Hong Kong-based MabSpace, a biotech company, has merged with bioprocessing specialist HJB to form a new biotherapeutics organization dubbed Transcenta Holding.
Financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. Collectively, MabSpace and HJB have raised $160 million in investment rounds since being formed. MabSpace was founded in 2013 and HJB in 2016.
The two companies are aiming at creating a biotherapeutics organization that boasts fully integrated capabilities in research, development, regulatory and manufacturing of biologics.
As part of the merger transaction, the founder, chair and CEO of MabSpace, Xueming Qian, Ph.D., has been named CEO of Transcenta, and Jonathan Yining Zhao, Ph.D., who co-founded HJB and was its chief executive, is now the executive chairman of Transcenta.
“With the merger of HJB and MabSpace, we can achieve a critical mass, significantly accelerate the development and commercialization of our innovative pipeline and establish Transcenta as a truly fully integrated biotherapeutics-focused global biotech company,” Qian said in a statement. “This not only enables shorter development timelines, but also provides high-quality biotherapeutics at a much less cost to ensure affordability and sustained profitability.”
The combined company’s footprint includes a R&D facility in Suzhou, product development and manufacturing plant in Hangzhou, and clinical development centers in Shanghai, Beijing and Boston. The company now has 10 innovative molecules in its pipeline.