Xuanzhu Biopharmaceutical welcomes Chinese government’s State Development and Investment Corporation as an investor
Xuanzhu Biopharmaceutical, a subsidiary of China-based pharmaceutical company Sihuan Pharmaceutical Holdings, has raised RMB800 million (approximately US$115.6 million) in its Series A round of financing, according to a statement by the company today.
The funding was raised from Chinese state-owned investment company State Development and Investment Corporation (SDIC), a new investor in Xuanzhu Biopharmaceutical with a stake of 18.6%, the statement said.
“The joining of the SDIC is an affirmation of Xuanzhu Biopharmaceutical’s current achievements. We will continue to bring world-leading, unique and innovative therapeutic drugs to more clinical patients in the future,” President, R&D, at Xuanzhu Biopharmaceutical, said Dr Li Jiakui said in the statement.
“With the help of Sihuan Pharmaceutical’s extensive commercialization experience in China, as well as our outstanding R&D capabilities and localized development capabilities, we believe that Xuanzhu Biopharmaceutical can gain a competitive advantage in the ever-evolving clinical and regulatory environment in China,” he added.
The deal involves an equity incentive plan for Xuanzhu Biopharmaceutical’s management in building a drug R&D and production platform in China, the statement also said. Xuanzhu Biopharmaceutical and SDIC are also expected to collaborate in the future in this field.
Xuanzhu Biopharmaceutical is a drug research and development platform founded in 2002. It was acquired by Sihuan Pharmaceutical in 2012, and eventually became an independent spin-off of the company with a capital of RMB1.15 billion in 2018.
Apart from China, the company has a presence in the U.S. and Hong Kong, the statement noted.
“Xuanzhu Biopharmaceutical is deploying research and development of market-leading innovative drug, and is rapidly promoting clinical research and development and marketing, thus building a strong platform,” SDIC said in the statement.
“We are very happy to support Xuanzhu Biopharmaceutical’s highly efficient team at this exciting stage. They are using their expertise and capabilities to expand treatment options and benefit Chinese patients,” the company added.
Xuanzhu Biopharmaceutical has several products in its pipeline, some in the late clinical stage, covering oncology, diabetes, metabolic diseases, digestive system, male reproduction, and anti-infection.
Of these, its products Birociclib, a CDK4/6 inhibitor for advanced breast cancer, and Janagliflozin, an SGLT2 inhibitor for the treatment of diabetes, are the most promising, the statement noted.
“We are very pleased to see that SDIC has full confidence in Xuanzhu Biopharmaceutical’s ability in developing high-value innovative drugs,” Chief Commercial Officer of Xuanzhu Biopharmaceutical, Dr Leslie Boyd said in the statement.
“The new investment will make Xuanzhu capable of maintaining a good cooperative relationship with those partners who share the same values with us for a long time, and always use innovative therapies to continuously improve patients’ lives and medical standards,” Boyd added.
As of 2017, China was the world’s second largest pharmaceutical market, and also the biggest emerging market with its value expected to reach $175 billion by 2022.
Header image by Anshu A on Unsplash
