AsianScientist (Aug. 1, 2018) – Ascentage Pharma, a global clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to developing therapies based on programmed cell death pathways (apoptosis), has announced the successful completion of approximately US$150 million in a Series C financing round. This brings the total capital raised since the company’s launch to around US$240 million.
The financing was co-led by existing investors YuanMing Prudence Fund and Oriza Seed Venture Capital, as well as new investor Teng Yue Partners. ArrowMark Partners, HDY International Investment, CTS Capital and CCB International also participated in the round.
“With this financing, we are well positioned to achieve key data milestones as we continue to advance our growing pipeline of novel, apoptosis-targeted small molecule candidates,” said Dr. Yang Dajun, chairman and CEO of Ascentage.
“With 16 active clinical trials in the US, Australia and China, we believe that we are the only company with a robust portfolio of active clinical programs focused on both intrinsic and extrinsic apoptotic pathways and are pleased by the continued interest and support of our investor base to realize the full potential of protein-protein inhibition in addressing these complex, but highly promising, targets in cancer and other diseases,” he added.
Dr. Lawrence Tian, chairman of YuanMing Prudence Fund, said that the fund is committed to continuing its support for Ascentage through capital and resources. The ability to disrupt difficult-to-target protein-protein interactions could potentially transform how certain cancers are treated and enable expansion into new indications, he said.
“We are excited about the potential of Ascentage’s innovation and leading role in protein-protein interactions to enrich anti-cancer strategies and thereby make a meaningful impact on both cancer patients and society,” said Mr. Eric Zhao, Partner of Oriza Seed. “Given their rich pipeline and world-class management team with complementary strengths, we are confident that Ascentage is positioned to become one of leading innovative biotech companies.”
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Source: Ascentage Pharma; Photo: Shutterstock.
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