CANbridge Pharmaceuticals develops and commercializes specialty therapeutics for orphan diseases and targeted cancers. The company recently received marketing approval in China for Hunterase (CAN101) to treat Hunter syndrome and approval in Taiwan for NERLYNX (neratinib) for early-stage HER2-positive breast cancer. CANbridge says it has a deep rare disease pipeline and strategic partnerships, including a global partnership with WuXi Biologics and collaborative agreements with the Horae Gene Therapy Center at UMass Medical School for gene therapy research. The company intends to expand its rare disease pipeline through internal development and external partnerships. Planned uses of recent financing include accelerating clinical development of preclinical assets, preparing the commercial launch of CAN101 (Hunterase), and supplementing working capital. CANbridge positions itself as a leader in greater China’s orphan disease market and is focused on commercialization of innovative drugs to address unmet medical needs. CANbridge Pharmaceuticals is a China-focused biopharmaceutical company developing innovative drug candidates to treat underserved medical conditions, with an emphasis on rare genetic diseases and targeted oncology products. Its rare disease pipeline includes Hunterase®, an enzyme replacement therapy for Hunter syndrome, for which CANbridge has filed a New Drug Application in China and plans to commercialize this year. The company has entered the commercial stage with two approved oncology products: Caphosol® in mainland China and NERLYNX® (neratinib) in Hong Kong, and holds exclusive licensing rights to Hunterase® in greater China. CANbridge has a global partnership with WuXi Biologics to develop and commercialize proprietary therapeutics for rare genetic diseases. Proceeds from the financing will be used to accelerate and expand the rare disease pipeline through internal development and external partnerships, build commercial infrastructure and capabilities in China, and supplement working capital. The announcement notes that the majority of the capital raised comes from global investors. CANbridge Life Sciences is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that acquires and develops Western clinical‑stage drugs and devices for commercialization in China and North Asia. Its two lead oncology candidates are CAN008, a fully human fusion onco‑immunotherapy, and CAN017, an ErbB3 (HER3) inhibitory antibody. CAN008 is in a Phase I/II trial for glioblastoma multiforme in Taiwan and the company plans to initiate a Phase II CAN008 GBM trial in China in 2018. CAN017 is being developed to target esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, the prevalent form of esophageal cancer in Asia. CANbridge holds licensing and commercialization agreements with EUSA Pharma (Caphosol), Apogenix (APG101 renamed CAN008) and AVEO Oncology (AV-203 renamed CAN017, ex‑North America). The company is headquartered in Beijing and aims to build a pipeline of specialty oncology candidates addressing unmet needs in the region. CANbridge Life Sciences accelerates development and commercialization of Western clinical-stage pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and diagnostics for China and North Asia (Korea and Taiwan). Founded in 2012 and headquartered in Beijing, the company forms partnerships and licenses exclusive rights from Western biopharmaceutical firms to bring products that are unavailable or address underserved medical needs in the region. CANbridge has an exclusive licensing agreement with U.S.-based Azaya Therapeutics to develop ATI-1123 in China for non-small cell lung cancer and other solid tumors, and an agreement with EUSA Pharma to commercialize Caphosol in China for prevention and treatment of oral mucositis. Prior to the Series A, CANbridge was predominantly funded by angel investment from U.S. and Chinese life-sciences executives. The company intends to use the new funding to expand business development and operations and to more aggressively execute its 'in China for Asia' strategy to bring Western therapies sooner to underserved Asian markets.

Total raised

$176M

Funding rounds

4

Latest round

Series E

Latest activity

Dec 2020