On April 16, 2021, Suzhou Porton Biologics Ltd.(hereinafter referred to as Porton Biologics), a subsidiary of Porton Pharma Solutions Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Porton Pharma Solutions) (300363.SZ), which focuses on gene and cell engineering CDMO service, officially announced the closing of Series A funding round, which raised 400 million RMB. The participants of the financing include industry’s top-tier investment institutions, SDIC and GL Ventures, HM Capital, Huashan Ruilian and Momentum Venture.
Porton Biologics focuses on gene and cell engineering. In November 2020, the GMP suites of the Phase I project has been qualified and put into use to meet the needs from process development to clinical production of plasmids, viral vectors and cell engineering. Proceeds from the financing will be used for the Phase II project commercial production facility’s construction and operation, which will accelerate the establishment of AAV process development and GMP production capability, comprehensively increase the production capacity of GMP-grade plasmids, viral vectors, cell engineering and other products in order to boost the development of gene and cell engineering products.
“This round of funding will further improve Porton Biologics’s capability in GCT field.” Mr. Ju Nianfeng, Chairman of Porton Pharma Solutions and CEO of Porton Biologics, said, ” The strategic investment of the top-tier institutions has opened up new horizons for Porton Biologics. We will strive to accelerate the establishment of an integrated gene and cell engineering service platform from drug discovery, process development to production, and provide customers with efficient and high-quality services, to advance gene and cell engineering in China and beyond. With an excellent team, management system, and state-of-the art facilities, Porton Biologics is committed to establishing an integrated gene and cell engineering technology platform to provide customers around the world with an excellent service experience, thereby enabling public’s early access to good medicines.”
Life science team of SDIC, as a representative of the investment institutions said, “We are optimistic about the development of China’s biomedical industry in the long term. As an important part of R&D, CDMO has great growth prospects. Among gene and cell engineering CDMOs, Porton Biologics has a team with rich scientific research and management experience, unique technical advantages, complete production lines and facilities, as well as 16 years of successful experience of the parent company, Porton Pharma Solutions. We are proud to work with Porton Biologics and look forward to helping the company develop into a domestic first-class gene and cell engineering CDMO service platform, so as to promote the entire industry to quickly align with the highest international level.”
About Porton Biologics
Founded in 2018, Suzhou Porton Biologics Ltd. (Portonbio) is located in Suzhou Industrial Park. As a subsidiary of the listed company Porton Pharma Solutions Ltd. (Stock Code: 300363), Porton Biologics has built an integrated CDMO platform covering plasmids, viral vectors and cell engineering for early studies, investigator-initiated clinical trial (IIT), investigational new drug (IND) filing, clinical trials and commercial production, in order to advance clients’ product into clinics and beyond.
Porton Biologics attaches great importance to gene and cell therapies. Building on the successful experience of Porton with a cohort of world-class professionals, Proton Biologics adheres to the service tenet of “Customer First” and the brand concept of “Compliance, Expertise, Focus, Open-Collaboration”. As it seeks to inherit the strong IP protection and project management system as well as the rigorous quality management system of its parent company, Porton Biologics aims to make full use of the successful experience of the core team in bringing gene and cell engineering products to the clinic and the market, and to provide quality services to global customers, thereby enabling public’s early access to good medicines. http://www.portonbio.com/
About Porton Pharma Solutions
Founded in July, 2005, Porton Pharma Solutions Ltd. is a Chinese top-tier contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) which provides end-to-end CDMO services for both chemical drugs from APIs to formulation and biological drugs for global pharmaceutical companies and biotechs. It is committed to building the world’s leading pharma solutions platform, enabling the transformation from molecules to medicines with continuous improvements in speed and cost. Backed by more than 2,600 customer-centric employees, cutting-edge Process R&D Centers, USFDA, PMDA, EMA and NMPA-inspected cGMP production sites in China (Chongqing, Chengdu, Shanghai, Yichun and Suzhou) and sales offices located across Asia, North America and Europe, Porton has an outstanding tracking record for more than 1400 projects delivered to more than 500 global customers.
About SDIC
SDIC investment focuses on advanced manufacturing industry investment, attaches importance to technological innovation, outstanding entrepreneurs and team value, focuses on intelligent manufacturing, new energy intelligent vehicles, life science, information and communication technology and other fields committed to promoting green, digital and service-oriented development of manufacturing industry. The total assets under management of the team exceed 100 billion RMB, and the investors include financial institutions, social security funds, state-owned and private capital.
About GL Ventures
GL Ventures focuses on early-stage innovative companies in healthcare, software services, consumer Internet, emerging consumer brands and services. The GL Ventures team is passionate about partnering with visionary entrepreneurs to create industry leaders that stand the test of time. GL Ventures is the venture capital arm of Hillhouse Capital, and we have been investing with innovators across the world since 2005.
About HM Capital
Focusing on healthcare investment, HM Capital is committed to building an investment platform with a global view and local execution to help early and growth-stage healthcare companies achieve accelerated development by leveraging the ecosystems of affiliated operating companies, the top-tier Asian private equity firm, and the premier international healthcare institution.
About Huashan Ruilian
Nanjing Huatai Ruilian Fund Management LLP. (LLP) is a limited partnership established by the private equity fund Huashan Ruilian Fund Management Co., Ltd. (“Huashan Ruilian”, formerly known as Huatai Ruilian Fund Management Co., Ltd.) and its wholly-owned subsidiary. The assets scale under management by Huashan Ruilian exceeds RMB 15 billion which is mainly invested in medical and health, high-end manufacturing and consumption.
About Momentum Venture
Beijing Momentum Venture Management Co., Ltd. is a professional private fund focusing on life and health industry. Its fund investors include multiple industrial listed companies and outstanding investment institutions such as Getein Biotech, Nanjing Iron & Steel, Nanjing Jiangbei New Area Sci-tech, etc.
