Jixing Pharmaceutical has pocketed a combined $162 million from German multinational pharmaceutical Bayer and New York-based life science-focused investment firm RTW Investments.
Bayer injected $35 million, while RTW Investments pumped in $127 million, according to a release. The partnership will grant Bayer privileged rights to negotiate the commercialisation of JIXING’s pipeline assets in the areas of cardiovascular diseases and ophthalmology, per the release.
Bayer will form a joint portfolio strategy committee with Jixing to explore business opportunities. Meanwhile, Xiaolan Zhou, executive vice president at the pharmaceuticals division of Bayer AG and president of Bayer Pharmaceuticals China, will join Jixing’s board of directors.
Shanghai-headquartered Jixing, which was incubated by RTW in 2019, develops novel therapeutics to treat unmet medical needs in cardiovascular and ophthalmic diseases. Currently, the firm has seven candidates in the pipeline that targets dry eye diseases, presbyopia, and other cardiovascular diseases.
A total of 29 pharmaceutical firms raised $451.7 million in Q3 2023, according to DealStreetAsia’s proprietary data. The investment sum was approximately three times more than the same quarter in 2022, and the deal count also went up 141.7% compared to 12 deals in Q2 2022.