CStone Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd. (Suzhou, China) raised $260 million in a series B round led by new investor GIC Private. CStone said the round is the largest series B ever for a Chinese biopharma.
New investors in the round included Sequoia China, Yunfeng Capital, 6 Dimensions Capital, CITIC PE, Taikang Insurance Group, Arch Venture Partners, Hillhouse Capital, King Star Capital, 3W Partners, AVICT and Terra Mafnum Capital Partners. Also participating were existing investors Oriza Seed Venture Capital, Boyu Capital and WuXi Healthcare Ventures.
CStone SVP and Global Head of Corporate Development Bing Yuan told BioCentury that the company is in the process of starting two registrational studies of lead candidate CS1001, a human mAb against PD-L1, and intends to begin additional pivotal trials this year. Data are due this year from a dose-escalation Phase I trial to treat advanced solid tumors, Yuan added.
CStone has now raised a total of $410 million, including its $150 million series A (see BioCentury Extra, July 5, 2016).
According to BioCentury’s BCIQ database, CStone’s B round matches the largest venture round for a Chinese biotech: a $260 million series D round raised in 2016 by Innovent Biologics Inc. (Suzhou, China). Future Industry Investment Fund led the round .
Previously, the largest Chinese series B round was a $150 million financing for I-Mab Biopharma (Shanghai, China) in March 2017, according to BCIQ. C-Bridge and Tasly Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. (Shanghai:600535) led that round (see BioCentury, March 31, 2017).