2024-12-16
Hong Kong
Great Bay Bio (GBB) is thrilled to
announce the successful first close of its Series B financing round. This
milestone was achieved with the round led by a syndication of a well-known
strategic investment institution and its affiliate, Tiger Jade Pebble
Accelerator. The financing also attracted participation from new investors,
including a Hong Kong-based family office, the Hong Kong Science and Technology
Parks Venture Fund, as well as continued support from an existing global life
science strategic investor. The funds will be instrumental in advancing GBB’s
AI-enabled drug development ecosystem and accelerating the global adoption of
its innovative solutions. This marks a significant step forward in transforming
biologics development on an international scale.
GBB’s commercialization efforts have been gaining momentum,fueled by technical breakthroughs and market-driven solutions. In the cell line development business, GBB’s site-specific cell line development platform, AlfaCell, has enabled customers to secure clinical trial approvals from both China’s National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). These cell lines have also been successfully applied in multiple projects, with partners expressing satisfaction with improved yields and shorter development timelines, especially for multi-specific antibodies. Additionally, GBB has enhanced its cell culture capabilities by establishing its own ISO 9001:2015-certified cell culture powder manufacturing line, further ensuring a high-quality and secure supply chain for partners. These achievements have positioned GBB as a trusted partner for leading MNCs in the life sciences, specialty chemicals, and pharmaceutical CDMO sectors, meeting the global demand for faster and more efficient new product development.
Building on this foundation, GBB
has recently launched an integrated ecosystem solution, combining its advanced
technological platforms into a seamless workflow. This innovation enables
customers to accelerate drug development from target identification to
pre-clinical candidate (PCC) generation in as little as eight months. While GBB
has just started collaboration with partners using this approach, early results
are promising and highlight its potential to redefine efficiency and speed in
drug development, delivering significant value to global partners.
Kingsley Leung, Co-founder and
Chairman of GBB, commented: “GBB was founded with a global vision, and our
benchmark for success has always been to develop technologies that are globally
differentiated. We are confident in our ability to continue building an
international footprint, particularly across the U.S., Europe, and
Asia-Pacific, where we see significant opportunities for growth. The strong
support from our series B investors reflects their trust in our vision and
reinforces our commitment to driving innovation that transforms the
biopharmaceutical industry worldwide.”
Emmanuel Hui, CEO of the Tiger
Jade Pebble Accelerator added: “The biggest challenges for applying AI in the
biomedical space are scientific feedback and business model fit. Innovators
often don’t know whether or not their AI products work until after extensive
animal and human testing, and even then, it is unclear who would be the paying
party. GBB’s deliberate strengths in cell line, culture media, and
bioprocessing veer away from general AI drug discovery, and allows for
immediate feedback, iteration, and client payment.”
About GBB
Great Bay Bio
(GBB), headquartered in HKSTP, is a biotech company that drives drug
development using cutting-edge technologies such as AI, big data mining, and
automation. GBB adheres to the corporate vision of "Global Bioprocessing
Made Simpler and More Efficient," and aims to address the challenges of
long timelines, high costs, and low success rates in drug development, with a
long-term goal of enhancing human life, health, and value.
The core team of
GBB comprises experts from medicine, synthetic biology, and artificial
intelligence. The company operates a 3,000㎡
R&D laboratory and CMC platform, supporting customers in securing
clinical trial approvals from China’s NMPA and the US FDA. GBB has secured
nearly 100 patents related to AI-enabled drug development and successfully
commercialized multiple AI technology platforms. The company has established
long-term partnerships with leading domestic and international enterprises.
GBB has passed the
ISO 9001:2015 quality management system certification, been selected for Forbes
Asia 100 to Watch 2024 List, and won numerous awards, including "Deloitte
Technology Rising Star Company," "EY Entrepreneur Of The Year,"
"15th Shenzhen Innovation & Entrepreneurship Competition,"
"Gold Award for Hong Kong Global Innovation," "Excellence in
Process Innovation Award," and "Excellence in Technology Adoption
Award". The company has also been successfully selected for the Hong Kong
Science Park Elite Enterprise Program.