Suzhou September 28, 2020/PR Newswire/-- Recently, Keythera Biopharmaceuticals (hereinafter referred to as "Keythera"), an innovative drug R&D enterprise, announced that it had completed a Series A financing of nearly 100 million yuan. This round of financing is led by Oriza Seed, and followed by Huaige Capital, Ming Bioventures, and Shangyi Guanxi Capital. The funds will be used to support the development and research on new drugs by Keythera, including supporting the IND application of the first anti-tumor project, accelerating the construction of new drugs screening and optimization platforms, as well as the development of subsequent research and development pipelines.

Keythera Biopharmaceuticals is a bio-tech company focusing on innovative drug research and development based in China with a global perspective. The founding team members have been engaged in research, development, and management in well-known multinational pharmaceutical companies such as Schering Plough and Merck & Co. for a long time. They possess the original innovation capabilities of small molecules and rich preclinical and clinical development experience. Keythera is guided by the internationally advanced scientific research management philosophy and will address the unmet clinical needs of China. We are committed to develop first in class and best in class small molecules for major diseases such as cancers and autoimmune diseases, and strive to continuously improve the quality of patient’s life in China and around the world.

Dr. Yongqi Deng, Chairman and CEO of Keythera Biopharmaceuticals, stated: “We are honored to gain the trust and support from multiple well-known investment institutions in the industry, who are helping us to quickly advance our research projects into clinical development stage. Meanwhile, this fund will also help us to expand our team and attract more ambitious individuals to join in Keythera. At the early beginning of the company, we have established a comprehensive development strategy with new drug product pipelines as the core and platform technology as the support. With this round of financing, we hope to seize the golden opportunities in new drug innovation in China and achieve rapid growth in the domestic pharmaceutical industry.”

Dr. Ning Li from Oriza Seed stated: “Sticking on early investment and innovation is an important strategy of Oriza Seed in the healthcare field. Dr. Deng and his team have an impressive international perspective and efficient execution abilities, and we are optimistic about Keythera’s research and development products and technology platform layouts in major diseases area. We look forward to utilizing the resource and experience of Oriza Seed to contribute to China's innovative pharmaceutical industry together with Keythera Biopharmaceuticals.

About Keythera

Keythera (Suzhou) Biopharmaceuticals is a biopharmaceutical company, which locates in Suzhou Industrial Park, China, and specializing in innovative drug research and development. It was founded by a senior team returning from the United States. The goal of the company is to develop innovative therapies to address unmet medical needs in China and globally. With the top international technical professionals and management personnels, Keythera plans to develop new drug product pipelines, meanwhile establish an internal new drug screening platform, and drug evaluation platform, which will build the cornerstones of the company's long-term innovation.

About Oriza Seed

Oriza Seed is a member enterprise of Suzhou Oriza Holdings Co., Ltd. It is a market-oriented and professional early equity investment platform that focuses on investment opportunities for start-up and growing stage startups in the two major fields of TMT and Healthcare. Oriza Seed has rich resource and experience in investing in healthcare area. Up to the end of 2019, Oriza Seed has invested and managed more than 100 innovative enterprises, including Ascentage Pharma (06855), Cstone Pharma (02616), EpimAb Biotherapeutics, GeneQuantum Healthcare, JW Therapeutics, Biocytogen, Osmunda, Argus Scientific, Canhelp Genomics , Nmrepair, etc.

About Huaige Capital

Huaige Capital is a private equity investment fund based on a dual wheel drive investment strategy of "active investment" plus "deep service", focusing on the big health industry. The management team has rich background in the healthcare industry and experience in equity investment. The invested projects include multiple high-quality enterprises such as Kindly Medical Instruments (1501. HK) [Interventional Medical Devices], Cofoe Medical Technology [Home Medical Devices], Bestudy [Clinical CRO], LeadsBiolabs [New Drug R&D], Letolabs [New Drug R&D], Zhongyianke Biotech [Vaccine R&D], Resproly [Inhalation Formulation], Hyperway Pharma [New Drug R&D], Gensciences [New Drug R&D], etc.

About Ming Bioventures

Ming Bioventures was founded in 2018 and located in the Suzhou Industrial Park BioBay. Since its establishment, Ming Bioventures has focused on investing in the field of life sciences, including innovative drugs, medical devices, new diagnostics, et al. It continuously explores early to mid-term projects that meet huge clinical needs, high technical barriers, and rich team experience, and is committed to become one of the most professional medical and health early to mid-term venture capital institutions in China.

About Shangyi Guanxi Capital

Shangyi Guanxi Asset Management Co., Ltd. was established in September 2015 as a private equity and venture capital fund manager, providing asset management services to high-end individuals and institutional investors. It is taking equity investment as the core and under a strict risk management system, capturing high-quality equity asset investment opportunities in the market. The investment cases of biopharmaceuticals include innovative drug projects Epimab, Healx, innovative vaccine project Emergex, and medical chain group Baijia International Group.

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