Pharmaceutical companies WuXi AppTec and Juno Therapeutics have contributed to a $90m series A round for China-based cell therapy technology startup JW Therapeutics that closed on Wednesday.
Singaporean state-owned investment firm Temasek also participated in the round, along with Sequoia Capital China, YuanMing Capital, Oriza Seed Capital, Yipu Capital and Avict Global Holdings.
WuXi, which is also known as WuXi PharmaTech, and Juno formed JW in 2016 to develop cell-based therapies by combining US-based immunotherapy developer Juno’s technology with China-headquartered WuXi’s manufacturing and research and development resources.
The company has had an investigational new drug application for its lead product candidate, a B-cell malignancy treatment known as JWCAR029, accepted by the US Food and Drug Administration, and has advanced it into the clinical testing phase.
James Li, JW Therapeutics’ co-founder and chief executive, said: “The proceeds from this round of financing will be used to further advance our JWCAR029 clinical program, develop a therapeutic pipeline and build a new commercial manufacturing facility.
“It will greatly accelerate the development and commercialisation of JW Therapeutics’ portfolio to meet the vast unmet medical needs and provide innovative treatment options to patients in China.”
WuXi was an investor in Juno prior to the latter’s $265m initial public offering in 2014. Pharmaceutical firm Celgen acquired Juno for $9bn in January this year, a more than fivefold increase from its market cap at the time of the IPO.