China-based metabolic disease therapy developer Sciwind Biosciences has raised $37m in series B funding from investors including Legend Capital, the venture capital firm spun out of conglomerate Legend Holdings.
Life sciences-focused investment firm Lyfe Capital led the round, investing with VC firm Haibang Venture Capital, which was identified as an existing backer.
Founded in 2017, Sciwind is working on drugs targeting chronic metabolic and immunological disorders.
The company’s lead product candidate, XW003, is being developed to treat type 2 diabetes, obesity and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. It has undergone phase 1 clinical trials outside China and is set to begin phase 2 studies in its home country this year.
Sciwind founder and CEO Hai Pan said: “The new investment will help to drive current clinical projects and push forward other first-in-class or best-in-class drug candidates from our pipeline into clinical development.
“It also helps the expansion of our talent team and we hope to attract more talents to join Sciwind team to provide patients with products of high clinical value and bring sustained financial return to the investors.”
Legend Capital had led a $29.5m series A round for the company in early 2019, investing with pharmaceutical group Kawin Technology and asset management firm Shiyu Capital.
