Global healthcare investment firm OrbiMed and Qiming Venture Partners have jointly led a pre-IPO financing of $131 million in Minghui Pharmaceutical, a Chinese late-stage clinical biopharmaceutical company, according to a statement.
Shanghai-headquartered Minghui, which is developing innovative medicines to address unmet medical needs in oncology and autoimmune diseases, plans to use the proceeds to advance its pipeline of clinical-stage drugs.
The company will primarily invest the new proceeds in developing its novel PD-1/VEGF bispecific antibody, which is in Phase II trials, being valued in combination with a TROP2 antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs). The financing will also support the planned commercial launch of its innovative topical JAK inhibitor, currently under NDA (new drug application) review in China.
Its lead assets also include a subcutaneous IGF-1R antibody in Phase III trials for thyroid eye disease, and a B7-H3 ADC in Phase III trial for 2L SCLC – both ADCs with strong best-in-class potential.
“This financing marks an important milestone as we continue to advance a globally competitive pipeline and enter our next stage of growth,” said Dr. Guoqing Cao, chief executive officer of Minghui.
Minghui’s pre-IPO financing also received support from existing investor TF Capital, as well as seven new investors, including BioTrack Capital, 5Y Capital, New Day Fund, and Wider Link Enterprise Investment Limited, according to the statement.
“Minghui has built a compelling portfolio of novel drug candidates targeting critical unmet medical needs,” said Dr. Kan Chen, partner and co-lead of healthcare at Qiming Venture Partners.
Now operating in both China and the US, Minghui was founded in 2018 with a seed financing of 80 million yuan ($11.1 million). It set up an R&D centre in eastern China’s Hangzhou City in the year that followed, before raising a further $70 million in its second funding round in 2020. Investors of the prior two rounds remain undisclosed, its official website shows.
Minghui’s US subsidiary was launched in 2022.
