Impact Therapeutics will invest the cash from the Lilly Asia Ventures-backed round to further develop its lead cancer treatment candidate.

China-based biopharmaceutical company Impact Therapeutics has closed a $30m series C round that included Lilly Asia Ventures (LAV), a corporate venturing representative of pharmaceutical firm Eli Lilly. Venture capital firm Decheng Capital led the round, which followed a $10m series B round completed by the company in early 2016. Impact is developing treatments for life-threatening diseases including cancer. It will use the funding to advance IMP4297, a drug that will combat cancer by inhibiting the PARP enzyme, which would normally repair damaged tumour cells automatically. IMP4297 has already been entered into phase I clinical trials in Australia and China. Additional proceeds will fund the development of more drugs intended for cancer patients who have faults in their body’s DNA repair mechanisms. Lilly Asia Ventures had initially joined Wuxi AppTec Ventures, a subsidiary of pharmaceutical company Wuxi AppTec, and VC firm Cenova Capital to provide an undisclosed amount of series A funding for Impact in 2015. The series B round featured Lilly Asia Ventures, conglomerate Guangzhou Yuexiu Group’s Guangzhou Yuexiu Industrial Investment Fund, Sungent Bioventure, Sungent Holding Group, China Summit Capital and Haibang Ventures. Fei Chen, Lilly Asia Ventures’ managing partner, said: “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.”

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