Dunen Medicine Files IPO Prospectus: Pioneering Precision Pharmacotherapy to Empower Better Medication Use in China
Many patients with chronic diseases face a common question when taking medications: if they have multiple conditions simultaneously, how should they schedule their medication? Will the effects of the drugs interact with each other? In fact, “precision medication” and “personalized medication” are not only concerns for key patient populations but have also become hot topics in the medical community in recent years.
Chen Zhijun, Founder and Chairman of Dun En MedicineIt is believed that before approximately 2010, physicians relied on empirical experience for medication administration, and the industry did not fully recognize the value of genetic testing for tumors. However, with a deeper understanding of clinical practice in recent years, the demand for precision medicine has continued to rise.
Chen Zhijun, Founder and Chairman of Dunen Medical
Dun'en Medical was established in March 2017 and began building its team in 2019, withClinical Precision Medication Guidance ServicesCentered on precision pharmaceutical services, a market with immense potential, we are committed to providing global medical experts and patients with higher-quality, more reliable precision medication solutions.
Chen Zhijun stated, “The decision to pursue precision pharmaceutical care services was driven primarily by two factors. First, with the introduction of the new policy on zero drug markups in 2015, hospital pharmacy departments gradually shifted from profit centers to cost centers, creating an urgent need for transformation and upgrading to move away from the traditional model of subsidizing healthcare with drug revenues. At that time, there were very few companies in China specializing in pharmacogenomic testing, so we decided to generate revenue through pharmaceutical care services, thereby enhancing the status of the pharmacy department and driving the development of the entire discipline. Second, beyond oncology, there is extensive clinical demand in niche areas such as pediatric medication safety, medication safety during pregnancy and childbirth, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular immunotherapies, pain management, psychotropic medication safety, and antimicrobial resistance testing, representing a vast blue-ocean market.”
According to Chen Zhijun, Dunen Medical’s business is mainly divided into four segments.First, targeting the medical testing market, we focus on precision medication services and prioritize the research, development, and production of equipment and test kits.
It is understood that DunEn Medical’s current product portfolio consists of two main segments: a pharmacogenetic testing platform based on first-generation sequencing capillary electrophoresis, and a therapeutic drug monitoring platform based on tandem mass spectrometry. Leveraging core technologies in pharmacogenomics and metabolomics, the company has developed a series of products for personalized medication guidance, which are widely applied in the management of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, psychiatric disorders, and oncology.
Second, establish a nationwide network of pharmaceutical laboratories.Over the next three years, Dunen Medicine will establish more than 200 pharmacy laboratories across China, securing an early foothold in the medical testing market and building a nationwide testing network to lay the foundation for subsequent database construction and CRO services for new drug development.
Third, database construction and development of a medication follow-up system.Develop a database tailored to the Chinese population, leveraging extensive precision medication data generated by the pharmaceutical laboratory platform from individualized pharmacogenetic testing and therapeutic drug monitoring.
“Databases play a crucial role in genetic testing and even in the development of new drugs. In developed countries in Europe and America, some medical centers have long incorporated genetic testing into the routine management of short-term cardiovascular cases. However, in China, the clinical application of genetic testing in cardiovascular diseases is limited due to the lack of variant interpretation databases suitable for the Chinese population and the absence of efficient, low-cost genetic testing and diagnostic screening methods,” said Chen Zhijun.
Currently, domestic genetic testing companies and new drug R&D firms in China rely on foreign public databases, lacking medication data tailored to the Chinese population. Leveraging its channel advantages, Dunen Medicine has established a nationwide network of pharmaceutical laboratories, continuously accumulating population sample data from diverse ethnic groups and regions across China. It is committed to enriching and refining a proprietary Chinese database and establishing medication standards, thereby providing critical decision-making support for new drug development and clinical medication guidance.
Furthermore, in the clinical medication process, test data constitute only a part of the overall picture; out-of-hospital data are actually missing yet highly valuable. The medication follow-up system developed by Dunen Medical fills this gap by capturing patients’ out-of-hospital data, thereby creating a complete real-world evidence dataset on medication use and further supporting new drug development.
Fourth, clinical CRO services for new drugs.It is understood that China’s CRO market will maintain a high compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 21.76% over the next five years, with its market size expected to exceed USD 10 billion in 2021. Currently, CRO companies in China are relatively small in scale; in 2019, the top 10 domestic CRO firms accounted for a combined market share of 40%.
In recent years, a series of supportive policies encouraging the development of service outsourcing and pharmaceutical reforms have been successively introduced. These policies have not only accelerated the formation of China’s policy framework for the pharmaceutical outsourcing industry but also demonstrated its promising growth prospects. To stand out among the numerous CRO companies, the most critical factor is the ability to provide unique and differentiated R&D services to pharmaceutical enterprises.
Leveraging its network of over 200 self-built and co-established pharmaceutical laboratories, along with a comprehensive precision medicine database encompassing pharmacogenomic testing and therapeutic drug monitoring, Dunen Medicine will provide clinical CRO services for new drug development to innovative pharmaceutical companies both in China and abroad.
Leveraging its four core business segments, Dunen Medical will adopt a patient-centric approach, anchored by a precision medication database and driven by technology. By connecting with clinical practice to empower pharmaceutical sciences on one end, and partnering with pharmaceutical companies to facilitate new drug development and clinical research on the other, Dunen Medical aims to build an ecosystem encompassing the entire drug lifecycle.
As public perceptions, quality of life, and medical standards continue to improve, the demand for personalized treatment is rising accordingly, making precision medication the future trend in healthcare.
The reason Dunen Medicine has been able to delve deeply into the field of precision pharmacy is not only because it has boarded the train of the times, but also due to its strong team background.
DunEn Medical isAffiliated Unit of the “Precision Medication Research Center” under the Yangtze Delta Region Institute of Tsinghua University, Zhejiang, with a solid foundation for translating industry-academia-research collaborations into practical applications. The company boasts a high-caliber team of clinicians and laboratory professionals, while its core technical team members hail from prestigious universities such as Tsinghua University, Fudan University, and Zhejiang University, possessing robust expertise in molecular diagnostics R&D. Meanwhile, the marketing team brings extensive experience in market management from large multinational corporations and leading domestic genetic diagnostic companies, demonstrating proficiency in precision medicine product management and market promotion.
Chen Zhijun, Founder and Chairman of Dunen Medicine, previously served as Head of Sales and Deputy General Manager at multinational corporations. He possesses extensive experience in investment and financing management, project operations, and corporate governance. Mr. Chen offers unique insights into the niche field of precision medication and has conducted in-depth research in the emerging area of pharmaceutical care services.
Currently, Dunen Medical’s team comprises over 70 members, with more than one-third holding master’s degrees or higher. The company plans to further expand its workforce, projecting a total of approximately 180–200 employees by the end of this year.
Regarding future plans, Chen Zhijun stated that Dunen Medicine will continue to fully advanceIndustrial Ecosystem Layout Centered on Pharmaceutical Care Services, including the construction and operation of a clinical precision medication platform, the research and development of products related to pharmacogenetic testing and therapeutic drug monitoring, the establishment of a precision medication database, the development of big data-driven medication guidance software and AI pharmacists, as well as clinical services for innovative drug R&D.
Before that, we must lay a solid foundation. Within the next three years, Dunen Medical Society will take the lead in establishing 200 pharmaceutical laboratories across China, completing the construction of its business model and refining its overall architecture.
In the long run, Dun En Medicine aims to establish medication standards for the Chinese population and build a comprehensive pharmaceutical care ecosystem by accumulating and refining big data, thereby becoming a leading enterprise in pharmaceutical care with core competitiveness.
“We are deeply committed to advancing the niche field of precision medication while also fostering the development of clinical pharmacy as a discipline. Our goal is to ensure that people in China have access to better medicines and use them more appropriately, thereby preventing adverse reactions and even medical accidents caused by irrational drug use. We will make unremitting efforts to promote the cause of human health,” said Chen Zhijun.