Canbridge Pharmaceuticals Completes $43 Million Financing to Expand Rare Disease Pipeline

Rare Daily Staff

Chinese biotech Canbridge Pharmaceuticals completed a $43 million series E financing round, which will be used to accelerate and expand the company’s rare disease pipeline through internal development and external partnerships.

3W Fund Management led the financing with participation by new investors Casdin Capital, Summer Capital, SPDBI, and Yaly Capital, and additional participation by existing investors Hudson Bay Capital Management, RA Capital Management, Hangzhou Tigermed Consulting, and LYFE Capital. The financing, due to high demand, is an expansion of the $98 million series D financing completed in February 2020.

The proceeds will be used to expand the Canbridge’s rare disease pipeline through internal development and external partnerships, accelerate the clinical development of pre-clinical stage assets, prepare the commercial launch of CAN101 (Hunterase) and supplement working capital.

Canbridge recently received marketing approval in China for its first rare disease candidate, Hunterase, for the treatment of Hunter syndrome (mucopolysaccharidosis II or MPS II), a condition that occurs almost exclusively in males. Affected individuals typically have distinctive facial features, a large head, hydrocephalus, an enlarged liver and spleen, umbilical or inguinal hernia, and hearing loss. Individuals with this condition may have joint deformities and heart valve problems. MPS II is caused by mutations in the IDS gene.

Canbridge also has a deep rare disease pipeline, which includes an ongoing strategic partnership for rare disease treatment development with WuXi Biologics and two collaborative agreements with the Horae Gene Therapy Center at the UMass Medical School for rare disease gene therapy research. Canbridge also recently received marketing approval for its second commercial product, Nerlynx (neratinib), in Taiwan, for early stage HER2-positive breast cancer.

“We are grateful and humbled by the tremendous investor enthusiasm in CANbridge,” said James Xue, founder, chairman, and CEO of Canbridge Pharmaceuticals. “Since closing our $98 million series D financing in February, Canbridge has strengthened its operating capabilities and achieved a number of milestones, including three marketing approvals, as the China rare disease market continues to generate momentum in the positive direction.”

Photo: James Xue, founder, chairman, and CEO of Canbridge Pharmaceuticals