Recently, Wuhan Amisen Life Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as 'Wuhan Amisen') announced the completion of nearly 100 million yuan in Series B financing, led by Jinhe Capital, an investment institution deeply engaged in the medical and health field, and followed by Changjiang Securities Innovation Investment. The old shareholder Kaipu Bio (300639) continued to follow the investment this round. Previously, the company has also received investment from CCB Medical Growth Fund, Kaipu Bio-A round, and preA round investment. It is reported that this round of financing will facilitate the registration and approval of Wuhan Amisen's early screening products, the expansion of research and development pipelines, and focus on promoting the market and commercialization of early tumor detection products.
In recent years, with the gradual acceleration of my country's population aging, industrialization, and urbanization, coupled with chronic infections, unhealthy lifestyles, and environmental exposure, the incidence of cancer in my country is still on the rise. The 'Healthy China 2030' Planning Outline pointed out that China's average life expectancy will reach 79 years in 2030, and there are still many areas that have not yet reached the target, and cancer is one of the most important factors affecting life expectancy. The state encourages local governments to incorporate cancer screening into government livelihood projects and other measures to expand the coverage of cancer screening. From the two aspects of optimizing service supply and guiding service demand at the same time, we will promote the in-depth development of cancer screening and early diagnosis and treatment.
A case of early cancer was found, a life was saved, and a family was happy. Since its birth in 2015, Wuhan Emerson has shouldered the mission of 'early screening tumors to defeat cancer', and is committed to building the world's leading tumor screening technology platform, relying on clinical big data, bioinformatics, epigenetics and new biological materials. etc., to provide accurate early tumor detection products and services, fundamentally reduce tumor morbidity and mortality, and reduce medical costs. At present, based on a complete tumor early screening technology platform, Wuhan Emerson has a comprehensive layout in the fields of digestive system tumors, gynecological tumors and pan-cancer, and has completed the research and development of a number of products and achieved product commercialization. As a high-tech enterprise, in 2020, Wuhan Emerson has emerged in major biomedical competitions across the country, and won the China Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition (Hubei) Biomedical Final Champion, Shenzhen Nanshan Entrepreneurship Star Biomedical Champion and the industry-wide champion, China Medical Devices The second prize in the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition, etc., and won the honors of Deloitte Optics Valley Rising Star, High-quality High-end Entrepreneurship Project, Gazelle Enterprise and other corporate honors.
The flagship product Aichangkang® is a non-invasive home screening and detection product for colorectal cancer based on fecal DNA developed by Wuhan Amisen in 2015. Based on the previous solid basic research, Wuhan Amisen innovatively adopts dual-target detection with good complementarity. The combination has greatly improved the detection accuracy of the product, the detection sensitivity of colorectal cancer, and the detection sensitivity of adenoma (precancerous lesions) are better than similar products in the market. Aichangkang® is also the first colorectal cancer screening product in China that uses a single method for double methylation targets, and its detection efficiency is more than 10 times that of the Cologuard product of Exact Sciences in the United States. In order to reduce costs and improve detection specificity and detection throughput, Exact Sciences started to develop Cologuard 2.0 in 2019. Cologuard 2.0 abandons the multi-methodological product form and adopts the method of joint detection of several methylation targets, which indirectly reflects the leadership of the early screening product route for intestinal cancer determined by Wuhan Emerson several years ago. The advantages of Aichangkang® painless, non-invasive and home-based sampling will greatly solve the public's fear of colonoscopy and time constraints, improve the compliance of colon cancer screening, and improve the effective utilization of medical resources.
Mr. Zhang Lianglu, founder and general manager of Wuhan Emison said:
The new crown epidemic has changed the development trajectory of human society, and the health awareness of ordinary people has been widely and significantly improved. The concept of molecular testing has become popular among the people, and more and more people have begun to pay attention to early cancer screening and understand the significance of early cancer screening. . Driven by changes in technology, policy, capital, market and public perception, the cancer early screening industry has become the hottest field of biomedical entrepreneurship at home and abroad. Wuhan Emerson has been focusing on the establishment of a technology platform for early cancer detection and the development of various early cancer screening products since its establishment. Quality products allow screening to cover thousands of households. At present, molecular diagnostics has ushered in a great opportunity for vigorous development. Wuhan Emerson will use more advantageous technology platforms to develop early screening products that can better meet market needs, explore more diversified business paths, use technology to benefit people's livelihood, and use innovation. Show responsibility. We are very grateful to Jinhe Capital, Changjiang Innovation and old shareholders for their recognition and support. We are also very honored to work with leading companies in the medical industry to promote the popularization of cancer screening.
Wang Zhifei, Managing Director of Gold Heal Capital, said:
Tumor is one of the major medical challenges facing human beings. Throughout the global clinical practice, if many tumors can be detected and treated early, the survival rate will be greatly improved, which is of great value to patients, families and society. With the development of tumor gene methylation detection technology, we have been able to achieve a better early detection rate than in the past, and the resulting domestic tumor early screening 100 billion blue ocean market will surely cultivate several local companies with global competitiveness. IVD Enterprise. Emerson's R&D pipeline is abundant, and we are optimistic about the market prospects and clinical value of the company's follow-up products.
Yan Xuan, general manager of Changjiang Innovation Direct Investment Department, said:
Long-term practice around the world has fully demonstrated that early diagnosis and timely intervention are crucial to the prevention and treatment of tumors. From the perspective of individual patients, it can greatly improve the survival rate and subsequent quality of life, and from the perspective of the whole society, it can also bring great social and economic benefits.
As far as the domestic tumor early screening industry is concerned, the support of relevant policies has continued to increase, various screening technologies have continued to make breakthroughs, the epidemic factors have promoted the rapid popularization of domestic molecular testing conditions, and the public's self-care awareness has also been continuously enhanced. In addition, the business model of the tumor early screening industry has gradually become clear, coupled with the help of the capital market. We believe that early tumor screening will become the main theme of preventive medicine in the next decade.
Emerson's bowel cancer early screening products have achieved a good balance in performance, cost, efficiency, etc., and have strong competitiveness. At the same time, we are also optimistic about the company's R&D efficiency and the extension potential of the technology platform. The tumor early screening industry occupies a place.
Guan Zhisheng, deputy general manager of Kaipu Bio, said:
The company focuses on the development of molecular diagnostic products and the provision of related testing services. It is the first industrial investor to invest in Emerson. When it invested in Emerson in January 2018, it was mainly optimistic about Emerson's layout and R&D capabilities in the field of tumor methylation detection. To form synergy with Kaipu's hospital channel network and brand, we expect to speed up the industrialization process of Emerson. Emerson's early tumor screening products can also complement ours and be promoted and applied in our customers and laboratories.
Jinhe Capital
Jinhe Capital is an investment institution focusing on the medical and health field, headquartered in Guangzhou. The core team of fund managers has more than 25 years of experience in the medical industry, and has successfully built the largest third-party medical laboratory in China, KingMed. Jinhe Capital currently manages two medical industry funds with a scale of nearly 2 billion yuan. Jinhe Capital continues to deeply deploy in vitro diagnostics and other fields, actively builds an industrial ecosystem, and is committed to combining the power of industry and capital to cultivate internationally competitive medical and health companies.
Changjiang Securities Innovation Investment (Hubei) Co., Ltd.
Changjiang Securities Innovation Investment (Hubei) Co., Ltd. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Changjiang Securities, specializing in equity investment business. Changjiang Innovation has long adhered to the business development strategy of 'industry-focused, research-driven', in-depth layout of the three major industries of biomedicine, information technology, and new energy, and gave full play to the industrial background and professional capabilities of the investment and research team to assist the development of enterprises in multiple directions. Enterprises achieve business goals as soon as possible. Changjiang Innovation has completed more than ten project investments, of which 2 projects have completed IPO listing, and many projects have completed IPO application or are in the state of application.
Guangzhou Kaipu Biotechnology Co., Ltd.
Kaipu Bio is a leading provider of molecular diagnostic products and services in China. It occupies a leading position in the field of HPV nucleic acid detection. It has developed a series of nucleic acid detection reagent products in the fields of maternal and child health, birth defects and infectious diseases, and related products are widely used in hospitals. Clinical diagnosis, large-scale population screening. After years of technology accumulation and brand building, the company has developed into one of the leading companies in the field of molecular diagnostics in China. In recent years, based on the policy orientation of the national medical and health industry and the needs of customers, the company has further extended to the downstream of the industrial chain by focusing on the fields of maternal and child health, birth defects and infectious diseases, relying on the customer service network of medical institutions, and focusing on expanding the third-party medical inspection business. The company has set up third-party medical laboratories in more than 20 key cities across the country, and initially established a nationwide medical inspection service network to provide medical institutions with high-end, accurate, standardized and cutting-edge medical inspection services.