Shenzhen HC Biotech Files IPO Prospectus: Pioneering Immune-Based Anti-Aging Solutions with HEPRO-6A™

Aging is an inevitable process.

During this process, the human body undergoes a series of changes, such as the appearance of skin wrinkles, graying of hair, and loosening of teeth. These are accompanied by a decline in physiological functions and major sensory capabilities, including diminished immune function, muscle laxity, and collagen loss.

Although aging is inevitable, it is a process that can be delayed.From ancient times to the present, humanity’s pursuit of “eternal youth” and “longevity” has never ceased. Today, anti-aging has become an enduring topic and a key area of focus for industry and capital, with numerous enterprises entering the field in hopes of discovering scientific methods to maintain youthfulness and extend lifespan.

According to the VCBeat database, from January 2022 to September 2023, more than 30 companies in the anti-aging sector secured financing, with the total amount exceeding RMB 25 billion.Shenzhen HEPROA Biotechnology Co., Ltd. (“HEPROA”), which has established a presence in the field of immune-mediated anti-aging, is one such example. In February 2023, HEPROA announced the completion of its Pre-A financing round, amounting to tens of millions of yuan and led by SCGC.。

Heproa was founded in 2020 by a team led by two immunology scientists, Professor Liu Zhigang and Professor Wang Zhiyao.Leveraging its profound foundation in basic immunology research, the company has entered the fields of cutaneous immune anti-aging and gut immunity, and has established Heproa, a professional skincare brand dedicated to enhancing the skin’s “self-healing capacity” by modulating cutaneous immunity.Meanwhile, the company is advancing the research and development as well as industrial application of bioactive ingredients, including functional probiotic products and pharmaceuticals designed to enhance gut immunity. Through combined topical and oral administration, it aims to boost systemic immunity from within, ultimately achieving comprehensive anti-aging effects.

Currently,HEPROA has developed a core anti-aging ingredient, HEPRO-6A™Centered on this ingredient, the company’s immune anti-aging brand, HEPROA, primarily comprises two product lines: functional anti-aging skincare products targeting the skin microbiome, and probiotic functional foods targeting the gut microbiome.

Currently, HEPROA’s anti-aging skincare products for the skin have been launched and are on sale, with total sales revenue exceeding RMB 50 million from 2023 to March 2024. Notably, in May 2023,Invited to appear on CCTV.com’s program “This Is Chinese Technology,” HEPROA’s Little Gold Cone Essence was also the sole anti-aging essence product featured in that episode.。

The founding of HEPROA stems from the extensive scientific achievements accumulated by Professor Liu Zhigang and Professor Wang Zhiyao over more than three decades in the fields of allergy and immunology.

Founder of HEPROA (Image source: HEPROA)

Professor Liu Zhigang is the Deputy Dean of the Medical School at Shenzhen University, a Professor and Doctoral Supervisor at the Health Science Center of Shenzhen University, as well as the Director of the Institute of Allergy and Immunology at Shenzhen University and the Director of the Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Allergy and Immunology.. Professor Liu has over 30 years of research experience in respiratory, skin, and intestinal immunology, has published more than 100 SCI-indexed papers, and has authored two monographs on immunology.

Professor Wang Zhiyao holds a Ph.D. in Biochemical Immunology from the University of Oxford, UK, and serves as a Visiting Professor in the Department of Allergy at Peking Union Medical College Hospital.In addition to serving as the founder and chief scientist of HEPROA, Professor Wang also holds positions such as President of the Asia Pacific Association of Allergy, Asthma and Clinical Immunology and Dean of the Children’s Hospital at China Medical University. His primary research areas include environmental and genetic studies of allergies, mechanisms of innate immunity, and the clinical application of probiotics in allergic diseases. He has published more than 120 SCI-indexed papers to date.

Prior to founding the company, the two professors and their R&D team had provided professional-grade formulation research services for Nox Bellcow, a skincare manufacturing company, for many years. They also maintained extensive and in-depth scientific research collaborations with listed pharmaceutical enterprises such as Sinovac Biotech and Guangwei Group.

However, Professor Liu and Professor Wang did not limit themselves to academic research; instead, they sought to translate their scientific findings from the laboratory into commercial products. Consequently, they decided to establish a company dedicated to developing science-based solutions for skin immune anti-aging and gut immune health, giving rise to HEPROA. During its development, the company rapidly assembled a professional team with multidisciplinary backgrounds,Currently, over 60% of the product R&D personnel hold doctoral degrees, comprising MDs, PharmDs, and PhDs in Immunology.。

The skin serves as a barrier between the human body and the external environment. With advancing age and exposure to various aggressors, the skin undergoes biological responses that induce increased free radical production, leading to oxidative stress, hyperpigmentation, and inflammation. These changes alter the skin’s appearance and function, ultimately resulting in skin aging.

Currently, there are various functional skincare products on the market targeting skin aging caused by exposure to external environmental factors. However, consumer demand for anti-aging skincare remains unmet. “Most anti-aging skincare products currently available still focus on blindly competing over the concentration of active ingredients or following trends around certain star ingredients, with very little foundational research on the skin. As a result, they fail to provide anti-aging solutions that truly meet the needs of the skin,” said Dr. Liu Jie.

In this context, HEPROA has developed a functional anti-aging ingredient composed of various bioactive components—HEPRO-6A™ is a combination of natural small-molecule actives with antioxidant, anti-aging, and anti-inflammatory soothing properties.。It is composed of Bifida ferment lysate active oligopeptides, natural active polyphenols, flavonoids and their glycosides, as well as various active small molecules, making it a "hexagonal warrior" capable of anti-inflammation, anti-glycation, antioxidation, anti-photoaging, damage repair, and inhibition of harmful bacteria.Currently, HEPRA-6A™ has been granted three national invention patents and has received honors such as the CIC2022 “Innovative Ingredient Award,” the “InnoCosme Awards Innovative Formula Award,” and the China Good Product Award.

It is worth noting that HEPRA-6A™ is obtained through BTIM’s active ingredient tracking and isolation technology. This technology enables the enrichment of active ingredients, effectively removing impurities and allergens, while ultimately yielding active components with high purity, superior efficacy, and enhanced safety.

Prior to formulating HEPRA-6A™ into various skincare products according to the formula, the R&D team encapsulated it using exosome-like microcapsule encapsulation technology.This technology is built upon stabilization techniques involving the microencapsulation of liposomes, active sugars, active peptides, or chitin. It provides enhanced protection for active ingredients against oxidation and degradation, while simultaneously improving their transdermal absorption rate and bioavailability, thereby enabling the active compounds to exert multi-functional effects across multiple targets and signaling pathways.

Third-party experimental data demonstrate that, in assays involving gene transcription and expression related to the activation of cutaneous immune responses and the regulation of the epidermal cell barrier system, HEPRO-6A™ enhances the gene expression of immune cells and potent barrier cytokines, thereby effectively boosting skin immunity.

Furthermore,HEPRO-6A™ also demonstrates the potential to combat aging at its root.In the *Caenorhabditis elegans* aging model, HEPRA-6A™ can inhibit the aging of nematodes and the production of aging-related substances such as lipofuscin within their bodies. In nude mouse models, HEPRA-6A™ also effectively inhibits the thickening of the skin stratum corneum caused by ultraviolet radiation exposure, and enhances the vitality of skin cells against oxidative damage and photodamage.

Compared with other anti-inflammatory and anti-aging ingredients, HEPRO-6A™ also demonstrates excellent biological activity. Laboratory results from HEPROA show that, compared to Avenanthramide, HEPRO-6A™ more significantly inhibits the overexpression of inflammatory factors such as IL-6 and IL-1β in skin fibroblasts induced by harmful substances. Furthermore, HEPRO-6A™ effectively suppresses the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in skin fibroblasts caused by oxidative agents and enhances the activity of antioxidant enzymes (SOD), with efficacy significantly superior to that of Vitamin A and Vitamin C.

Centered on the core anti-aging ingredient HEPRO-6A™, HEPROA has built Hepuno, a comprehensive brand encompassing cutaneous immunosenescence and gut immunity.The brand features two core product lines: functional anti-aging skincare products targeting the skin microbiome, and functional probiotic foods targeting the gut microbiome.

Examples of HEPROA Products (Image source: HEPROA)

In the realm of functional anti-aging skincare products, HEPROA has developed a series of targeted solutions—including eye creams, serums, face creams, toner and lotion sets, facial masks, and cleansers—by formulating HEPRA-6A™ with other active ingredients, tailored to the specific skin characteristics, anti-aging needs, and application scenarios of different body areas.

All products must undergo the “4+8” inspection system, comprising four tiers of efficacy validation and eight tiers of safety testing. During the formulation of different active ingredients, the R&D team conducts ingredient efficacy validation to ensure product effectiveness from the source. Upon successful formulation, the product sequentially undergoes cellular efficacy validation, animal efficacy validation, and human clinical efficacy validation, thereby ensuring its anti-aging effects through multiple layers of verification.

Eight-Tier Safety Testing is designed to add an extra “safety” safeguard to the product. Following four rounds of product efficacy validation, the product undergoes further testing, including human patch testing, as well as assays for heavy metals, microorganisms, pesticide residues, cytotoxicity, seven major hormones, dioxane, and phenol, to ensure comprehensive product safety.

Experimental data from Ningbo Customs, a third-party testing agency, showed that after 28 days of twice-daily (morning and evening) use of HEPROA products by 35 subjects aged 28 to 58,Skin hydration increased by 62.3%, elasticity improved by 23.0%, radiance enhanced by 47.4%, firmness increased by 21.9%, wrinkle area reduced by 15.0%, and lactic acid stinging decreased by 31.8%.. Furthermore, all HEPROA products have been filed with the National Medical Products Administration for claims of “repair, anti-wrinkle, firming, and moisturizing” efficacy.

HEPROA is also advancing the development of gut immunity products, with its functional probiotic products already launched and available on the market.Dr. Liu Jie stated that aging is not caused by a single factor, but rather results from the combined effects of multiple internal and external factors. Therefore, through a combined approach of topical application and oral administration, HEPROA can achieve synergistic anti-aging effects via multi-component, multi-target, and multi-signaling pathway mechanisms, comprehensively enhancing the body’s immunity and self-healing capacity, ultimately attaining comprehensive anti-aging outcomes.

Currently, HEPROA products are primarily targeted at individuals aged 24 to 40 who have needs related to anti-aging, skin repair, and the regulation of human microecological health.Since its market launch, the product has reached over 80 million core consumers, with a repurchase rate of 80%.

To date, HEPROA has successfully achieved a closed-loop commercialization of its products. Over the past three years, the company has participated in numerous entrepreneurship and technology competitions, achieving outstanding results, such as winning the Annual Grand Championship at the 2022 Dark Horse Entrepreneurship Competition. Meanwhile, the company has also contributed to the drafting of group standards, including the "Specification for the Use of Active Anti-aging Ingredients in Cosmetics."

Furthermore, the company's R&D and innovation capabilities are steadily improving. In terms of patents, HEPROA currently holds a portfolio of over 100 patents, has filed 59 national invention patent applications, and has obtained 16 grants.Furthermore, all patents list the company's founders as inventors, and HEPROA holds 100% of the patent rights.

In terms of functional skincare ingredients, the company's R&D team, based on BTIM bioactive tracking and separation technology,Currently, we have stocked over 10 functional anti-aging skincare raw materials, one of which has completed the filing submission.. In terms of functional probiotics,The R&D team has isolated and identified over 100 strains of functional probiotics with benefits including anti-aging, uric acid reduction, lipid-lowering and weight loss, immune enhancement and sleep improvement, and anti-Helicobacter pylori activity, among which 27 strains have been deposited.。

However, HEPROA has not limited itself to the field of functional skincare. Leveraging the extensive research achievements of Professor Wang and Professor Liu’s R&D team, the company will continue to launch functional foods in the near future. These products, formulated with traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) active ingredients combined with functional probiotics, are designed to help prevent and alleviate gout, enhance immune-mediated anti-tumor responses, and relieve asthma symptoms.

In the future, HEPROA will shift its focus to the field of immunotherapy drug development.. Dr. Liu Jie stated, “HEPROA’s short-term positioning is ‘biomedical and general health,’ while its long-term goal is to become a pharmaceutical R&D company. In the future, building on existing research achievements and innovative technologies,”HEPROA will further advance the clinical evaluation of active ingredients in drugs for treating infantile eczema, senile pruritus, gout, and asthma, ultimately meeting patients' clinical treatment needs.”。