Vaccine Startup Clover Biopharma Files for Hong Kong IPO

What’s new: Clover Biopharmaceuticals, a Chinese biotech startup developing Covid-19 and other vaccines, filed for an initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong, joining a raft of vaccine makers seeking financing through a public flotation.

Chengdu-based Clover didn’t disclose the size of the offering. Goldman Sachs and China International Capital Corporation (CICC) will sponsor the listing.

Several Chinese Covid-19 vaccine developers recently signaled attempts to go public, including Beijing Advaccine Biotechnology Co. Ltd. and Suzhou Abogen Biosciences, Caixin learned.

The context: Clover has been developing a Covid-19 vaccine based on recombinant protein technology. The company said in February that it expected to initiate a global Phase 2/3 trial of its Covid-19 vaccine candidate in the first half of 2021 and started production planning for potentially hundreds of millions of vaccine doses this year.

Clover in February raised $230 million in Series C financing from a group of investors led by Singapore state fund Temasek and GL Ventures, brings its total capital raised in the past 12 months to more than $400 million.

Quick Takes are condensed versions of China-related stories for fast news you can use. To read the full story in Chinese, click here.

Contact reporter Han Wei (weihan@caixin.com) and editor Bob Simison (bobsimison@caixin.com)

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