Antengene Corporation Closes US$97 Million Series C Financing to Support Ongoing Drug Development and Preparations for Potential Commercialization
Release date：
2020-07-21
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SHANGHAI, China, July 20, 2020 – Antengene Corporation, a leading innovative hematology and oncology-focused biopharmaceutical company dedicated to discovering, developing and commercializing global first-in-class and best-in-class therapies, today announced that it has successfully closed US$97 million in Series C financing.
The financing was led by Fidelity Management & Research Company LLC with additional support from new investors including GL Ventures (an affiliate of Hillhouse Capital), GIC, CRF and a large, reputable long-term investor. Existing investors including Qiming Venture Partners and Boyu Capital also participated.
“We appreciate the recognition and trust from these prestigious investment institutions. This round of financing has drawn support from among the world’s largest asset managers, top-tier healthcare investors widely recognized in the capital markets, and strong continuous support from our existing investors. This is an important milestone to reinforce Antengene’s capabilities to bring cutting-edge therapies to help patients with life-threatening diseases in the Asia Pacific regions and around the world.” said Dr. Jay Mei, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Antengene.
Proceeds from the Series C financing will be primarily used to fund the continuing clinical development of Antengene’s robust pipeline of hematology and oncology therapies, expanding in-house research and development capabilities and strengthening the commercial infrastructures in APAC markets. To date, Antengene has made significant progress with its broad pipeline of six clinical-stage programs and six pre-clinical stage oncology assets:
ATG-010 (selinexor) is the first and only oral selective inhibitor of nuclear export (SINE) compound in the world. In July 2019, the U.S. FDA approved selinexor in combination with low-dose dexamethasone for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma (RRMM). In June 2020, selinexor was approved by the U.S. FDA as a treatment for patients with relapsed/refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (R/R DLBCL). Currently, the registration clinical trials of ATG-010 in RRMM and R/R DLBCL are ongoing in China. The compound is also in late clinical development for various other hematologic malignancies and solid tumors (including KRAS mutant tumors). Pre-clinical studies demonstrated that inhibition of nuclear protein export through XPO1 can effectively treat tumors with such mutation.
ATG-008 (onatasertib) is a second-generation dual mTORC1/2 inhibitor presently studied in multi-regional clinical trials for the treatment of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), as well as non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), gynecological malignancies and other cancers as a single agent or in combination with an anti-PD-1 antibody.
ATG-016 (eltanexor) is a second-generation oral selective inhibitor of nuclear export protein XPO1 presently studied in myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) as well as various types of solid tumors, such as colorectal cancer (CRC) and prostate cancer (PrC).
ATG-019 is a first-in-class PAK4/NAMPT dual-target inhibitor presently studied in a number of clinical trials including non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL), colorectal cancer, NSCLC, and melanoma. In addition, pre-clinical studies have demonstrated that ATG-019 in combination with anti-PD-1 antibodies can effectively improve the anti-tumor activity and is effective in treating patients that become resistant to anti-PD-1 therapy.
ATG-527 (verdinexor) is an innovative compound in clinical studies as a potential treatment for anti-viral infection and autoimmune diseases – such as Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection, cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection, systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Phase I healthy volunteer study of the compound has been completed.
ATG-017 is a potent and selective small molecule extracellular signal–regulated kinases 1 and 2 (ERK1/2) inhibitor in clinical development for the treatment of various solid tumors, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and multiple myeloma.
In addition, the Antengene drug discovery team is focused on the research and pre-clinical development of innovative small molecules, monoclonal and bi-specific antibodies to treat cancer.
About Antengene
Antengene is a biopharmaceutical company with integrated drug discovery, clinical development, manufacturing and commercialization anchored in the Asia Pacific regions and with a global layout, aiming to provide the most advanced first-in-class/best-in-class anti-cancer drugs and other treatments for patients in China, the rest of Asia and around the world. In April 2017, Celgene (now officially acquired by Bristol-Myers Squibb, and become the world’s top ten pharmaceutical company after the merger), a global leading innovative biopharmaceutical company became a founding partner and obtained an equity position as an investor in Antengene. Since our inception, Antengene has built a product pipeline of 12 clinical and pre-clinical stage programs, obtained 7 IND approvals with 8 ongoing cross-regional clinical trials in the Asia Pacific regions. The vision of Antengene, “Treating Patients Beyond Borders”, is to meet the unmet medical needs of patients in the Asia Pacific regions and around the world through research & development and commercialization of first-in-class/best-in-class drugs. For more information, please visit www.antengene.com.
About Fidelity
Fidelity’s mission is to inspire better futures and deliver better outcomes for the customers and businesses we serve. With assets under administration of $8.1 trillion, including discretionary assets of $3.3 trillion as of May 31, 2020, we focus on meeting the unique needs of a diverse set of customers: helping more than 32 million people invest their own life savings, 22,000 businesses manage employee benefit programs, as well as providing more than 13,500 institutions with investment and technology solutions to invest their own clients’ money. Privately held for more than 70 years, Fidelity employs more than 40,000 associates who are focused on the long-term success of our customers. For more information about Fidelity Investments, visit https://www.fidelity.com/about-fidelity/our-company.
About GL Ventures (an affiliate of Hillhouse Capital)
GL Ventures focuses on innovative companies in healthcare, software services, consumer Internet, emerging consumer brands and services. The GL Ventures team is passionate about partnering with visionary entrepreneurs to create industry leaders that stand the test of time. GL Ventures is an affiliate of Hillhouse Capital, and we have been investing with innovators across the world since 2005. We were one of the earliest investors into some of the largest global companies today, including Beigene, Zoom, Meituan, JD, Woowa Brothers and many more.
About GIC
GIC is a leading global investment firm established in 1981 to manage Singapore’s foreign reserves. A disciplined long-term value investor, GIC is uniquely positioned for investments across a wide range of asset classes, including real estate, private equity, equities and fixed income. GIC has investments in over 40 countries and has been investing in emerging markets for more than two decades. Headquartered in Singapore, GIC employs over 1,500 people across 10 offices in key financial cities worldwide. For more information about GIC, please visit www.gic.com.sg.
About CRF
CRF Investment Holdings Company Limited, an exempted company incorporated in the Cayman Islands and is wholly-owned by China Reform Conson Soochow Overseas Fund I L.P.(managed by CDG Capital), which is a China-related overseas investment firm specializing in healthcare, industrials, and TMT sectors. Its portfolio companies in healthcare sector include Innovent, Akeso, RemeGen, MicroPort CardioFlow, Grail, Huahui Health,etc.
About Qiming Venture Partners
Founded in 2006, Qiming Venture Partners is a leading China venture capital firm with offices in Shanghai, Beijing, Suzhou, Shenzhen, Hong Kong, Seattle, Boston and San Francisco Bay Area. Currently Qiming Venture Partners manages nine US Dollar funds and five RMB funds with $5.3 billion assets under management. Since our establishment, we have invested in outstanding companies in the TMT and healthcare industries at the early and growing stages.
Since our debut, we have backed over 350 fast-growing and innovative companies. Over 110 companies are already listed on NYSE, NASDAQ, HKEx, Gretai Securities Market, Shanghai Stock Exchange and Shenzhen Stock Exchange, or achieved exit through M&A and other means. There are also over 30 portfolio companies that have achieved unicorn status. Many of our portfolio companies are today’s most influential firms in their respective sectors, including Xiaomi (SEHK:1810), Meituan Dianping (SEHK:3690), Bilibili (NASDAQ:BILI), Roborock (SHSE:688169), Gan & Lee (SHSE: 603087), Tigermed (SZSE:300347), Zai Lab (NASDAQ:ZLAB), Venus MedTech (SEHK:2500), CanSino (SEHK:6185), Schrödinger (NASDAQ:SDGR), Sanyou Medical (SHSE:688085), AmoyDx (SZSE:300685), Berry Genomics (SZSE:000710), SinocellTech (SHSE: 688520), WeDoctor Group, UBTech among many others.
About Boyu Capital
Boyu Capital is one of the largest private investment firms in China. With offices in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong, Boyu has provided long-term capital and operational expertise to some of the best-managed and most innovative companies across the media/technology, healthcare, consumer/retail, and financial services industries.
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