Tot Biopharm, a Suzhou-headquartered biotechnology firm backed by Chengwei Capital, has filed to list in Hong Kong under rules that allow pre-revenue biotech companies to list.
The company’s filing is heavily redacted, so it is unclear how many shares Tot Biopharm intends to offer and how much it seeks to raise in the filing although it said the bulk of the proceeds will be used to fund ongoing and planned clinical trials, among others.
Founded in 2010, Tot Biopharm now has over 10 drugs in the R&D stage, including three biologics and three small molecules, which have received investigational new drug application approvals, as well as one antibody-drug conjugate, which is expected to receive approval soon.
The firm is developing a biosimilar of bevacizumab, designated TAB008, for the treatment of solid tumours such as non-small cell lung cancer and colorectal cancer. It is also in the process of ramping up production of its third-generation innovative oncolytic virus drug TVP211.
As of December 31, 2018, the company’s revenue stood at 39.22 million yuan ($5.8 million). Its losses for the year totalled 268.52 million yuan ($38.87 million), up from 148.63 million yuan ($22.1 million) a year earlier.
“We expect to continue to incur losses for the foreseeable future, and we expect these losses to increase as we continue and expand our development of, and seek regulatory approvals for, our drug candidates, and continue to build up our commercialization and sales workforce in anticipation of the future roll-out of our late-stage drug candidates,” Tot Biopharm said.
The company has so far raised a total of $108 million in funding over two rounds. It raised $6 million in its Series A round led by Chengwei Capital in 2010 and another $102 million in its Series B round in 2018, co-led by 99Fund and China Universal.
Despite its pre-revenue status, Tot Biopharm is qualified to list in Hong Kong after the city’s stock exchange relaxed rules in March 2018 to allow pre-revenue biotech companies to launch their initial public offerings.
According to London-based L.E.K Consulting, China is the world’s second-largest pharmaceuticals markets after the US by sales, which were worth $123 billion in 2017. It is also a key growth market for drugs to treat cancer, with more than four million new cases diagnosed each year.
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