Innovative Biotech Company CStone Pharmaceuticals Receives 150 million Dollars in Series A Financing to Focus on Addressing the Specific Needs of Chinese Patients

BEIJING, SHANGHAI, SUZHOU, China, HONG KONG, and BOSTON, July 3, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- CStone Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd (CStone), a bio-pharmaceutical company devoted to developing new treatments in a range of therapeutic areas, announced that it has closed its Series A round of 150 million dollars financing (about 975 million RMB). Three prestigious investment companies in the industry, Oriza Seed Venture Capital (Oriza Seed), Boyu Capital, and WuXi Healthcare Ventures (WXHV), jointly invested in the round.

Founded in Shanghai and Suzhou, CStone is an innovative, research-based, bio-pharmaceutical company. Its leadership team have all served in the management of leading multi-national pharmaceutical companies.

With an overarching commitment to meeting the most pressing needs of Chinese patients, the company's pipeline covers five therapeutic areas, including oncology, cardiovascular diseases, rheumatoid arthritis, hematology and autoimmune diseases. With immuno-oncology as CStone's core therapeutic focus, the company strives to lead Chinese research to the global market through its world class R&D team, its innovative portfolio, and an open innovation strategy. The funds raised will be used to help accelerate multiple programs of the company into the clinical stage while at the same time seeking out new innovations from around the world for patients in China, and ultimately worldwide.

Comments from the Investors

"Oriza Seed focuses its healthcare investments on innovative biotech companies at their early-stage or growth-stage," said Qun Zhao, Partner of Oriza Seed. "We are excited about the potential of CStone's immuno-based combination therapeutics to significantly increase the availability of novel combination drugs and thereby make a meaningful impact to both the cancer patients and the society. Given CStone's comprehensive pipelines and strong management team, we are very confident that CStone will become the leader among innovative biotech companies in China during Healthcare Innovation Reform."

"We are very pleased to have the opportunity to become a founding shareholder of CStone. This unique investment demonstrates Boyu's long term commitment to the thriving biotech industry in China," said Yanlin Cao, Managing Director of Boyu.  "With a strong portfolio of assets and an experienced management team, CStone will emerge as a leading R&D platform in China to provide innovative immunotherapy for oncology diseases. We look forward to sharing our expertise and resources with CStone, and working with other shareholders and the management team to build a world-class biotech company to bring clinical benefits to patients globally."

"Our core principle is to focus on finding top-notch assets globally and building world-class companies in China by leveraging our deep understanding in drug discovery and linking extensive global resources," said John Zhu, Partner at WXHV.  "CStone is one of our newly-built biotech companies that fits our fund's "find and build" strategy. Together with our partners Oriza Seed and Boyu, we are confident that CStone will bring innovative therapeutics to patients and make a significant impact on the China biotech industry."

New CEO

CStone announced that Frank Jiang, MD, PhD will be the Chief Executive Officer of CStone. Frank brings a wealth of experiences in drug development in the US and Asia, much of it gleaned with Sanofi, one of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies. While working with Sanofi in the US, Frank led the 21,000 –patient "mega-trial" for Lovenox (enoxaparin), leading to a successful global registration for its myocardial infarction indication.  For the last ten years, Frank has been based in China as the Head of Asia-Pacific R&D organization within Sanofi, where in the last five years alone has been responsible for a large number of clinical trials ranging from Phase I to IV and has achieved several dozen product registrations. Over the same period, Frank built the regional R&D function for Sanofi, the only one of its kind reporting directly to global R&D and encompassing both China and Japan.  

"I am honored to take the role of CEO of CStone," said Dr Frank Jiang. "As a physician by background, I am passionate about delivering effective therapies to patients in the greatest need, and I believe our company is uniquely well-positioned to make a transformative contribution to the healthcare landscape in China.  We will initially focus on immuno-oncology therapeutics to address the specific unmet medical needs of Chinese cancer patients, but I envisage a long-term future for CStone as a well-recognized global player to develop innovative medicines in the fight against serious diseases."

About Oriza Seed Venture Capital

Oriza Seed Venture Capital, located in Suzhou Industrial Park, is held by Suzhou Oriza Holdings Ltd. Oriza Seed is a market-oriented investment platform. It looks for investment opportunities among early-stage and growth-stage enterprises in the fields of Healthcare and TMT. Oriza Seed has ample resources and experiences investing in the healthcare field. By late March 2016, Oriza Seed has invested in more than 50 healthcare companies, including Ascentage Pharma, Innovent Biologics, and SceneRay Corporation.

About Boyu Capital

Boyu Capital is one of the largest private investment firms in China. With offices in Beijing 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.

About WuXi Healthcare Ventures

WuXi Healthcare Ventures is a leading cross-border venture capital firm focused in the life sciences and healthcare, with offices in Shanghai and Cambridge, Massachusetts.  The firm has assembled a team of seasoned investors and company builders with deep roots in science, technology, and innovation.  The firm's mission is to find, seed, and develop life science and healthcare businesses that can benefit the most from the firm's operational expertise, strategic support, and capital and the patience of a long-term perspective.  For more information, please visit www.wuxiventures.com.

SOURCE WuXi Healthcare Ventures

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