Nanjing—IMPACT Therapeutics, Inc., a China-based clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on medicine for the treatment of cancer and other life-threatening diseases, announced today the completion of $30 million in series C financing.
“We are grateful for the faith our new and existing investors have shown in us, and for sharing our vision of developing the best potential treatments for cancer patients with DNA repair defects,” commented Dr. Ye Edward Tian, CEO of IMPACT. “Decheng and LAV are renowned global VC firms in the biomedical industry. With the capital and resources provided by Decheng and LAV, we will be able to advance the clinical development of IMP4297 and enrich our pipeline.”
The financing round was led by Decheng Capital, with participation from existing investor Lilly Asian Ventures (LAV). Proceeds from the series will be used for the clinical development of IMP4297, a potential best-in-class PARP inhibitor, and to advance IMPACT’s integrated programs targeting DNA Damage Response (DDR).
“IMPACT is committed to the discovery and development of best-in-class therapeutics to treat cancer and other life-threatening diseases. Our data indicates that IMP4297 could be more efficacious and/or less toxic than other PARP inhibitors currently in the market, making it a potential best-in-class drug,” added Dr. Sui Xiong Cai, SVP and CTO of IMPACT. “With this series C financing, we are well-positioned to achieve key data milestones as we accelerate the clinical development of IMP4297, in the hope of bringing it to market and patients soon.”
PARP inhibitors are targeted therapies for cancer patients with defects in DNA repair mechanisms, such as with BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations. Three PARP inhibitors, which have been shown to be tolerable and effective in clinical studies, have already been approved for marketing outside of China. IMP4297 has demonstrated an excellent safety profile and good preliminary efficacy in phase I clinical trials in Australia and China, which is consistent with the high potency and large therapeutic window found in pre-clinical studies.
“IMPACT is advancing its IMP4297 program steadily,” noted Dr. Fei Chen, Managing Partner of LAV. “We have seen excellent results from the clinical trials of IMP4297. As an existing investor from the previous two rounds of financing, LAV will continue to support IMPACT with capital and resources.”
“IMP4297 has shown potential to be a best-in-class drug in both pre-clinical studies and clinical trials. IMPACT is an excellent Chinese company with products that can compete globally,” said Dr. Xiangmin Cui, Founder and Managing Director of Decheng. “We are very happy to collaborate with the IMPACT team and to support IMPACT’s growth.”
