Shanghai Cell Therapy Group Files for Hong Kong IPO: Celebrity Cell Storage and Ambitious Cancer Remission Goals

It has been a long time since any company in the cell industry had an IPO. Recently,Shanghai Cell Therapy Group Submits Listing Application to HKEX.

At the beginning of last month, the world's first successful case of autologous regenerative islet transplantation sparked a surge in stem cell-related stocks; the immunotherapy CAR-T, hailed as a "miracle cancer drug," has become a long-standing hot topic in the capital market. However, Shanghai Cell neither has cell organ transplantation services nor any CAR-T therapy available on the market.

The majority of this company's revenue relies on the cell storage business.In 2023, the revenue from cell storage business was nearly 600 million yuan, accounting for nearly 80% of the total revenue.According to CIC, Shanghai Cell ranks first in the market of China's immune cell storage business with a market share of 40.7% in 2023, while the second place holds only about 7%.

The company claims in its promotional video,The cells of many celebrities and experts are preserved here.

Even so, Shanghai Cell has not yet turned a profit. The prospectus shows that the company has accumulated losses of nearly 1.5 billion yuan over the past three years.

Serious Medical Care or Health Management?

Shanghai Cell was established in 2013, and its founder is Qijun Qian. According to reports, Qijun Qian is the third batch of postdoctoral fellows in China, and he studied under Academician Mengchao Wu of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, also known as the "Father of Hepatobiliary Surgery in China." In 2016, the mentor and apprentice jointly proposed an initiative: to cryopreserve immune cells as early as possible when young and healthy, for the prevention and treatment of potential diseases in the future.

During the same period, Shanghai Cell launched the Baize Plan, claiming to let60% of cancer patients experience tumor regression, 60% of the population can afford it, enabling people to live healthily up to the natural lifespan of 120 years.

Source: Baize HealthEnjoy+

Currently, the main revenue sources for Shanghai Cell are cell storage and infusion. A "cell consultant" at the company told the Jian Shi Ju,Cell Storage is "The Secret Weapon Against Aging", The infusion of immune cells and stem cells can respectively exert anti-aging effects by clearing senescent cells and differentiating into new cells.

The efficacy is almost miraculous, and the price is not cheap either. The prospectus shows that the cost of storing immune cells for 20 years ranges from 68,000 to 176,000 yuan, while stem cells cost 60,000 yuan. The gross profit margin of Shanghai Cell is as high as about 80%.

This approachIt's hard to say whether 60% of cancer patients will see their tumors shrink, but this price will definitely deter at least 60% of ordinary people.

From 2021 to 2023, Shanghai Cell's expenditure on sales and marketing accounted for 42.8%, 28.0%, and 37.1% of the total revenue in the respective years. Among this, the proportion of customers brought by insurance companies increased year by year, with related revenue reaching 255 million yuan in 2023, accounting for 43%.

Pacific Insurance Group is one of the company's important shareholders. The company explained,The target customer group of the insurance group is highly similar to the company's target customers: wealthy and willing to engage in long-term health management.

In addition to cell storage, Shanghai Cells also established the Shanghai University-affiliated Mengchao Cancer Hospital in 2020 to provide cell medical services, mainly carrying out projects such as immunotherapy + surgery, + intervention, + radiotherapy, and + prevention.

Source of the image:Mengchao Tumor Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai UniversityHospital Service Account

In 2023, the outpatient and inpatient revenue of the hospital reached nearly 150 million yuan, but it is still in a loss-making phase. Due to the fact that no cell therapy drugs from Shanghai Cell have been approved for marketing,The so-called "immunotherapy" may still refer more to cell storage and reinfusion.The aforementioned "cell consultant" told the Jian Shi Ju: You can come to the hospital in Shanghai to learn about anti-aging services.

To Reduce the Price of CAR-T

In addition to cell storage and cell therapy, Shanghai Cells also launched cell energy products in 2023.

So-called cell energizing products refer to health supplements containing ingredients such as "anti-aging drug" Nicotinamide Mononucleotide (NMN) and Pyrroloquinoline Quinone (PQQ).Mainly include "Cheng Huang NMN18000" and "Cheng Huang Taishui PQQ Cellular Energy Drink"etc.

China has not approved NMN as a health food or regular food. The NMN products of Shanghai Cell are mainly produced overseas and sold domestically through cross-border e-commerce channels. In 2023, just five months after its launch, the product generated nearly 10 million yuan in revenue.

Shanghai Cell is also developing CAR-T therapy,The company's current R&D pipeline includes 7 products, 5 of which are CAR-T therapies., BZDS1901 is one of the most closely watched.

This CAR-T therapy has several highlights: focusing on solid tumor treatment, combining with anti-PD-1, and adopting nanobodies. Each of these three aspects is a groundbreaking presence on its own.Meanwhile, Shanghai Cells has attracted considerable attention and controversy for integrating three types into one—seemingly miraculous.

This therapy was initiated in 2019 and is still under continuous development. It has currently received IND approval from the National Medical Products Administration for Phase I and Phase II clinical trials to treat mesothelin-positive solid tumors, and has also obtained orphan drug designation from the FDA for malignant mesothelioma.

Shanghai Cell believes that once the non-viral gene writing platform developed by the company is widely used in preparation,If it can reduce the production cost of CAR-T to one-tenth and the production time to within 2 days, it will definitely be at the forefront of China's biotech industry.

Big talk, little cash. Shanghai Cell is almost out of ammunition and food, having nearly burned through over 2 billion yuan from eight rounds of financing, yet still not profitable. An IPO is imperative.

The prospectus disclosed that, for this IPO, Shanghai Cell Therapy Group plans to use the raised funds primarily for establishing new regional service outlets for cell storage, as well as developing breakthrough cell technologies, advancing the development of products currently under research, and promoting the discovery of new drug candidates.