Biotechnology company Avistone Pharmaceuticals said on Wednesday it has raised $200 million in fresh funding led by healthcare investment firm Vivo Capital.

Avistone is a clinical-stage biotech firm based in Beijing, China that develops oncology therapeutics, with a focus on lung cancer treatments.

Several pharmaceutical companies have recently filed to float their shares and raised capital as the COVID-19 pandemic pushed healthcare in the spotlight.

Earlier this week, biotechnology firm Freenome raised $300 million in a late-stage funding round led by Perceptive Advisors and hedge fund RA Capital Management. 

Avistone intends to use the latest funding to accelerate the development of its existing drug candidates and scale its business to enter new markets globally.

Other investors who participated in the round include, alternative investment firm Bain Capital and China-based Primavera Capital.

Avistone said it currently has two clinical-stage drug candidates and several ongoing programs in the pre-clinical development stage.

(Reporting by Manya Saini in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli) ((Manya.Saini@thomsonreuters.com;))