China-based biopharmaceutical startup CStone Pharmaceuticals closed a $150m series A round yesterday featuring WuXi Healthcare Ventures, the strategic investment arm of pharmaceutical research company WuXi PharmaTech.
The round also included Oriza Seed Venture Capital, the investment platform located in Suzhou Industrial Park and operated by the park’s Suzhou Oriza Holdings unit, as well as investment firm Boyu Capital.
CStone is developing therapeutics from a product pipeline covering five areas – oncology, cardiovascular diseases, rheumatoid arthritis, haematology and autoimmune diseases – with the company’s central focus being immuno-oncology.
The series A capital will fund clinical work on CStone’s drug candidates. The company has also appointed Frank Jiang, formerly the head of pharmaceutical firm Sanofi’s Asia-Pacific research and development organisation, as chief executive.
John Zhu, partner at WuXi Healthcare Ventures, said: “Our core principle is to focus on finding top-notch assets globally and building world-class companies in China by leveraging our deep understanding in drug discovery and linking extensive global resources.
“CStone is one of our newly-built biotech companies that fits our fund’s “find and build” strategy. Together with our partners Oriza Seed and Boyu, we are confident that CStone will bring innovative therapeutics to patients and make a significant impact on the China biotech industry.”