Alpha Biopharma Inc. (Shanghai, China) raised $37 million in the first tranche of a planned $65 million series A round led by Qiming Venture Partners. The TF Fund and LYZZ Healthcare Venture Fund also participated.
Alpha Biopharma plans to advance lead candidate AZD3759, an EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor, into a Phase II trial to treat EGFR-positive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in patients with CNS metastases, but did not provide a timeline. According to the company, currently available TKIs have limited efficacy in the indication due to their poor penetration across the blood-brain-barrier. In the Phase I BLOOM study, AZD3759 showed efficient penetration into the brain and CSF.
Qiming Managing Partner William Hu will join Alpha Biopharma’s board.
Alpha Bioscience is partnered with AstraZeneca plc (LSE:AZN; NYSE:AZN), which discovered AZD3759 and funded the BLOOM study. The companies did not respond to inquiries regarding the terms of Alpha Biopharma’s rights to the compound.