China-based biotech and biopharmaceutical company FortuneRock (China) has raised $24m in funding.
Investors include Jinhua Pharmaceuticals and an unnamed foreign and domestic Chinese private investor.
As part of the deal, Jinhua will receive 13% of FortuneRock’s shares.
The new funds will partly be used to set up a new spin-off enterprise, whilst the rest will be used to support the company as it plans for an IPO later this year.
The new spin-off company will focus on the development and commercialisation of a novel protein drug, which is in Phase 2 of clinical trials.
Zailin YU, chairman of FortuneRock (China), said, “We are pleased to announce the successful investments into our business in China. This is the first step in our continued capital raising efforts for our extensive product pipeline development needs.”
“This is just the first round,The second round fundraising will start about a year from now”, He said.
Fortunerock is the parent company of fellow drug development companies Tianjin Sinobiotech, Sinobiotech (Tianjin) and Beijing Bio-fortune.