Alebund Pharmaceuticals, a biopharmaceutical firm that engages in the development of innovative therapies to treat renal diseases, has notched 200 million yuan ($29.3 million) in a pre-Series C round.
The round, joined by state-affiliated Guojin Group and Yangzhou Longchuan Holding Financial Investment, will be used to accelerate the pipeline development of the firm. Other participating investors include Octagon Capital, Verition Fund, Quan Capital, Lilly Asia Ventures, and H Health Investment, according to a release published by its previous backer Huagai Capital on Wednesday.
The Shanghai-headquartered firm also announced that it has signed a contract for a syndicated loan of 800 million yuan ($117 million), which will be used for the construction of a small molecule manufacturing facility in Yangzhou city of Jiangsu province.
Founded in 2018, Alebund was incubated by a group of industry leaders in the field of nephrology, along with the support of Lilly Asia Ventures. It currently oversees a pipeline of drug candidates targeting a range of renal diseases such as chronic kidney disease and diabetic kidney disease. Currently, three of Alebund’s candidates are in the main phases of clinical trials.
The firm is set to speed up its commercialisation and industrialisation progress, according to Alebund’s co-founder and CEO Xia Guoyao, adding that the firm is planning to “commence its IPO process”.
Previously, the firm bagged $60 million in a Series B round led by Quan Capital, with the participation of an unspecified sovereign wealth fund, 3E Bioventures Capital, and Sherpa Healthcare Partners.
Pharmaceutical firms in the Greater China region only raised a total of $211 million in March, down by 40.6% from $355.4 million in the previous month, according to DealStreetAsia’s proprietary data.