Cancer and infectious disease therapeutics company Ascletis has raised $100 million in a first round of financing as the new company launches dual operations in China and North Carolina.
Ascletis is led by co-founder, President and CEO Jinzi J. Wu, a former GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE:GSK) executive. While based at GSK’s U.S. headquarters in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, Wu served as the company’s vice president, global HIV drug discovery. His 18-year career includes R&D positions at pharmaceutical and emerging biotechnology companies in the United States and Canada, including Ambrilia Biopharma, Immunex/Amgen, Novartis and Aventis.
Wu’s partner in the venture is co-founder Jinxing Qi, chairman of Hangzhou Binjiang Real Estate Group. Hangzhou Binjiang Investment Holding Co. led a syndicate of private investors from China and the United States in making financial commitments to Ascletis, including a first tranche of $50 million. The company’s North Carolina offices are in Chapel Hill. Ascletis also has a location in Hangzhou, China.
Wu said the financing would be used in part to further build the Ascletis management team and to pursue its drug strategy. The company searches globally for drug candidates at various stages of development that can be in-licensed. Ascletis aims to develop those compounds and sell the drugs in China. The company’s website does not currently list a pipeline of drug candidates.
Ascletis will also seek early stage drug candidates that can be developed for worldwide unmet medical needs, which the company will develop through proof of concept and before finding global partners for those compounds.
