Proceeds Will Support Advancement of Multiple Therapeutic Antibody Programs into Preclinical and Clinical Testing and Accelerate Discovery Targeting Various Components of Tumor Microenvironment Beyond T Cell Focused Mechanisms
Suzhou, China. – October 29, 2015 – MabSpace Biosciences Co., Limited, a company focused on the discovery and development of antibody based therapeutics with its proprietary immune tolerance breaking technology, today announced the successful completion of a $15 million Series A financing. Proceeds from the financing will be used to advance MabSpace’s pipeline of therapeutic antibody programs into clinical studies. In addition, the investment will enable expanded discovery of novel antibodies aimed at various components of tumor microenvironment to enhance responses of tumors that may be less likely to respond to T cell checkpoint monotherapy.
“We are incredibly pleased to have the support of Lilly Asia Ventures and are in a strong position to advance multiple programs toward human clinical proof of concept studies,” said Xueming Qian Ph.D., founder, chairman and chief executive officer of MabSpace. “Each of these programs leverages MabSpace’s unique immune tolerance breaking technology and translational science platform, which is designed to generate and identify candidate antibodies binding to different epitope on the therapeutic target and displaying differentiated properties relative to benchmark competing antibodies. We believe this approach will provide us strong intellectual protection as well as opportunities to discover and develop best-in-class therapeutics with durable responses to patients in need of better treatment options.”
Lilly Asia Ventures is the sole investor for this series A round. “We believe that MabSpace has built a differentiated approach rooted in its unique immune tolerance breaking based antibody discovery platform and translational science capabilities that position it to bring the next wave of innovation to the field,” said Stephen Lin, Principal at Lilly Asia Ventures and a Board member of MabSpace. “MabSpace has made tremendous progress since launching three years ago, including advancing its innovative platform technology as well as the discovery of novel therapies. With its founders’ and senior management team’s experience in antibody therapeutic discovery and development MabSpace is well positioned to be a leader in the field.”
About MabSpace Biosciences
MabSpace Biosciences Co., Ltd. is a biotechnology company focused on the discovery and early development of antibody based therapeutics, with a focus in developing best-in-class and first-in-class antibody therapeutics for cancer treatment. Found in 2013, it employs a proprietary immune tolerance breaking technology (IMTB) to obtain antibodies targeting diverse epitope space on a given target, including those epitopes with high degree of cross-species identity in amino acid. MabSpace also has an in-licensed fully human antibody transgenic mice platform. MabSpace is headquartered in Suzhou and has a fully-integrated antibody discovery and development facility in Biobay, Suzhou Industrial Park. For more information, please visit www.mabspacebio.com.
About Lilly Asia Ventures
Lilly Asia Ventures, founded in 2008, is dedicated to venture capital investments in the life sciences and healthcare sectors in Asia, particularly in China. Its investors include Eli Lilly & Co., a Fortune 500 company and one of the most globalized and innovative pharmaceutical companies in the world. As a leading biomedical venture fund in China, Lilly Asia Ventures provides wise capital, industry expertise, and global resources to its portfolio companies to accelerate their growth. For more information, please visit www.lillyasiaventures.com.