China’s Jiangsu Simcere Pharmaceutical Group Limited announced on Friday that it has completed raising nearly 600 million yuan ($94 million) in a Series B round of financing co-led by state-backed conglomerate CITIC Group’s CITIC Securities and CITIC Medical & Health.
New investors who participated in the round include Yingke PE, Hosencare Brothers, GP Capital, Shanghai Creation Investment, Jolmo Capital, Renpu Healthcare Fund, Hongcheng Investment, and Nanjing Innovation Capital Group.
Returning backer Tianhui Capital re-upped in the round, according to a company statement.
With three R&D centres in Nanjing, Shanghai, and Boston (US), Simcere utilises novel technology and platforms such as big data, cloud-computing, high-throughput sequencing, and bioinformatics to deliver effective pathogenic diagnostic services.
With a pipeline of innovative products, Simcere can offer precision medicine therapies for oncology, central nervous system diseases, and autoimmune disorders, among others.
The group also takes efforts to expand its R&D spending and partner with international drug companies. In March this year, Simcere’s affiliate entered into an exclusive licence agreement with Australian oncology-focused drug maker Kazia Therapeutics for Paxalisib, a brain-penetrant inhibitor, in Greater China.
Simcere, which was delisted from the New York Stock Exchange in 2013, got listed in Hong Kong in October 2020 raising approximately HK$3.39 billion ($437 million). According to a stock exchange filing, Simcere clocked annual earnings of 4.5 billion yuan ($702 million) in 2020, down 10.5% from 2019.
In 2020, Simcere closed two rounds of financing from Legend Holdings’ Hony Capital, Tenyall Investment Management, Huatai Group’s healthcare arm, and Daoxing Investment.
CITIC Securities had recently joined the funding round of Stemirna Therapeutics, a drug and vaccine maker, that raised 1.2 billion yuan ($190 million).