China-based pharmaceutical company Innovent Biologics has received $100m from a series C round led by Legend Capital, the corporate venturing arm of conglomerate Legend Holdings, Fierce Biotech reported yesterday.
Pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly also participated in the round, alongside financial services provider Fidelity Worldwide Investment’s biotech venturing arm Fidelity Biosciences, Fidelity’s China-based venture capital unit Fidelity Growth Partners Asia and Frontline Bioventures.
Eli Lilly, Fidelity Growth Partners Asia and Fidelity Biosciences previously funded a $25m series B round for Innovent in 2012. The company has not disclosed series A details, but has revealed Eli Lilly, Fidelity Biosciences, Fidelity Growth Partners Asia and Frontline are its founding investors.
The series C funding will be used to accelerate a pipeline of 10 drugs being developed by Innovent, six of which are proprietary and four biosimilars – copies of drugs developed by others whose original patents have expired.
Innovent hopes to enter two candidates into clinical trials this year, and will also continue to conduct research and development work at its manufacturing campus, which it has been expanding since the time of its series B round.