Zhihui Medical Secures Tens of Millions RMB in Pre-A Financing to Advance Integrated CTC Detection R&D, Manufacturing, and Commercialization
VCBeat (WeChat ID: vcbeat) recently learned that Zhihui Medical Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Zhihui Medical”) completed a Pre-A financing round worth tens of millions of RMB in February this year, with the investors in this round beingLanwan Sci-Tech Innovation Industry Fund and Individual InvestmentComposition: The funds raised will be used to support the company’s transition from R&D-only to an integrated R&D, manufacturing, and sales model, including the establishment of a GMP-compliant quality system, product registration and certification, new product development, and market promotion.
Previously, Zhihui Medical completed seed and angel funding rounds of nearly RMB 10 million in 2018 and 2020, respectively.
Zhihui Medical was established in November 2018, but the company’s nanotechnology for circulating tumor cell (CTC) detection had already been under development since 2010. After years of dedicated refinement by domestic and international teams and rigorous validation using thousands of clinical samples, the product took its initial form in the laboratory in 2016. Zhihui Medical’s proprietary CTC detection nanotechnology leverages unique biophysical characteristics arising from the distinct metabolic differences of cancer cells, enabling highly sensitive, highly specific, broad-spectrum, and efficient CTC detection. This technology has overcome long-standing bottlenecks that have hindered the development of the CTC detection industry, addressing critical pain points such as “low capture rate,” “low viability rate,” and “false positives and missed detections,” thereby attracting significant interest and attention from numerous investment institutions.
However, Dr. Chen Bingdi, founder of Zhihui Medical, stated that he has been seeking “well-matched” capital partners. He hopes that investment institutions will align with Zhihui’s development philosophy and strategic vision, introducing mutually compatible investors at different stages of the company’s growth to provide necessary financial support and resource backing, while consistently maintaining a technology-led development strategy.
What Exactly Is the Proprietary CTC Detection Nanotechnology Developed by Zhihui Medical? What Are Its Key Features? VCBeat Interviewed the Company’s Two FoundersDr. Chen Bingdi, Dr. Le WenjunAn exclusive interview was conducted, offering a glimpse into the matter.
Circulating Tumor Cells (CTCs) refer to the collective term for various tumor cells present in peripheral blood. CTCs, which detach from primary and metastatic tumor sites and enter the peripheral circulation, serve as the “seeds” of cancer metastasis. Carrying a wealth of cancer-related information, CTCs possess significant scientific research value and clinical application potential. Theoretically, this information can be obtained and utilized through the capture of CTCs. However, due to their extremely low abundance in peripheral blood, CTCs are notoriously difficult to isolate. Therefore, the precise capture and quantitative detection of these exceedingly rare cancer cells from whole blood represent a major challenge in CTC testing.
Capturing circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in peripheral blood fundamentally requires separating cancer cells from normal cells, based on the differences between them. Currently, whether in basic research or industrial applications, CTC isolation methods are primarily categorized into two major types: physical methods and biological methods.
Currently, the mainstream approaches involve capturing cancer cells by leveraging differences in surface antigens between epithelial and white blood cells through specific antigen-antibody binding, or by physically separating them based on differences in cell size, density, or surface charge. However, these methods all suffer from inherent limitations to varying degrees—namely, the inability to overcome tumor heterogeneity and the difficulty in identifying broad-spectrum characteristics of cancer cells.Dr. Chen Bingdi, Founder of Zhihui MedicalHe explained, “Zhihui Medical employs an antibody-independent CTC detection method based on differences in glucose metabolism, representing a distinctive innovation in the field of CTC capture. Specifically, this approach leverages the metabolic disparities in glucose utilization between cancer cells and normal cells, combined with proprietary nanoprobes, to capture circulating tumor cells (CTCs). This technology is applicable not only to epithelial and mesenchymal cells but also to blast cells in leukemia.”
“Differences in glucose metabolism” are currently recognized as one of the fundamental distinctions between cancer cells and normal cells, a principle similar to that underlying the widely used clinical PET-CT imaging. Compared with existing CTC capture methods, this approach fundamentally achieves higher capture rates while offering high sensitivity, high specificity, and broad-spectrum applicability. Furthermore, this technology maximizes the preservation of CTC viability, providing scarce, real-time biological samples to facilitate downstream applications such as drug sensitivity testing, proteomics, and genetic analysis. For this technology, Zhihui Medical has successfully registered the proprietary trademark: PETCTC.®。
PETCTC®The technical advantages have been validated in clinical trials conducted by Zhihui Medical: based on the progression of clinical data from thousands of cancer patient blood samples at Zhihui Medical,Sensitivity >91%, specificity >96%; It is worth noting that,In patients with stage I cancer,The detection rate reached 83.87%.. In terms of capture yield, Zhihui Medical can capture an average of more than 40 viable circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from 1 mL of peripheral blood (solid tumors), with a maximum capture exceeding 2,000 viable CTCs (in patients with stage IV colorectal cancer). Research data from Zhihui Medical indicate that there is still substantial room for improvement in CTC capture efficiency within the industry. The number of CTCs currently captured is likely far lower than the actual total burden of CTCs present. Overcoming this challenge heavily relies on innovations in upstream CTC capture technologies.
Zhihui Medical is committed to meticulously crafting its products. Since initiating research into circulating tumor cell (CTC) detection in its laboratory in 2010, the company has refined its kit offerings and has begun the product registration process. The reagent kits were initially designed to enable users to perform manual operations using conventional equipment available in standard laboratories. However, recognizing that manual handling may introduce errors and impose limitations on detection efficiency—thereby hindering product adoption—the company has now launched the research, development, and production of automated instrumentation.
In terms of intellectual property,Dr. Le Wenjun, Founder and CTO of Zhihui MedicalIt was pointed out: “Zhihui Medical currently possesses complete independent intellectual property rights, spanning from nanomaterial design to CTC detection. This includes five granted invention patents and more than 30 invention patents pending application, ensuring no risk of being ‘strangled’ in terms of technology or raw materials. Recently, as the lead organization, Zhihui Medical was honored to collaborate with more than ten renowned universities and enterprises across China to draft the first group standard in China for antibody-independent CTC detection, which will make a pioneering contribution to the sustainable development of the liquid biopsy industry.”
Currently, Zhihui Medical has gradually transitioned from primarily providing CTC technical services in its early stages to becoming a platform manufacturer offering an integrated “instrument + reagent + testing service” model, thereby advancing the construction of an integrated R&D, production, and sales platform for CTC detection. The company will leverage its PETCTC technology, which is independently developed in China, internationally leading, and fully protected by proprietary intellectual property rights.®technology, to develop highly accurate, high-throughput, and cost-effective tumor liquid biopsy products and services, providing efficient and precise solutions for early cancer diagnosis and prognosis, thereby benefiting human health.
Based on the proprietary PETCTC®Technology: Zhihui Medical has basically formed three major product lines:
First, tumor liquid biopsy: providing prognostic assessment, therapeutic drug efficacy monitoring, and post-treatment recurrence and dynamic monitoring for cancer patients;
Second, pharmaceutical platform: The company has established a new drug R&D platform to provide companion diagnostics and drug sensitivity testing services for diseases;
Third, adjunctive early diagnosis of tumors: providing circulating tumor cell (CTC) testing services for individuals in a sub-health state or with a family history of hereditary tumors, thereby offering adjunctive diagnostic support for the early detection of cancer.
In the future, Zhihui will leverage its proprietary technologies and integrate AI-driven image recognition with big data analytics to establish morphological standards for tumor cells. This initiative will lay the foundation for tumor origin tracing and bring about a revolutionary breakthrough in early cancer screening.
Liquid biopsy boasts a substantial potential market size in China. According to relevant industry research reports, the potential market sizes for cancer companion diagnostics, minimal residual disease (MRD) monitoring, and early cancer detection are projected to reach $4.5 billion, $15 billion, and $29 billion, respectively, by 2030. The total addressable market is estimated at approximately $48.5 billion, equivalent to nearly RMB 340 billion. Due to the significant technical challenges associated with upstream capture technologies, more companies have chosen to focus on midstream operations. As a rare medical technology company possessing complete independent intellectual property rights across the entire circulating tumor cell (CTC) testing value chain, Zhihui Medical will see its future value become increasingly prominent as it continues to launch products that meet clinical needs and comply with regulatory registration requirements.
Deng Jianxin, Chairman of Lanwan Sci-Tech InnovationStatement: The Zhihui Medical team hails from Tongji University and Shanghai East Hospital. Led by Chairman Professor Chen Bingdi, the research team boasts robust scientific capabilities and access to frontline clinical resources. Leveraging a unique technological approach centered on abnormal glucose metabolism in cancer cells, the company has established the world’s first CTC (Circulating Tumor Cell) capture technology platform. To date, it has analyzed over 3,000 clinical samples, with test results demonstrating high concordance with clinical outcomes. Beyond routine CTC testing, we are particularly optimistic about the future applications of Zhihui’s CTC capture platform in areas such as new drug development, companion diagnostics, drug efficacy monitoring, and recurrence surveillance.
Other investors acknowledged: “We have known the founding team of Zhihui Medical for many years and have witnessed their dedicated R&D efforts over more than a decade, which culminated in the development of a domestically originated PET-CTC.”®This technology has demonstrated promising detection performance in laboratory and clinical trials in both China and the United States, holding broad application prospects in areas such as cancer screening, prognostic assessment, and guidance for precision oncology medication. Zhihui Medical has successfully established a “scientists + professional managers” team management model. The team embodies the scientists’ spirit of being down-to-earth, rigorous, and innovative, while also demonstrating entrepreneurial qualities characterized by responsibility, ambition, and a drive to win. We look forward to the project’s rapid development in the future.
About Lanwan Sci-Tech Innovation
Blue Bay Sci-Tech Innovation Group is an innovative industrial ecosystem operator with a strategic focus on the life and general health sector. Adopting “industry + platform + capital + operations” as its core business model, the company centers on industrial investment, supported by industrial operations and industrial services, and is committed to building a regional innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem aligned with Blue Bay’s standardized industrial framework.
Blue Bay Sci-Tech Innovation currently manages four industry funds with a total scale exceeding RMB 1 billion, focusing on early-stage investments, particularly in angel rounds. It has cumulatively invested in approximately 50 high-tech life and health projects, including Auscan Biopharmaceuticals, Jingze Biology, Yiyi Technology, Haitai Biology, Nuolaisheng Technology, Huyun New Drug, Nuotan Pharmaceutical, Huiwei Medical, Tanyin Medicine, Tongxuan Medical, and Yike Polymers.