Oricell Therapeutics, a Qiming-backed pharmaceutical firm developing tumour cellular immunotherapeutics, on Tuesday announced the completion of its Series B1 funding round at $45 million.
New York-based life sciences investment firm RTW Investments and Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), the sovereign wealth fund of the State of Qatar, led the transaction, according to a company statement.
The Series B1 round, which will finance the clinical development of Oricell’s core product in the US, also saw the participation of existing investors including Qiming Venture Partners and C&D Emerging Industry Equity Investment.
The new financing is an extension of Oricell’s $125-million Series B round that it closed in July 2022. The previous investment was led by Qiming and Quan Capital, a life sciences venture fund with offices in China and the US.
Several international and Chinese investment firms such as Shanghai STVC Group, Sinopharm Capital, and Suzhou Fund also invested in the Series B round.
China-based Oricell was founded in 2015 with a vision to develop affordable novel cell therapies for the treatment of liquid and solid tumours. With over 10 cellular projects in the pipeline, the firm focuses on indications with a wide range of therapeutic needs, including liver, ovarian, gastric, cervical, and non-small cell lung cancer, as well as multiple myeloma.
Oricell, which raised its Series Pre-A round from Qiming in 2019, has applied for over 100 invention patents, including 10 granted patents as of now.
With the proceeds from the Series B1 round, the firm plans to expand its products to the US, specifically OriCAR-017, a proprietary CAR-T cell therapy targeting relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma. The product is currently at the stage of Investigational New Drug (IND) enabling in China and the US.
Roderick Wong, managing partner and chief investment officer of RTW, said that the investment firm will help Oricell with its drug advancement in the US. Headquartered in New York with offices in London and Shanghai, RTW invests across the full lifecycle of life sciences companies including company creation, early-stage venture capital (VC), crossover, and public company investments. Its portfolio includes Nasdaq-listed biotech firm Immunocore and US-based medical device maker Magnolia Medical Technologies.