On September 30, 2021 CBMG Holdings (or the "Company"), a Cayman Island biopharmaceutical company developing innovative cellular immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer and degenerative diseases, reported the closing of a $120 million Series A investment, led by AstraZeneca-CICC Fund, Sequoia Capital China and Yunfeng Capital (Press release, Cellular Biomedicine Group, SEP 30, 2021, View Source [SID1234590559]). Both new and certain existing investors, including GIC and TF Capital, subscribed to the Series A financing.
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This round of financing will largely be used to accelerate the clinical development of the Company’s immune-oncology platform. Specifically, C-CAR039, an anti-CD19/CD20 bispecific CAR-T therapy for the treatment of patients with relapsed or refractory non-Hodgkin lymphoma (r/r NHL) and C-CAR088, a B cell maturation antigen (BCMA) therapy for patients with late-stage relapsed/refractory (r/r) multiple myeloma (MM), as well as armored CAR-T therapies and tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) therapies targeting solid tumors. In addition, the capital injection will support the continuing development of the Company’s stem cell platform, including the study of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) using allogeneic human adipose mesenchymal stem cell exosomes (haMSC-Exos) and extracellular vesicle, and the data compilation from its off-the-shelf product AlloJoin applying adipose-derived stem cells in the treatment of Phase II knee osteoarthritis (KOA) clinical trial in China.
This round of financing will be used to accelerate the clinical development of the Company’s immune-oncology platform.
One of the earliest pure-play biotechnology companies from China to be approved for listing on the NASDAQ Market, Cellular Biomedicine Group successfully completed its privatization in February 2021.
As a result of its strong research and development and cell and gene therapy manufacturing know-how, Cellular Biomedicine Group was invited to present two abstracts at the esteemed American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) (Free ASCO Whitepaper) Annual Meeting in June. Among them, C-CAR039 for r/r NHL displayed a very encouraging safety and efficacy profile, with the potential to be a Best-in-Class drug. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Office of Orphan Products Development has granted CBMG an Orphan Drug Designation (ODD) to C-CAR039, for the treatment of Follicular Lymphoma, an indolent form of non-Hodgkin Lymphoma.
"We are pleased to complete this Series A funding shortly after our successful privatization", commented Tony (Bizuo) Liu, Chairman and CEO of CBMG Holdings. "We are blessed to have our long-term investors continue to support us before, during, and after, privatization. Thank you, Novartis, Sailing Capital, and other long-term investors for believing in us. Accolades from shareholders has helped continue to attract new strategic investors. I am grateful to Yunfeng Capital, GIC and TF Capital for continuing to increase their investment after the initial privatization investment. We are honored that AstraZeneca-CICC Fund, Sequoia Capital China and other high-quality, valuable new partners have joined the shareholder base. With the support of these long-term and new, marquee investors, we affirm our mission of ‘Saving Lives and Revitalizing Lives’ and bringing to market innovative therapies to address significant unmet medical needs."