Temasek-backed Tessa Therapeutics and CSGKC to form a $120m JV in China.

Tessa Therapeutics, a Temasek-backed clinical-stage cell therapy company, will establish a joint venture with China-Singapore Guangzhou Knowledge City. The joint venture will be the sole licensee of Tessa’s cell therapies for research, clinical development, and commercialization in China. Tessa and CSGKC will invest a combined total of $120m in the joint venture – CSGKC will contribute $80m, and Tessa will provide $40m – in two stages. In the first stage, CSGKC will contribute $40m for 13% stake in the JV, while Tessa will contribute $20m and its technology license rights for China. Tessa will hold the remaining 87% stake in the joint venture. “China is an important market in our goal to develop innovative cell therapies and make them widely accessible for cancer patients all over the world,” said Mr. Andrew Khoo, Tessa Therapeutics CEO and Co-Founder. “The joint venture is an important milestone in Tessa’s China strategy and will draw from Tessa’s international clinical execution capability and cell therapy platform technologies. I firmly believe that having China as a core part of Tessa’s global clinical development strategy will accelerate our cell therapies to market.”