Recently, LEADBIO (Hangzhou) Co., Ltd. ("LEADBIO") has completed a nearly RMB 100 million Series A round of financing. This round of financing was led by Paladin Capital, with investments from Tailong Investment and BGI Win-Win, while existing shareholders Taiyu Investment and Boxin Capital also continued to increase their investments in this round.

As a next-generation innovative medical device company, LEADBIO's successful completion of a large-scale financing round fully demonstrates the capital market's high recognition and optimism towards its team and the specific niche it operates in.

The funds from this Series A round will be mainly used for the registrational clinical trials of LEADBIO's bio-artificial blood vessels, while continuously advancing the research and development of other pipelines and further improving the construction of the company’s technology achievement transformation platform.

According to reports, LEADBIO was co-founded by a senior team in the medical industry and Professor Deling Kong, the current director of the State Key Laboratory of Medicinal Chemistry and Biology at Nankai University. The company aims to become a world-class regenerative medicine product company and a platform for the transformation of cutting-edge medical device technologies.

LEADBIO's Bio-artificial Vessel, based on the innovative technology and manufacturing process fully independently developed by Professor Kong Deling's team, achieves the organic combination of polymer materials with bioactive decellularized matrix. This technical approach not only provides the artificial vessel with excellent mechanical properties but also ensures better biocompatibility and long-term patency. After implantation in patients, the meticulously designed scaffold structure and extracellular matrix layer promote the adhesion, proliferation, and migration of endothelial cells, ultimately enabling rapid endothelialization of the artificial vessel, significantly reducing the incidence of vascular stenosis and occlusion.

Currently, in the completed controlled formal animal trials, LEADBIO's artificial blood vessels have demonstrated significantly superior performance compared to artificial blood vessels made of polymer materials; in the completed research-based clinical trial for arteriovenous fistula involving 20 enrolled patients, LEADBIO's biological artificial blood vessels also showed excellent clinical results. According to LEADBIO, the product is about to enter the pivotal clinical trial stage.

In addition, the results of preliminary studies indicate that LEADBIO's biological artificial blood vessel has significant application potential in coronary artery bypass grafting indications. Currently, LEADBIO is collaborating with top cardiac surgery teams in China to conduct preclinical research in this direction.

As a platform enterprise focused on the transformation of cutting-edge scientific and technological achievements, LEADBIO adheres to the principles of "technology platform sharing" and "product complementarity." It has currently established three major technology platforms: decellularized matrix, 3D printing, and hydrogel. Multiple products incubated under this platform will soon enter the registration clinical trial stage.

Among them, LEADBIO's radiation therapy isolation protective hydrogel product was co-developed with the Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences. This is another significant medical device product that LEADBIO has successfully translated from collaboration with research institutions in China, following its bio-based artificial blood vessel.

Professor Kong Deling, Chairman of LEADBIO, stated: "First of all, we would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to the Series A investment institutions led by Panthera Capital for their strong support in this round of financing. Like many innovative companies, LEADBIO takes original technological innovation as the core driving force for enterprise development. At the same time, it actively engages in more communication with clinical market demands and incorporates the R&D capabilities and cutting-edge achievements of various scientific research institutes. LEADBIO’s 'small-caliber biological artificial blood vessel' is the first technology transformation product under this development strategy. This project has not only demonstrated excellent preliminary clinical research results but also participated in a major R&D program led by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China. In the future, through the 'LEADBIO-Nankai University Joint Laboratory,' the company will strive to bring more revolutionary products to patients. We also hope that, with our management experience and transformation expertise in cutting-edge biotechnology, we can help more scientists achieve the industrialization of scientific and technological achievements and more efficiently transform research outcomes into innovative medical device products that meet clinical needs."

As the lead investor in LEADBIO's Series A funding round, Li Yuhui, founding managing partner of Panlin Capital, stated: "LEADBIO is a successful case of scientific and technological achievement transformation in China’s regenerative medicine tissue engineering field, and also a typical 'source innovation' enterprise in the eyes of Panlin Capital. Its product technology platform is based on nearly 20 years of scientific research exploration by Professor Kong Deling. By combining the globally pioneering 3D scaffold printing with subcutaneous implantation in animals, it addresses the technical challenges of small-diameter blood vessels while ensuring continuous expansion of the product pipeline. Particularly commendable is that the company's progress in developing regenerative blood vessels for coronary artery bypass surgery is internationally leading, and if successful, will be of epoch-making significance. We look forward to the company, under the leadership of Chairman Professor Kong Deling and CEO Xu Pengyun — a highly complementary management team in terms of technology and business — smoothly advancing the clinical pipelines for arteriovenous fistula and coronary artery bypass, and further evolving into a globally leading R&D enterprise for small-diameter regenerative blood vessels."

Dr. Ji Tianrong, founder and general manager of Taiyu Investment, stated: "The biological artificial blood vessel developed by LEADBIO has been validated in clinical trials, showing excellent surgical handling characteristics and a high long-term patency rate, meeting the clinical needs of dialysis patients. We hope it can be launched soon to provide a new high-quality option for dialysis patients in China."

Sun Jun, Executive Director of Tailong Investment, stated: "The artificial blood vessel products have a huge market for import substitution. Existing research data shows that LEADBIO's biological artificial blood vessels demonstrate significant clinical advantages compared to imported polymer material blood vessel products. They represent the next generation of products in the artificial blood vessel field and are expected to reshape the competitive landscape of this field."

Ji Changtao, partner of BGI Co-Win, stated: "Regenerative medicine is a field we have been paying close attention to. The industrialization prospects of artificial blood vessels are enormous, and various technical routes such as polymer materials, ECM, and stem cells can be implemented. LEADBIO's technology is mature, and its products have entered a milestone stage. The team’s scientific, technical, and commercial capabilities are well-balanced. We look forward to the company’s products achieving commercial success soon, benefiting the public."

Cong Bo from Borealis Capital stated: "LEADBIO's technology is globally leading and it is one of the few companies in China that fully relies on self-developed products to solve clinical problems. The company’s biological artificial blood vessels have been validated for product efficacy and safety in dialysis fistulas, and the product portfolio has been completed in areas such as coronary artery bypass and peripheral bypass. Borealis Capital continued its investment in this round, fully trusting the company's team capabilities and firmly optimistic about the future development opportunities of the products."