VC warns of 'bubble' in China's biotech sector

By Wang Fangqing

While many western biotech startups are struggling to get funding, their Chinese counterparts seem like a fund magnet, attracting $11.7 billion in venture capital (VC) investment in 2017, more than doubled from 2016, according to the Shanghai-based consulting firm ChinaBio Group, reports The Pharma Letter’s local correspondent Wang Fangqing.

In April alone, for example, Shanghai-based ImmuneOnco, which focuses on tumor-targeting immunotherapies, raised over 100 million renminbi ($15.7 million) through its series A financing. In March, Hua Medicine, also based in Shanghai, was injected $117.4 million by global VCs who are eager to push the novel type II diabetes treatment HMS5552 (dorzagliatin) to the market.