Eisai Invests in Chinese ADC Biotech Bliss Bio, Which Files IPO Prospectus

According to the Qichacha database, BlissBio (Hangzhou) Biopharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as BlissBio) has added a new shareholder, Eisai Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Eisai).

Source of the image: Qichacha

Official website information shows that BlissBio was established in December 2017 in Qiantang District, Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province. It is a national high-tech enterprise in the clinical stage, co-founded by several overseas returnee doctors from the United States, with independent intellectual property rights. The company focuses on the research and development and industrialization of innovative biologic drugs for cancer treatment.

Since its establishment, BlissBio has been guided by unmet clinical needs and built upon extensive experience in the full life cycle of innovative drug development in the pharmaceutical industry. Through a dual-driven model of independent research and external collaboration, the company focuses on various cancer indications. It continuously expands and builds a differentiated pipeline of large-molecule biologic innovative drugs, establishing and improving multiple product technology platforms as well as proprietary manufacturing capacities for antibodies and ADCs that meet international GMP standards.

According to the MedAlpha Innovative Drug Investment and Financing Database by Medicine Cube, BlissBio has completed multiple rounds of financing amounting to hundreds of millions of yuan.

Notably, BlissBio has just completed an ADC BD deal worth over $2 billion with Eisai. On May 8, 2023, BlissBio announced a clinical trial collaboration agreement with Eisai, which includes a strategic partnership option, for the HER2 ADC BB-1701.

According to the agreement, BlissBio will receive an upfront payment and milestone payments. BlissBio and Eisai will jointly develop BB-1701. If Eisai exercises its option for the BB-1701 strategic collaboration, BlissBio will receive the corresponding option exercise payment and is eligible to receive up to a total of 2 billion US dollars in development and commercialization milestone payments, as well as sales royalties. Eisai will obtain global (excluding Greater China) development and commercialization rights for BB-1701.

BB-1701 is an innovative ADC drug developed by BlissBio, consisting of an anti-HER2 antibody and eribulin. It aims to provide a safer and more effective treatment option for patients with locally advanced and metastatic HER2-positive solid tumors, with promising market potential for various tumor indications. BB-1701 has a unique mechanism of action (MOA), including effective bystander killing effects and immunogenic cell death (ICD) activity, and is currently undergoing Phase I/II international multicenter clinical trials in China and the United States.

Through equity investment, BlissBio and Eisai have further aligned their interests.