China-based medicine provider Brii Biosciences officially launched yesterday with $260m of funding from investors including 6 Dimensions Capital, the investment firm co-founded by pharmaceutical firm WuXi AppTec.
6 Dimensions, formed by WuXi AppTec and venture capital firm Frontline BioVentures, was joined by VC firms Arch Venture Partners and Sequoia Capital, private equity firms Boyu Capital and Yunfeng Capital, and asset management firm Blue Pool Capital.
Brii Bio intends to combine strategic partnerships, data analysis and research and development to source medical treatments tailored to the Chinese market, especially for infectious diseases, lung and liver diseases.
Co-founder, CEO and president Zhi Hong used to head pharmaceutical firm GlaxoSmithKline’s Infectious Diseases Therapy Area Unit, while other executives have logged time at Gilead Sciences, AstraZeneca and Merck & Co.
The company has already secured options for the Chinese rights to four assets owned by infectious disease drug developer Vir, and formed a partnership with AliHealth, the healthcare branch of e-commerce group Alibaba, that will use data to assess better methods of clinical development and medical treatment.
In addition to investing through 6 Dimensions, WuXi AppTec and its WuXi Biologics subsidiary will provide Brii Bio, which also operates out of an office in the US, with access to its R&D resources.
Ge Li, WuXi AppTec’s chairman, said: “WuXi’s mission has always been to build a technology and capability platform to enable anyone and any company to discover, develop and manufacture healthcare products to benefit patients.
“I share Brii Bio’s mission to improve public health in China, and many of the leadership team members had already delivered some of the biggest medicines in our industry. I look forward to supporting them.”