Shanghai Cell completed series C funding iao USD 134.29 million led by CPIC, Haier Capital, and China Industrial Asset Management.
December 17, 2018/EqualOcean/ - Shanghai Cell Therapy Group Co. Ltd (SCTG, 上海细胞治疗集团) completed the series C funding in amount of CNY 925 million (USD 134.29 million) led by CPIC(太平洋保险), Haier Capital, and China Industrial Asset Management(兴业资管). Founded in 2011, SCTG has completed three funding series at a total value of CNY 1.24 billion (USD 182 million), in which Legend Capital(君联资本) led the series B and followed in recent series C funding.
SCTG is a high-tech company aiming to provide health diagnosis and treatment services through precision medicine technics and to build a top-class cell therapy center in global wide. SCTG consists of seven institutes, hospitals, and tech centers and hence closes a ring of cell therapy R&D, clinical immunotherapy and cell bank. The ecosystem drives SCTG with a strong backup and elevates the efficiency in R&D progress, which is the core power of SCTG.
Cell therapy is a measure under the immunotherapy category and is a high-tech zone in pharmaceuticals as well. The complicated mechanism of the human immune system is gradually being dissected by immunotherapy researchers. Yet being far from fully understanding the undergoing part of immune system, scientists are making progress and inventing new ways to treat used-to-be-untreatable diseases like cancers and leukemia. By 2016, according to WHO (World Health Organization) published data, trachea, bronchus, lung cancers(respiratory cancers) are listed as #6 cause of death and liver cancer is listed the #16.
While in the western Pacific region, the numbers of respiratory cancers and liver cancer are respectively ranked #4 and #6. In 2016, various types of cancer took away 8.38 million lives in worldwide and over 1/3 occurred in western Pacific region.
Cancer has troubled millions of lives and in this century, we can see some light through immunotherapy, which is assumed to be more accurate and with fewer side effects like chemo will bring. According to WHO’s World’s Health Statistics 2018, the oncological therapy market will reach USD 150 billion in 2020. The immunotherapy market is growing fast and in China, biopharmaceutical and biotech industries are embracing a capital spring. In 2018, the investment is almost twice the amount of 2017 at a value of CNY 42.97 billion (USD 6.32 billion). SCTG’s series C created a record in recent investment activities and the funding will be used in R&D and clinical trials. Currently, SCTG has 19 clinical trials ongoing and mainly are at greater Shanghai area. In most clinical trials, SCTG focuses on applying programmed PD1-PIK cell therapy and Precision Cell therapy with different combinations in advanced liver cancer, stomach cancer, and other solid cancers. Any breakthroughs in liver cancer and stomach cancer treatments will be a great leap for Healthy China 2030 plan.