Striving to build up the world’s first- and best-in-class innovative drug R&D pipeline
Shanghai and Hangzhou, China, April 6, 2021 - Innolake Biopharm announced today the completion of Pre-Series A financing of $40 million from WuXi Biologics Industry Fund, Hangzhou Huaan Jingyin Investment, CDH Investments and Huagai Capital. The proceeds will be used for building its worldwide First- and Best-in-class drug candidate pipeline.
Innolake Biopharm is committed to developing and commercializing drugs in the fields of cancer and autoimmune diseases that will address the unmet medical needs of patients in China and around the world. Innolake has established a core team of experts with more than 20 years of experience in drug development, as well as a robust drug pipeline. Combining the strengths of in-house and external R&D platforms by partnerships，Innolake continues to enrich its pipeline and accelerate drug development through diversified ways. With the vision of “becoming a leading biopharmaceutical enterprise from China with global influence”，Innolake is dedicated to developing and bringing innovative therapeutics to patients in China and with strategic commercialization partnering, to the rest of the world.
Commenting on the funding, Dr. Mingde Xia, Chairman and CEO of Innolake Biopharm, said: “We appreciate the recognition and support from our investors. Personally, I am very grateful for all our investor dedications for Innolake. Some of our investors took their precious time during the Chinese New Year holiday to map out the details with us. One meeting even took place on the first day of the Lunar New Year, which is probably the most important day of the year in Chinese culture and we usually celebrate it with our families. This is a perfect example of the dedication and confidence our investors have in Innolake. The capital from this round will be used to accelerate the various development in our pipeline and recruit top talents for our company. Adhering to the notion of “patient-centered care, win-win collaboration”, Innoake is dedicated to developing and bringing innovative therapeutics that will address the urgent unmet medical needs in both China and global markets.”
As one of the investors in this round, Dr. Zhisheng Chen, CEO of WuXi Biologics, said: “Founded by a senior management team with rich experience in biopharmaceutical development, Innolake Biopharm is a start-up company dedicated to developing global breakthrough therapies. We are glad that we could empower Innolake Biopharm, help expanding its biologics R&D capabilities and build a pipeline with outstanding competence. We believe this is a win-win collaboration and the successful collaboration will result in innovative therapeutics that will benefit patients around the world.”
Mr. Ming Zhang, Executive Partner of Huaan Jingyin, commented: “We are honored to be in the first round of financing for Innolake. We are particularly impressed with the company leader, Dr. Mingde Xia, who has deep insights into the unmet clinical needs at a global level, a strong business acumen and outstanding execution abilities. Huaan Jingyin will leverage its ecological advantages in the life science sector to empower Innolake throughout its journey.”
Dr. Dan Liu, Partner of CDH VGC (Venture and Growth Capital), said: “Dr. Mingde Xia and his management team have both the global vision of multinational pharmaceutical companies and a wealth of practical experiences of local innovation and translation, which make them a battle-hardened team in the industry. Through their deep insights into the Chinese and global pharmaceutical markets and comprehensive understanding of clinical development, the drug candidates in Innolake’s pipeline are of high value and face relatively little competition. We expect that the first round of financing will fuel the growth of Innolake and further consolidate its global competitiveness.”
Ying Luo, Partner of Huagai Capital Healthcare Fund, said: “The core team of Innolake Biopharm is an innovative group with outstanding expertise in R&D. We are impressed with Innolake’s dedication to develop and commercialize drugs that will address the unmet medical needs of patients around the world. We believe Innolake’s drug candidates will be launched not only in China, but also in oversea markets through strategic partnerships. We are honored to work with the team led by Dr. Mingde Xia to build China-born Innolake Biopharm into a leading biopharmaceutical enterprise with international influence.”
About Innolake Biopharm (Hangzhou) Co., Ltd.
Innolake Biopharm (Hangzhou) Co., Ltd. was founded in December 2020 by Dr. Mingde Xia, the former senior director of Global External Innovation for Johnson & Johnson, and Robert Chen, the former founding team member / Executive Vice President of Genor Biopharma Co., Ltd. The mid-level and senior management teams are composed of senior experts from multinational pharmaceutical and top-tier domestic pharmaceutical enterprises, whom have a broad strategic vision and rich practical experience in the industry. The company has received strong support in capital and strategic resources from mainstream investment institutions. Innolake’s headquarter is located in Qiantang New Area, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, and its business operation office is located in Shanghai. Prior to founding Innolake Biopharm, Dr. Mingde Xia, worked for Johnson & Johnson for 21 years. He is a veteran of innovative drug R&D with outstanding capability in start-up incubation and commercial operation. He has successfully led over 50 external partnering projects for Johnson & Johnson. Prior to that, he worked at China Pharmaceutical University and Yale University. In addition, he is also a director (former president) of the Sino-American Pharmaceutical Professionals Association (SAPA).
About WuXi Biologics
As a Hong Kong-listed company, WuXi Biologics (Stock Code: 2269.HK) is a leading global open-access, integrated biologics technology platform. It offers a full range of end-to-end R&D services to global biopharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, empowering anyone and any company to discover, develop and manufacture biologics from concept to commercial manufacturing, accelerating the global biologics R&D process, reducing R&D costs and benefiting patients. As of December 31, 2020, there are 334 integrated projects being developed on WuXi Biologics' platform, including 169 in pre-clinical studies, 135 in early (phase I and II) clinical studies, 28 in late (phase III) clinical studies, and 2 in the commercial manufacturing phase. Its planned biopharmaceutical manufacturing sites in China, Ireland, the United States, Germany and Singapore are expected to have a total capacity of 430,000 liters by 2024, which will provide its clients with biologics that meet global specifications through a robust and powerful global supply chain network.
About Hangzhou Huaan Jingyin Investment
Founded in February 2016, Huaan Jingyin is a professional fund focusing on investment in the field of life sciences, covering basic research services of life sciences, early detection, diagnosis, clinical study services, biopharmaceuticals, regenerative medicine, new materials for drug delivery, health commercial insurance services, etc.
About CDH Investments Venture and Growth Capital
Established in 2002, CDH Investments is one of the leading alternative investment fund management companies, focused on China today with over ¥160 billion of assets under management, as of 2020. CDH Investments covers six business segments: Private Equity, Venture and Growth, Public Equities, Real Assets, Mezzanine & Credit, and Wealth Management. CDH VGC (Venture and Growth Capital) focuses on investments in healthcare, TMT, and innovative growth opportunities with Chinese characteristics. Managed by a professional investment team with rich experience and distinctive qualities, CDH VGC is dedicated to promoting the innovation and development of successful enterprises in the growth period. Based on the excellent investment performance achieved by CDH Investments in the fields of healthcare and growth, and CDH's investment focus in the TMT sector, CDH VGC has established its own unique investment strategy and platform advantages and leverages the investment team’s rich investment experience, professional judgment and operation management experience to comprehensively enhance the value of the invested enterprises.
About Huagai Capital
Huagai Capital, established in 2012, is a private equity investment firm co-founded by a group of professionals from well-known investment institutions nationally and abroad. With the vision of “becoming the most trusted capital partner for entrepreneurs and investors”, it focuses on private equity investments in three major areas: healthcare, TMT, and digital innovation, and is committed to driving the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises into industry leaders. At present, the company’s assets under management are about ¥20 billion.