Bellen Secures RMB 250 Million Series B Funding to Build Small-Molecule API Production Base and Capture Share of the USD 5 Billion CMO Market
VCBeat recently learned that Bellen (Beijing Liuhe Ningyuan Technology Co., Ltd.), an emerging CRO/CMO company in pharmaceutical R&D, has completed a RMB 250 million Series B financing round to support the construction of an integrated chemical synthesis service platform for small-molecule new drug development.
This financing round was led by Legend Capital Yikang and CICC Qichen, with follow-on investments from Gopher Keyin, Fortune Capital Chuanglian, Jingji Shijie, and other investors. Previously, in July 2016, Bellen secured RMB 50 million in Series A funding from Tsinghua Holdings Ginkgo Fund.
Bellen, established in 2010, is a high-tech enterprise integrating the research and development, production, and sales of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), pharmaceutical intermediates, fine chemicals, and chiral compounds. It primarily provides chemical synthesis services for new drug development to large international pharmaceutical companies.
Dr. Liu Bo, the founder, graduated from Tsinghua University and established Beijing Bellen Pharmaceutical Technology Co., Ltd. in 2010. Within just seven years, Bellen has grown from a startup team of six into a mid-sized contract research organization (CRO) with over 200 employees. More than half of its staff hold doctoral or master’s degrees, and the company brings together seasoned professionals from major well-known pharmaceutical enterprises.
Currently, Bellen has initially completed its group-level and global layout, with the integrated pharmaceutical R&D service platform beginning to take shape.
Its related business covers the entire spectrum of chemical synthesis in pharmaceutical R&D, with ongoing commercialization and mass production of drugs. Its services include FTE, Library Design and Synthesis, Contract Research, and Process Development, with a market presence in developed countries and regions such as Europe, the United States, Japan, and South Korea.
Bellen has offices in the United States and France, established an early-stage drug chemistry R&D laboratory in Beijing, a process development center in Shanghai, and a cGMP production base in Shandong, while also setting up market centers in France, Canada, and the United States.
In addition, Bellen’s laboratory spans 8,000 square meters and is equipped with modern synthesis equipment and analytical instruments, such as NMR, LC-MS, HPLC, and GC. It is reported that Phase I of Bellen’s production base commenced operations in May this year, and within just three months, its production capacity has nearly reached saturation.
It is reported that the proceeds from this Series B financing round will be primarily allocated to the construction of Phase II. Aligned with the development trends in chemical synthesis of small-molecule active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), Phase II will optimize capacity configuration and establish a robust quality and safety management system compliant with international standards, aiming to build a premier domestic production base for process scale-up of API intermediates.
The market backdrop that has drawn VC attention to Bellen is the rise of CROs/CMOs in China. Contributing factors include rising basic trial costs, increasingly stringent regulatory requirements, prolonged preclinical research timelines, larger-scale clinical trials, higher clinical trial failure rates, and a shift in drug R&D toward chronic and degenerative diseases, which demand greater time and financial investment. These multiple factors have driven a rapid increase in new drug development costs, placing significant pressure on pharmaceutical companies’ R&D efforts.
The global pharmaceutical R&D outsourcing market is currently vast and maintaining double-digit growth, with the industry continuing to shift toward China. The Chinese market has sustained steady growth due to its strong capabilities in chemical synthesis development and manufacturing, fostering the emergence of many outstanding CRO/CMO companies. According to Informa data, the market size of China’s CMO industry was $2.2 billion in 2012 and is projected to reach $5 billion by 2017, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 17.8%. Based on PwC’s report “Trends in Pharmaceutical R&D Outsourcing in Asia,” China has surpassed India as the most favored destination for pharmaceutical outsourcing services in Asia, when comprehensively evaluating cost, risk, and market opportunities.
In terms of policy, the state encourages more enterprises to participate in drug research and development. In June 2016, the General Office of the State Council issued the "Notice on Printing and Distributing the Pilot Program for the Marketing Authorization Holder System," officially launching the pilot implementation of the Marketing Authorization Holder (MAH) system. The MAH system refers to a regulatory model that separates drug marketing authorization from production licensing. This system has provided significant support to CRO/CMO drug R&D platforms such as Bellen.