Zhu Yuan Medical Secures Tens of Millions in Angel Funding to Advance Innovative Cell Therapy for Intervertebral Disc Degeneration

Recently, Zhiyuan Medical Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. (“Zhiyuan Medical” or the “Company”) completed an angel financing round amounting to tens of millions of yuan. This round was co-led by Shanghai Kinetic Medical Co., Ltd. (“Kinetic Medical”) and the Zhangjiang Life Health Industry Incubation Angel Fund (“Zhangke Hemiao Fund”), with Huayi Capital participating as a follow-on investor. The funds raised will be primarily used for the development of the Company’s cell therapy products targeting lumbar disc degeneration, providing strong momentum for its future sustainable growth.

“Lumbar disc degeneration is a common spinal degenerative disease. ‘Lower back pain caused by disc degeneration is the leading cause of loss of work capacity in humans, with an annual incidence rate exceeding 5%. FibroCell Human Fibroblast Injection is the world’s first cell-based therapy to manage disc degeneration by inducing the transformation of degenerated nucleus pulposus cells into fibroblasts. Compared with current treatment modalities, our therapy offers clear clinical value for patients with early- to mid-stage disc degeneration,’ said Fan Ming, CEO of Zhiyuan Medical.”

The capital investment team stated: "Based on the extensive surgical experience of clinical experts, Zhiyuan Medical has focused on unmet clinical needs and developed an allogeneic fibroblast therapy, providing a novel cellular solution for patients with degenerative disc disease. Amidst the broader challenges facing the innovative drug industry both domestically and internationally, Zhiyuan Medical has fully demonstrated its value and growth potential through efficient execution and encouraging Investigator-Initiated Trial (IIT) clinical data. Zhangke Hemiao Fund and Huayi Capital are committed to supporting enterprises with global technological innovation. We are highly optimistic about Zhiyuan Medical’s allogeneic fibroblast therapy and look forward to its early market launch to benefit more patients."

Kinetic Medical is a high-end medical device group integrating the research and development, production, and sales of medical devices, established in 2005. In 2012, Kinetic Medical was successfully listed on the ChiNext Board of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange (Stock Code: 300326). Adhering to a future development strategy that emphasizes both organic growth and external expansion, Kinetic Medical has expanded its product portfolio from a single spine product at its inception to a comprehensive line of high-value orthopedic consumables covering multiple fields, including orthopedic trauma, spine, and minimally invasive joint procedures, through internal R&D and continuous acquisitions and restructuring.

The Zhangke Hemiao Fund, with Zhangjiang Sci-Tech Investment as its cornerstone investor, represents a significant exploration by Zhangjiang Sci-Tech Investment in promoting the deep integration of “incubation + investment.” By focusing on “early-stage, small-scale, and innovative” investments, the fund guides and anchors industrial development directions, assists Zhangjiang Sci-Tech Investment in building a full-chain accelerated sci-tech innovation service system, addresses capital gaps in the stage of achievement transformation, forms a closed loop of incubation-investment linkage, and drives “patient capital” into seed-stage and start-up technology enterprises.

Huayi Capital is a representative institution in China focused on quantitative investment in the primary market for the healthcare and wellness industry. It has currently filed nine funds, with assets under management nearing RMB 8 billion. As a research-driven investment firm, Huayi Capital operates the Huayi Research Institute, one of the few medical investment research institutes in China. Yiyun Technology serves as Huayi’s post-investment management platform, dedicated to profiling and evaluating Chinese healthcare and wellness enterprises using quantitative models.

Zhiyuan Medical, located in Zhangjiang Science City, is a startup developing innovative cell therapies based on fibroblasts, focusing on unmet clinical needs to benefit patients. The company’s core pipeline product, “FibroCell Human Fibroblast Injection,” has completed investigator-initiated trials (IIT) across multiple dose groups, demonstrating robust safety and clear efficacy.