Runway in China

Modified Time: 2013.8.5   Source: BioCentury

Shenogen's $20M C round could get cancer company to China IPO

Runway in China

-- Stephen Hansen

Published on Monday, August 5, 2013

With $20 million in hand from its recent series C round, Shenogen Pharma Group Ltd. hopes it can stretch the cash to both go public and get its lead program to market in China.

The round was co-led by new investors Legend Capital and Qiming Weichuang Venture Capital. Existing investors Shenzhen Venture; China Investment Wealth Venture Fund; IDG Venture; and Lapam Venture also participated. Investors received warrants to purchase an additional $10 million of stock.

The company's pipeline targets a variant of the estrogen receptor called estrogen receptor alpha 36.

According to SVP and CBO Jun Bao, estrogen receptor alpha 36 is a membrane protein that is rarely expressed in healthy tissue but is highly expressed in multiple cancer types, particularly in metastasizing cells.

The money will allow Shenogen to move a mAb against estrogen receptor alpha 36 into the clinic. In parallel, Bao said the company will use the mAb to develop a diagnostic kit to detect high levels of the target - both for enriching clinical trials but also eventually for use in guiding treatment.

Bao said the cash also will allow the company to start a Phase II trial this quarter of lead program icaritin for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Icaritin (SNG-162) is a small molecule derived from a Chinese herbal medicine.

Once POC data are in hand for icaritin and the mAb is in the clinic, Bao said Shenogen could pursue an IPO in China, or at the very least another round of financing.

Bao said Shenogen is the only company targeting the estrogen receptor variant, and is considering out-licensing ex-China rights for its programs to help accelerate development.