SHANGHAI, June 19, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Alpha Biopharma Inc. ("AlphaBio") today announced the first $37M closing of its $65M Series A financing led by Qiming Venture Partners, one of the most prominent venture capital firms in China. Other notable investors that participated in the round included the TF Fund and the LYZZ Healthcare Venture Fund. The proceeds from this financing will be used to conduct a global multi-center Phase II clinical study of AZD3759, AlphaBio's lead product, as well as expansion of AlphaBio's product pipeline. Concurrent with the financing, Dr. William Hu, Managing Partner of Qiming Venture Partners, will join the Board of Directors of AlphaBio.
AlphaBio is a clinical stage company focusing on research and development of innovative therapeutics for unmet medical needs. The Company's management team consists of experienced drug development experts with decades of experience in medical research including oncology, clinical operations, regulatory affairs and pharmaceutical marketing.
AZD3759, AlphaBio's lead product, is a next-generation small molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI). It is specifically designed to treat epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation positive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with central nervous system (CNS) metastases.
NSCLC patients with CNS metastases have an extremely poor prognosis. They commonly experience severe, symptomatic loss of neurologic function, poor quality of life and a shortened life expectancy. Currently available TKIs have very limited efficacy in this indication due to their poor penetration across the blood-brain-barrier (BBB), leaving metastatic tumor cells in the CNS unchecked and thereby continue to proliferate. Development of CNS metastases is recognized as an increasingly frequent complication for NSCLC patients, especially those with EGFR mutations. Currently, there is no approved therapy for this specific patient population. In a completed Phase I study (the BLOOM study), orally administered AZD3759 demonstrated efficient penetration into brain and cerebrospinal fluid and promising anti-tumor effects in EGFR mutation positive NSCLC patients with CNS metastases.
"At AlphaBio, we are committed to developing innovative therapies in China for the world to address unmet medical needs", said James Liu, COO of the Company. "The strong financial support by Qiming Venture Partners and other prominent financial investors will allow us to further accelerate our commercial development of AZD3759 across the Asia Pacific region. We are very excited to welcome Dr. William Hu, the managing partner of Qiming to our board. We look forward to benefiting from his extensive experience in company building, clinical development and global capital markets."
"We are pleased to join LYZZ Healthcare Venture Fund and TF Fund in support of Alpha Biopharma", Dr. William Hu commented. "AlphaBio has assembled an incredible world-class clinical development team. We have strong confidence in the potential clinical benefit of AZD3759 and its unique market position, targeting important unmet medical need for patients. We believe AlphaBio's AZD3759 development program will serve as a great platform for the company to build upon and expect the company to pursue additional acquisitions and development of exciting new therapeutics."
About Alpha Biopharma
Alpha Biophama is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company devoted to the development of innovative medicines for the Chinese and global markets. The Company has built a strong clinical development team with extensive China, US, Europe and Asia/Pac development expertise. The Company believes that it is well positioned to partner with multinational pharmaceutical companies or biotech companies for their China and global development strategies.
http://www.alphabiopharma.com.cn
About Qiming Venture Partners
Founded in 2006, Qiming is a leading China venture capital firm. Currently Qiming manages seven US Dollar funds and five RMB funds with US$4 billion assets under management. Since its debut, Qiming has backed over 250 young, fast-growing and innovative companies across China in the internet and consumer ("Intersumer"), healthcare, information technology and clean technology sectors. Over 50 of them are already listed on NYSE, NASDAQ, HKEx, GRETAI Securities Market, Shanghai Stock Exchange, and Shenzhen Stock Exchange or achieved exit through M&A. Qiming consistently ranks among the top venture firms in terms of returns to its investors.
About LYZZ Healthcare Venture Fund
LYZZ Capital Advisors is a leading global healthcare-dedicated investment management group. The LYZZ management team is composed of highly experienced scientific and medical professionals who have been senior executives in pharmaceutical and biotech companies. They take pride in their abilities to add value to their portfolio companies with their operational experience and global network, helping their portfolios to develop innovative medicines for unmet medical conditions, and become internationally recognized innovators.
About TF CAPITAL
TF Capital focuses on investment in the life sciences industry, primarily investing in early stage companies with high potential. Through strategic investments in various key areas and right partnerships, TF Capital hopes to capture opportunities in the rapidly expanding Chinese life sciences market. TF Capital's investment team has vast experience and resources in industry to assist their portfolio companies.
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