaceutical therapy developer Ablaze Pharmaceuticals emerged from stealth yesterday with $75m in series A funding from investors including Rayz Investments, a vehicle for radiopharmaceutical treatment developer RayzeBio.
Vivo Capital and AdvanTech Capital co-led the round, which also featured Nan Fung Life Sciences, a subsidiary of property developer Nan Fung, and its Pivotal BioVenture Partners China fund, as well as VenBio Partners, Samsara BioCapital and Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners.
Ablaze was formed earlier this year by US-headquartered RayzeBio to develop targeted radiopharmaceutical treatments (TRTs) for Chinese cancer patients and has development and commercial rights for its parent company’s drug pipeline.
The company will conduct work internally but is also looking to form collaborations with external partners. The cash will go to advancing a pipeline of TRTs for solid tumours and increasing headcount.
Ken Song, president and chief executive of RayzeBio, has taken a board seat at the startup while Nan Fung Life Sciences vice-president Norman Tse has assumed a board observer position.
Song said: “Targeted radiopharmaceutical therapies represent the next foundational modality to treat cancer. In forming Ablaze, we realised to be successful, it was critical to have a company focused on the China market and focused on radiopharmaceuticals.”
