Crown Bioscience, Inc. Announces Closing of Series C Financing

SANTA CLARA, Calif., May 4, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Crown Bioscience, Inc., a leading company in innovative oncology R&D partnership and services, today announced the closing of a US$28.8 million Series C financing. The proceeds will be used for expanding services in integrated cancer drug discovery and translational oncology, as well as to fund new initiatives in other therapeutic areas.

The transaction was led by OrbiMed Advisors Caduceus Asia Partners Fund, Argonaut Private Equity, the CID Group, IBT, and CDIB Capital Investment. Existing shareholders Qiming Venture Partners and CRCI also participated.

"We are excited about our investment in CrownBio, as the company has built a strong leadership position in fully integrated cancer drug discovery service in China, a market we feel has tremendous growth potential," said Dr. Nancy T. Chang, Chairman and Senior Managing Director of OrbiMed's Caduceus Asia Partners Fund.  "The management team has an impressive track record in building a world-class scientific team, establishing cutting-edge technology platforms, and delivering strong results for their partners and investors. It is our pleasure to collaborate with leading investors such as Argonaut Private Equity, the CID Group, IBT and CDIB.  We look forward to working with the company to recognize its full potential."

"We are pleased to join a distinguished group of investors and support this promising company.   CrownBio has built a solid foundation and successful innovation platform for the development of drug design and outsourcing services.  We believe the company will be a leader of biotechnology development in China," said Steven Chang, managing partner and CEO of the CID Group.

"CrownBio is doing pioneering research to save lives in partnership with major pharmaceutical companies around the globe," said Anil Khatod, Managing Director of Argonaut Private Equity.  "We are pleased to partner in their growth through this financing round," he added.

"We are excited to bring on new investors with the caliber and expertise of OrbiMed," said Alex Wu, co-founder and CEO of Crown Bioscience. "By leveraging our unique assets and expertise in drug design and translational oncology CrownBio has established itself as a leading innovation engine for the discovery and development of novel cancer therapeutics  We have already developed partnerships with the leading pharmaceutical companies in China and around the world. This additional capital will enable us to solidify our leadership position in oncology, and to apply our learning in translational medicine into other therapeutic areas. Our company is well-positioned to take advantage of the fast growing global outsourcing market."

Dr. Chang will join the board of CrownBio in connection with this transaction.

About Crown Bioscience, Inc.

Crown Bioscience, Inc. is a leading biotech company that provides its global biopharmaceutical industry partners with innovative and integrated solutions. Leveraging on its proprietary technology platforms in structure-based drug design and translational oncology, the company pioneers a business model that addresses the critical need of the pharmaceutical industry to improve R&D productivity while minimizing risks and retaining upside. Since its inception, CrownBio has been providing value-added services to help partners to identify the most promising compounds for clinical testing, and more importantly, enable its partners to develop strategies for biomarker development and patient stratification, an effort central to developing personalized cancer therapeutics.

As a leading cancer drug discovery partner, the company has established strategic partnerships with Pfizer and other large global pharmaceutical companies and leading Chinese pharmaceutical firms. The mandate of these partnerships is to deliver oncology clinical candidates with well defined clinical development path. By deploying its full capabilities across key functional disciplines in target validation, protein engineering, fragment-based drug design, medicinal/computational chemistry, formulation, DMPK, quantitative biology, pharmacology, and biomarker discovery, the company functions as a highly efficient external drug discovery engine to complement its partners' internal drug R&D effort. It is actively working with other biotech and pharmaceutical companies to establish similar partnerships in oncology and other disease areas.

For more information, please visit: www.crownbio.com

About OrbiMed Advisors

OrbiMed is the world's largest healthcare-dedicated investment firm, with approximately US$5 billion in assets under management. OrbiMed's investment advisory business was founded in 1989 with a vision to invest across the spectrum of healthcare companies: from private start-ups to large multinational companies. OrbiMed manages the Caduceus Private Investments series of venture capital funds and a family of public equity investment funds.

OrbiMed's investment team includes over 35 experienced professionals with backgrounds in science, medicine, industry, finance and law. The firm's diverse team of professionals has a unique understanding of industry dynamics through active participation in both public and private companies. Our professionals work together in a collaborative, team-oriented approach which seamlessly integrates our public and private equity platforms. OrbiMed seeks to be the capital provider of choice for life sciences companies pursuing growth and new opportunities. Where appropriate, particularly within its venture capital funds, OrbiMed supports its portfolio companies in achieving strategic, financial and operational objectives via participation at the Board of Directors level. OrbiMed professionals currently serve on the Board of Directors of dozens of different life sciences companies.

For more information, please visit: www.orbimed.com

About the CID Group

The CID Group was established in 1998, focusing on identifying and building top emerging Greater China companies.  The group manages over US$1 billion from top-tier strategic partners & investors as of 2010. There were 63 liquidity events out of 126 investments, including 39 IPOs and 24 M&As / trade sales as of 2009.

CID recruited and assembled a seasoned team with low turnover and more than 200 years of direct investment experiences.  Besides that, CID has established a dedicated research team as the engine to accumulate industry intelligence and further provide information asymmetry advantages.  Integrating Global Resources to Create Synergistic Businesses is group's mission, and CID aimed to leverage a unique and systematic investment strategy, and provide more value add to portfolio companies.  In line with the evolution of global technology migration and China's fast growing domestic markets, CID has outlined a clear and focused investment roadmap including semi-conductor, life science, wireless communication, FPD display, education, franchise and etc.

About Argonaut Private Equity

Argonaut Private Equity is a diversified global private equity fund dedicated to building emerging market leaders.  With more than $5.5 billion under management provided by a single entrepreneur, Argonaut exercises wide discretion on investment size, stage, sector and geography.  Because of its focused ownership and management, Argonaut can make quick decisions without fund restrictions on subsequent investments or exit timing.  Its equity investments range from $1 million to over $600 million and span such diverse markets as consumer electronics, energy, specialty materials, telecommunications, drug discovery and delivery, medical devices, aviation and healthcare services.  Argonaut’s portfolio includes investments in the United States, China, Israel, India, Japan, Eastern Europe and Australia.

Company Contact:
Crown Bioscience, Inc.
Alex Wu, Ph.D.
CEO
[email protected]

Investor Relations / Media Contact:
The Trout Group
Brian Korb
Senior Vice President
646-378-2923
[email protected]

SOURCE Crown Bioscience, Inc.