Weekly Health Industry Investment Report (20240624): Surge in Capital Flow into Surgical Robotics and AI-Driven Drug Discovery

【Tumor Immunotherapy】Leman Biotech Co., Ltd. is a clinical-stage immunometabolic innovative drug development company co-founded by Professor Li Tang's team from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) and XtalPi. Based on the innovative technology of immunometabolic reprogramming combined with cutting-edge artificial intelligence, the company focuses on the research, development, production, and commercialization of novel cancer immunotherapy drugs. The company’s core technology, Meta 10, has demonstrated significant potential for curing solid tumors, with related findings published in the prestigious international academic journal Nature Immunology, along with applications for two PCT patents and two Chinese patents. The company is growing rapidly, with 70% of its senior R&D personnel coming from top universities in China and abroad, possessing extensive industrial experience. Multiple R&D pipelines are proceeding smoothly, including ongoing IIT clinical research on metabolism-enhanced CAR-T cell therapy.

【Investor】CloudSail Technology, TianTu Capital, Crystal Pharmatech, Fuhui Venture Capital

【AD Drugs】Shaanxi Renda Health Pharmaceutical Biotechnology Co., Ltd. was established by Professor Han Wenxia's team from Xi'an Medical University. After years of dedicated research and development, the team successfully obtained high-purity, highly active Huperzine A raw material, an anti-Alzheimer's drug, using China's first biosynthesis technology. This breakthrough resolved key industry bottlenecks such as scarce resources in traditional plant extraction, low activity of chemically synthesized products, and significant pollution, leading to over a dozen invention patents.

【Investors】Undisclosed

【Antibody-Small Nucleic Acid Conjugate Drugs】CurGene Bio focuses on drug conjugation and delivery technology, and is the first in China to develop antibody-small nucleic acid conjugate drugs, filling the gap in non-liver delivery of nucleic acid drugs, bringing hope to patients with neuromuscular diseases who have long been "underserved" by medicine. In addition, CurGene Bio's brain-penetrating peptide-Brainferry platform has the potential to assist macromolecular drugs, including small nucleic acids, in crossing the blood-brain barrier, offering transformative possibilities for the treatment of a broader range of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease.

【Investor】Zhang Ke Seedling Fund

【Animal Tissue Pathology Testing and Diagnosis】CCell was founded in early 2014 by overseas returnees. It is a comprehensive technical service company dedicated to providing full-scale animal histopathological testing for life sciences, medical research, drug development, and medical device R&D. As the first CRO enterprise in China specializing in animal histopathology testing and diagnosis, its headquarters is located in Suzhou Industrial Park’s BioNano Park, a national-level innovation base. The company has established regional laboratories in Shanghai, Hangzhou, and Nanjing, and analyzes and performs quality control on pathology test results from various locations through a remote pathological diagnosis system. Leveraging conventional histopathology techniques, molecular pathology techniques, and Germany’s EXAKT hard tissue slicing technology platform, the company has developed over thirty products, including various types of tissue fixatives (among which the eyeball fixative has been granted an invention patent), routine staining solutions, special staining solutions, and molecular pathology diagnostic kits. Additionally, the company has applied for more than ten invention patents, three of which have been authorized. CCell has successively received funding from the "Suzhou Science and Technology SME Entrepreneurship Fund (2015)" and the "Gusu Science and Technology Entrepreneur Angel Fund (2016)," and in 2017, it was awarded funding as part of Suzhou Industrial Park's leading talent program.

【Investor】Chuanggu Capital

【Balloon】Dingkang Medical is a leading innovative enterprise in China specializing in high-value consumables for interventional balloons, focusing on the category of balloons, which have a wide range of applications but low domestic production. The company has developed more than ten types of balloons, including standard balloons, high-pressure balloons, scoring balloons, and drug-coated balloons. Its product line covers the needs of almost all vascular intervention fields, including cardiovascular intervention, peripheral intervention, and neurointervention. After more than five years of development, Dingkang Medical has obtained five Class III medical device registration certificates in China. Multiple innovative products have entered the registration process in both China and overseas markets. Additionally, several exclusive products are in the pipeline, ready to enter clinical trials, with expectations to become the company with the most comprehensive range of balloon products by 2023.

【Investor】Legend Capital, Qiming Venture Partners

【Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation】Shenzhen Hannuo Medical Technology Co., Ltd. was established on May 8, 2018. The company was founded by a team of returned doctoral scholars from the German medical field. It focuses on R&D and manufacturing in major areas such as cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, organ support, and protection, especially in innovative R&D and production of high-end medical devices and consumables for critical care. Since 2018, Shenzhen Hannuo Medical Technology Co., Ltd. has independently developed a new portable Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) emergency device for treating sudden cardiac death and respiratory-circulatory failure, filling a gap in China.

【Investor】Red Earth Healthcare Fund

【Ophthalmic Surgery Robot】Xianwei Medical was founded in June 2022. As a Chinese-produced ophthalmic surgical robot R&D enterprise, Xianwei Medical's core technology is derived from the scientific and technological achievements transformation of Beihang University. The company has collaborated with several renowned ophthalmic clinical institutions during its product development process, conducting academic research and animal experiments on the application of ophthalmic surgical robots. Xianwei Medical possesses globally leading platform technologies including advanced robotic mechanisms, precision drive technology, micro-force sensing technology, artificial intelligence algorithms, and advanced control technology, achieving world-leading precision control and force feedback accuracy metrics. In the field of ophthalmic surgical robotics, Xianwei Medical has published over 30 high-level SCI and EI papers and applied for more than 20 invention patents, 15 of which have been granted. Xianwei Medical’s new integrated dual-arm surgical robot is about to undergo type inspection and initiate the innovative medical device approval process.

【Investor】Baiying Huicai Fund, Zhongxi Fund

【Pulsed Electric Field Ablation】AccuPulse Medical, founded in November 2020, is committed to becoming an internationally leading platform-based innovative technology company in the field of cardiac electrophysiology. The core team comes from multinational corporations such as Johnson & Johnson, GE, Acutus Medical, and Abbott, with extensive experience in the research, development, registration, and commercialization of cardiac electrophysiology medical devices. Since its establishment, the company has built a research and development team led by well-known electrophysiology technology experts from the United States, and has received strong support from overseas returnee scientists, renowned clinical experts, and venture capital institutions. The company has established R&D centers in both Suzhou, China, and the United States. AccuPulse Medical independently develops pulsed field ablation (PFA) technology, using atrial fibrillation ablation as the entry point, and is taking the lead in developing a host device and ablation catheters, further expanding into a three-dimensional mapping and navigation system and new supporting tools. In the future, the company will also extend its reach to tumor ablation therapy, creating an integrated solution for the research and development of active pulse ablation devices and accompanying consumables for both atrial fibrillation and tumors.

【Investor】Blue Bay Sci-Tech Group

【Tumor Radiotherapy Equipment】Neusoft Zhirui, established in 2018, is a national high-tech enterprise focusing on the development of advanced medical electronic linear accelerators and an information system for tumor radiotherapy that covers the entire process. The company also promotes the application of artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and other technologies in the field of radiotherapy. Neusoft Zhirui has conducted technological research in areas such as whole-system solutions, core technologies, and key components—fields where breakthroughs are urgently needed in China’s radiotherapy sector—and has achieved a series of innovative advancements. It has taken the lead in undertaking key R&D projects during China’s 13th and 14th Five-Year Plans. Neusoft Zhirui's latest flagship product, the "NeuRT Aurora Intelligent Radiotherapy Platform," has received approval from the NMPA (National Medical Products Administration) for market release. This product marks a significant innovation in China-produced advanced medical electronic linear accelerators. Based on the design concept of ultimate precision, extreme efficiency, and exceptional reliability, it incorporates the world’s first Spiral Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy (SVMAT) technology, providing an optimal choice for tumor radiotherapy.

【Investor】Lelai Capital

【Regenerative Medicine】Ruiju Medical, with biomedical materials R&D as its core technology and based on the development vision of "redefining the medical value of biomaterials," is a high-tech enterprise integrating R&D, production, sales, and scientific research services. It focuses on providing efficient and precise R&D and production solutions for application scenarios such as regenerative medicine and functional implantable medical devices.

【Investor】Undisclosed

【Minimally Invasive Surgery Imaging Equipment】Zhuowai (Shanghai) Medical Electronics Technology Co., Ltd. was established in June 2015 as a high-tech enterprise led by several senior experts in the medical industry. The company mainly provides medical institutions with minimally invasive surgical imaging equipment and related technical services. It is one of the few companies in China capable of offering comprehensive endoscopic system solutions, including endoscope bodies, camera systems, cold light sources, insufflators, and image algorithms. The company belongs to Zhuowai (Shanghai) Medical Electronics Technology Co., Ltd.

【Investor】Jiangxia Kaitou, Zhuoyue Jinke

【Cancer Early Screening】Zhongke Micro-Life (Xiamen) Biotechnology Co., Ltd. was established in 2021 as a high-tech enterprise guided by the Huli District government’s policies and located in the Huaxia Medical Industry Park. Focused on building a one-stop precision medicine health management service platform, the company relies on the transformation and application of scientific research technologies from the Chinese Academy of Sciences to provide precision medicine solutions for ultra-early cancer screening, health intervention for high-risk groups, and health management for sub-healthy populations. The company operates the Zhongke Micro-Life Precision Medicine Center, the Tumor Immunotherapy and Research Center, the Cell Application Research and Development Laboratory, the Early Cancer Screening Molecular Diagnostics Center, the Medical Testing Laboratory, and Zhongke Jianyou Health Management Co., Ltd.

【Investors】China Precision Medicine Research Center

【AI+New Drug Research and Development】BioGeometry is a cutting-edge digital biology company that focuses on applying generative AI to protein design. By using an intelligence-driven approach to bridge the gap between protein sequences, structures, and functions, it is committed to creating programmable proteins from scratch and applying them to biomedicine and synthetic biology. The company was founded in 2022 by Dr. Jian Tang, a top scientist in AI drug discovery, with Yoshua Bengio, the father of deep learning and Turing Award winner, serving as the chief scientific advisor. Currently, the company has built two foundational platforms: an AI-powered macromolecule drug design platform and a high-throughput macromolecule drug wet-lab validation platform, achieving a closed-loop integration of dry and wet experiments. It is empowering partners to achieve precise and efficient macromolecule drug design and optimization.

【Investor】WillGate Ventures, Zhipu, GaoRong Capital

【Medical SaaS】Kangjian Miaomiao is committed to building an internet hub for the grassroots health industry, named Meimiaomiao, which empowers small health institutions through internet technology and SAAS. Since its launch in August 2017, after four years of development, Meimiaomiao has grown from scratch into a well-known dental e-commerce platform in China. Looking towards the future of dental big data and digitalization, Kangjian Miaomiao will not be limited to being an e-commerce platform. It will also expand multiple modules based on the needs of dentists, including digital product research and production supported by a DaaS system, data services, medical services, e-commerce services, and value-added services.

【Investor】Blue Bay Venture Capital, Kangdelai, KIP China

【AI + New Drug Development】Stream BioTech is an innovative drug discovery company driven by artificial intelligence algorithms and gene technology, focusing on RNA spatial structure computation. It has developed the voyageR™ AI platform to create small-molecule drugs targeting RNA, addressing unmet clinical needs in oncology, infectious diseases, and rare conditions. ReviR was founded in 2021 in Silicon Valley and Shenzhen. The core team hails from multinational pharmaceutical companies and world-renowned medical research centers, with nearly 20 years of experience in drug discovery, computational chemistry, and computational biology at Genentech, Gilead, AbbVie, 23andMe, and Invitae.

【Investor】Undisclosed

【Big Data Diagnosis in Traditional Chinese Medicine】Zhong Ai Cloud was founded in 2021, focusing on big data diagnosis in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), and promoting software and hardware products to B-end clients of offline chains. Currently, the company has partnered with Gemanli to customize TCM big data diagnostic software services for weight loss scenarios, gradually entering its thousands of offline stores. To date, Zhong Ai Cloud's foundational model has accumulated over 3 million TCM big data entries and has been deployed in more than 3,000 TCM wellness stores and medical clinics.

【Investors】Undisclosed