Dizal Pharmaceuticals Raises $100M in New Round of Financing

According to its official website, Dizal Pharmaceuticals announced the closing of US$100 million new round of financing, led by Lilly Asia Ventures, with participation from Sequoia Capital, Trinity and Wuxi NewForce Fund.

In October 2017, SDIC and AstraZeneca, a global pharmaceutical company, established the joint venture Dizal Pharmaceuticals, based on the Asia and Emerging Markets, Innovative Medicines and Early Development, AstraZeneca (AEM iMED), to support Dr. Zhang Xiaolin and his team in starting their own business. 

Founded in October 2017, Dizal Pharmaceutical is a research-based biotechnology company dedicated to the discovery, development and commercialization of first-in-class/best-in-class medicines.

Dizal Pharmaceutical is a cutting-edge, high-yield R&D center for innovative drugs, equipped with world-leading translational medicine platforms as well as new-drug molecular design and screening platforms. Dizal Pharmaceutical has accumulated extensive experience in the development of innovative therapies for the treatment of cancer, autoimmune diseases and chronic kidney disease among others.

Over the past two years, several projects of Dizal Pharmaceutical have entered into international multi-center clinical trials. Among them, AZD4205 is a highly effective selective JAK1 inhibitor that is well absorbed by the gastrointestinal tract and is being developed for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). DZD9008, an EGFR inhibitor with potential efficacy for non-small-cell lung cancer patients with EGFR or HER2 gene exon 20 insertion mutations or other driver mutations.

In addition, Dizal Pharmaceutical has a number of projects under development. Its AZD3759 is a BBB-penetrating EGFR inhibitor for the treatment of EGFR mutant non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with leptomeningeal metastasis (LM) and brain metastasis (BM). Olaparib, a PARP inhibitor, can inhibit poly ADP ribose polymerase (PARP), an enzyme involved in DNA repair. It acts against cancers in people with hereditary BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations, which include some ovarian, breast, and prostate.

Lilly Asian Ventures makes venture capital investments in Asia for Eli Lilly and Company, a global innovation-driven pharmaceutical company. The company mainly invests in promising life science companies with strong management teams and innovative technology and/or business models. Its initial focus is primarily on opportunities in China, although it will take the investments in the east and south Asia into account.

Founded in 1972, Sequoia is a venture capital firm focused on energy, financial, enterprise, healthcare, internet, and mobile startups. The firm seeks to invest in all sectors with a focus on energy, financials and financial services, healthcare and healthcare services, Internet, mobile, outsourcing, and technology.