China-U.S. connection

Cancer and infectious disease play Ascletis Inc. got a first $50 million tranche of a planned $100 million series A round last week. The company, which has operations in Hangzhou and Research Triangle Park, plans to use this tranche for in-licensing and development over the next five years, with the next tranche potentially for manufacturing.

In the short term, Ascletis will focus on licensing late-stage candidates for development and commercialization in China and expects revenues from these in 3-5 years. Longer term, it hopes to do discovery and development through proof-of-concept (POC) data, with a partnership prior to any Phase III trial...