Everest Medicines Completes $310 Million Series C Financing with China Renaissance as Exclusive Financial Advisor, Files for Hong Kong IPO

Everest Medicines recently announced the completion of a $310 million Series C financing round. The $310 million financing consists of two tranches of preferred share offerings: a $260 million Series C-2 round and a $50 million Series C-1 round. The Series C-2 round was co-led by Janchor Partners, RA Capital Management, and Hillhouse Capital. Additional support was provided by new investors, including Decheng Capital, GT Fund, Janus Henderson Investors, Rock Springs Capital, Octagon Investments, and a prominent long-term institutional investor. Existing investors, including CBC Group, Cormorant, Pavilion Capital, and HBM Healthcare Investments, also actively participated in this round. The Series C-1 round comprised a $50 million investment from Jiashan State-owned Investment, forming part of the extensive strategic cooperation between Everest Medicines, the Jiashan National Economic and Technological Development Zone, and Jiashan State-owned Investment, as announced on March 17, 2020.

The proceeds from this financing round will be used to advance the clinical development of Everest Medicines’ innovative drug pipeline and to build a robust commercial infrastructure for the next phase of growth.

Everest Capital served as the exclusive financial advisor to Everest Medicines in this transaction.

Everest Medicines is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of innovative drugs, dedicated to addressing unmet medical needs in China and other Asian markets. Its product pipeline covers four major therapeutic areas: oncology, immunological diseases, infectious diseases, and cardiorenal diseases, all of which present significant unmet clinical needs and market potential in the Asia-Pacific region. Each product in its pipeline has the potential to generate billions of RMB in sales in the Chinese market alone.

Everest Medicines, incubated under the leadership of Qiao Capital, has assembled a global team of top-tier talent in business development (BD), clinical registration and development, product commercialization, and capital operations. The management team possesses deep expertise and extensive experience in high-quality clinical development both domestically and internationally, regulatory affairs, chemistry, manufacturing, and controls (CMC), as well as business development and operations. Within less than three years since its establishment, the company’s achievements in advancing its clinical pipeline and commercializing products, coupled with its strong reception in global capital markets, have amply demonstrated the team’s robust execution capabilities and profound industry insight.

Everest Medicines has established eight potential first-in-class or best-in-class molecular portfolios to date, with multiple pipelines having entered the late stages of clinical development. The therapeutic areas covered include oncology, autoimmune diseases, cardiorenal disorders, and infectious diseases. Currently, four drug candidates are undergoing clinical trials in China, and two additional drugs are scheduled to commence registration trials in 2020.

TrodelvyTM（Sacituzumab govitecan-hziy）It is a first-in-class anti-Trop-2 antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) that has been approved in the United States for the treatment of patients with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer (mTNBC) who have received at least two prior therapies. In April 2020, Everest Medicines obtained approval from Chinese authorities to conduct clinical trials of sacituzumab govitecan and plans to initiate clinical development programs for multiple solid tumor indications.

Xerava™ (Eravacycline)It is a novel, fully synthetic, broad-spectrum, parenteral tetracycline antibiotic for injection, demonstrating extensive in vitro antibacterial activity against multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria and other resistant pathogens commonly encountered in China. Eravacycline has been approved in the United States and Europe for the treatment of patients with complicated intra-abdominal infections (cIAI), and was approved in Singapore in April 2020. Everest Medicines is currently conducting Phase III clinical trials in China for this indication to support regulatory approval.

EtrasimodIt is a potential best-in-class oral S1P receptor modulator. Everest Medicines is conducting multicenter Phase III clinical trials for ulcerative colitis in China and South Korea.

TaniborbactamIt is a potential best-in-class injectable cyclic boronate compound that simultaneously inhibits serine and metallo-β-lactamases. Everest Medicines and its partner, Venatorx Pharmaceuticals, are currently jointly conducting a global Phase III clinical trial in patients with complicated urinary tract infections (cUTI).

Ralinepag XRIt is a potential best-in-class oral extended-release IP receptor agonist, primarily indicated for the treatment of patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). Everest Medicines is collaborating with its partner, United Therapeutics, to conduct a global Phase III clinical trial in patients with PAH.

NefeconIt is a potential first-in-class innovative product for IgA nephropathy. In December 2019, Everest Medicines obtained approval for its clinical trial application for IgA nephropathy. Everest Medicines will conduct the global Phase III clinical trials in collaboration with its partner, Calliditas Therapeutics.

FGF401It is a potential first-in-class, ATP-competitive, reversibly covalent FGFR4 inhibitor. Everest Medicines has obtained the global commercial rights to this drug from Novartis. In March 2020, the clinical trial application for its Phase Ib/II study in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma in China was approved.

SPR206is a potential best-in-class novel polymyxin derivative designed to reduce the nephrotoxicity of clinically used polymyxin B and colistin.

Everest Medicines CEO Kerry Blanchard, M.D.“ This marks a significant milestone for Everest Medicines, reinforcing our deep industry expertise and strategic business model of in-licensing global innovative therapies and conducting their research and development in the Greater China region and across Asia. We are well-positioned to advance clinical studies for our robust product pipeline, which covers many critical diseases, and we look forward to leveraging this foundation to grow our commercialization business.”

“Everest Medicines has achieved significant results, establishing strategic partnerships with leading industry players to jointly build a promising product pipeline,”He Zhian, Founder and Chief Industrial Investor of Jiantian“We are delighted to partner with Everest Medicines and support the company’s mission to provide innovative therapies for patients in China suffering from life-threatening diseases.”

“Since its establishment in late 2017, it has achieved remarkable success in just a few years, filling us with great pride.”Fu Wei, Chairman of Everest Medicines and CEO of Qiao Capital“The entry of well-capitalized investors not only underscores the company’s impressive early-stage achievements but also reflects investor confidence in Everest Medicines’ growth into a regionally leading innovative drug platform company.” Everest Medicines was incubated and invested in by Qianhai Capital.

He Ying, President and Chief Financial Officer of Everest Medicinesstated, “We are delighted to partner with these distinguished global leading institutional investors in the biopharmaceutical sector and look forward to collaborating with them during Everest Medicines’ exciting and pivotal growth phase.”

As the investment banking advisor for this transaction,Ms. Irene Hong, Partner at China Renaissance Capitalstated: “Everest Medicines boasts a world-class clinical registration team and an integrated commercial platform, positioning itself as a global innovative biopharmaceutical company focused on the R&D and commercialization of novel drugs. We are delighted to partner with a top-tier biotechnology enterprise like Everest Medicines. The participation of several leading international investment institutions will help accelerate the clinical development and commercialization of the company’s product pipeline, bringing early benefits to patients in the Asia-Pacific region across four major therapeutic areas.” Dr. Zhang Xiao, Managing Director at iCapital, commented: “For companies adopting the license-in model, the prerequisite for securing high-quality products globally is possessing clinical development capabilities on par with those of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies. However, top-tier clinical talent remains scarce in China overall. Everest Medicines has established highly experienced clinical medical teams in each of its four covered therapeutic areas, which is one of the key reasons why it enjoys the trust of global partners, secures access to the best global products, and effectively implements them in the domestic market. Everest Medicines is highly sought after by numerous investors in the Asia-Pacific region. This financing round represents one of the largest primary market transactions in the history of the Asia-Pacific biotechnology sector, marking a significant milestone. We are very optimistic about the substantial increase in Everest Medicines’ valuation following this round of financing.”

China Renaissance was founded in 2000 and is a leading new economy investment bank in China, focusing on the three major sectors of healthcare, consumer, and TMT. Headquartered in Beijing, the company has branches in Shanghai, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, and holds a U.S. securities business license.

From 2017 to 2019, China Renaissance participated in financing and M&A transactions with a total value exceeding RMB 100 billion. Beyond its investment banking business, China Renaissance entered the asset management sector in 2014 and is currently managing one RMB-denominated fund and one USD-denominated fund.

In the healthcare industry, China Renaissance boasts the largest, most professional, and most comprehensively integrated investment banking team in the sector, along with a firmly established position of strong market leadership. For three consecutive years, it has ranked as the new economy investment bank with the highest number of healthcare industry transactions in China.