YunQue Medical, Tailai Bio, and DianNei Tech Forge Strategic Partnership to Advance Lung Cancer Early Screening in Grassroots Communities
On February 28, 2022, PICA (Shanghai) Medical Technology Co., Ltd. (“PICA”), Shenzhen Tailai Biotechnology Co., Ltd. (“Tailai Bio”), and Diannnei (Shanghai) Biotechnology Co., Ltd. (“Diannnei Tech”) signed a tripartite strategic cooperation agreement in Shanghai to jointly promote the deployment of early lung cancer screening services at the primary healthcare level. Leveraging its educational training programs and service outreach capabilities targeting millions of primary care physicians and grassroots medical institutions, PICA will facilitate the adoption of Tailai Bio’s early lung cancer screening products, FeiPanAn™ and FeiPanKang™, in primary care settings. By integrating Diannnei Tech’s AI-powered intelligent imaging interpretation solutions, the collaboration aims to enhance the precise identification of lung cancer risks, thereby enabling early detection, diagnosis, and treatment of major diseases for residents in grassroots communities. Attendees at the signing ceremony included Liu Na, Executive Director and CEO of PICA; He Ke, Vice President of PICA; Liu Yaokun, Founder and CEO of Tailai Bio; Zhong Sheng, Co-founder of Tailai Bio; Jin Shengxi, Co-founder and Chief Partnership Officer of Diannnei Tech; and Wu Xiaodong, Vice President of Business Development at Diannnei Tech.
Left: Liu Na, Executive Director and CEO of PICA; Center: Liu Yaokun, Founder and CEO of Tellgen Corporation; Right: Jin Shengxi, Co-founder and Chief Partnership Officer of Diannei Technology
According to the latest 2020 global cancer burden data released by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) of the World Health Organization, China recorded 4.57 million new cancer cases and 3 million cancer deaths in 2020, ranking first globally in both categories. Among new cases, lung cancer had the highest incidence, followed by colorectal cancer, gastric cancer, breast cancer, liver cancer, and bladder cancer. In terms of mortality, lung cancer accounted for the highest proportion of cancer-related deaths.
Early detection, diagnosis, and treatment are of great significance for improving cancer survival rates and prognosis. The Chinese Guidelines for Lung Cancer Screening and Early Diagnosis and Treatment (2021, Beijing) indicate that the survival time of lung cancer patients is closely related to the stage at which the disease is clinically diagnosed: the 5-year survival rate for Stage I is 55.5%, whereas for Stage IV it is only 5.3%, representing a 10.5-fold difference. Detecting cancer at an early or even ultra-early stage through screening not only reduces mortality but also significantly lowers medical costs for patients. Therefore, promoting early cancer screening holds substantial social significance.
As China’s largest digital service platform for primary healthcare, PICA has been actively promoting the deployment of cancer early screening products and services to the grassroots level. Leveraging its capacity to provide education, training, and services to 2.6 million primary healthcare professionals and 390,000 primary healthcare institutions, PICA aims to enhance the technical skills and clinical concepts of grassroots physicians, thereby helping residents in these areas raise their awareness of early prevention for major diseases. He Ke, Vice President of PICA, stated, “Hundreds of millions of people in China live in rural areas. Due to factors such as economic conditions, environment, and education, there is a severe lack of awareness regarding cancer prevention and screening among the grassroots population, as well as a significant shortage of testing facilities. Unlike physicians at tertiary hospitals, grassroots physicians inherently possess attributes focused on prevention, service, and health management. Training and service capabilities at the grassroots level are crucial for the successful implementation of early screening products and services. By collaborating with industry-leading enterprises, PICA will continue to drive the distribution of more high-quality medical resources to county and township levels.”
Left: Zhong Sheng, Co-founder of Tellgen; Center: He Ke, Vice President of PICA; Right: Wu Xiaodong, Vice President of Business Development at Diannao Technology
Currently, PICA has partnered with multiple early screening companies specializing in colorectal, gastric, liver, lung, and bladder cancers, as well as the fields of gastroenterology and immunology. By establishing a network for early screening of chronic diseases and common cancers at the primary care level, PICA has become the preferred partner for leading enterprises in the early screening industry to expand into grassroots healthcare. Since July 2021, more than 200,000 primary care physicians have used the PICA APP to assist residents in undergoing early screening for cancer and other diseases, cumulatively identifying health risks for nearly one million people in local communities.
Currently, cancer screening methods widely used in China are limited to traditional diagnostic techniques such as gastrointestinal endoscopy, CT, and MRI. These approaches are time-consuming, cumbersome, highly invasive, and costly, making them unsuitable for large-scale population-wide screening. There is a market need for early screening solutions that are “simple and easy to use, highly sensitive, and low-cost,” thereby enabling meaningful and practically implementable universal cancer screening.
Tellgen Corporation is dedicated to the research and development of next-generation liquid biopsy technologies based on multi-omics. It possesses independently developed multi-omics platforms and machine learning algorithms, providing early screening and auxiliary diagnosis for various cancers through liquid biopsy. This approach helps shift cancer diagnosis and treatment to an earlier stage, thereby improving survival rates for cancer patients. The collaboration includes two of Tellgen’s combined multi-omics products: Fei Pan An™ (radiomics + metabolomics) and Fei Pan Kang™ (radiomics + metabolomics + epigenomics). Requiring only 10 mL of peripheral blood, these tests provide efficient and reliable references for the initial screening or further diagnosis of benign and malignant pulmonary nodules. They effectively address the clinical challenge of differentiating between benign and malignant pulmonary nodules, significantly enhancing the screening and diagnostic rate of early-stage lung cancer.
“Lung cancer is the most common malignant tumor in clinical practice and among the general population, yet achieving normalized, proactive prevention and control has remained challenging. There is still a significant unmet need among the public for comprehensive pathways at the primary care level, encompassing early screening, diagnosis, and whole-course disease management of lung cancer,” stated Dr. Zhong Sheng, Co-founder of Tellgen Corporation. “Clinically, the vast majority of early-stage lung cancers present as pulmonary nodules. Early detection and identification of patients with malignant pulmonary nodules are crucial preventive measures to reduce the risk of lung cancer mortality.”
Imaging is indispensable to the cancer diagnostic process. As the mainstream method for early lung cancer screening, low-dose spiral CT has long been hindered by persistently high screening costs, making widespread adoption difficult. In China, uneven distribution of medical resources, coupled with variations in physicians’ expertise and experience leading to inconsistent interpretation of CT images, remains a significant pain point in clinical practice.
Against this backdrop, Diannei Technology, one of China’s pioneering enterprises in AI-assisted medical imaging diagnosis, is dedicated to developing comprehensive AI-driven solutions for the entire course of lung cancer management. Its independently developed intelligent image-reading AI product—the Intelligent Pulmonary Nodule Recognition Engine—assists physicians in interpreting imaging studies, enhances detection efficiency, accurately identifies tumor risks, reduces misdiagnosis and missed diagnoses, and lowers screening costs. Through this collaboration, PICA will connect primary healthcare institutions with major hospitals partnering with Diannei Technology, interfacing with Hospital Information Systems (HIS), Picture Archiving and Communication Systems (PACS), and other platforms to obtain medical imaging data for AI-based pulmonary nodule screening. Integrated with Tellgen’s early lung cancer screening products, this initiative will provide dual diagnostic support for patients at high risk of lung cancer.
Jin Shengxi, Co-founder and Chief Collaboration Officer of Diannei Technology, stated: “Leveraging its self-developed artificial intelligence technology, Diannei Technology has created an integrated solution for lung cancer screening, diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up. By partnering with platforms such as PICA (Yunqueyi), we are shifting the focus of lung cancer prevention and control to earlier stages. Through a ‘dual-insurance’ approach that combines expert ‘remote + on-site’ guidance with AI-assisted support for primary care physicians, we enable early screening, diagnosis, and treatment of lung cancer. This allows people to access high-quality medical services at primary healthcare institutions, thereby benefiting the broad population in these regions.”
Group Photo of Representatives from PICA, Tailor Biotechnologies, and Diannei Technology
The early cancer screening industry in China has entered a high-growth phase. Leading companies initially relied on partnerships with physical examination centers, hospitals, and insurance providers to reach users. However, since 2021, the industry has begun exploring new channels at the grassroots level. Companies specializing in early detection technologies and products for various types of cancer have increasingly partnered with platforms capable of delivering primary healthcare services, extending their offerings to county and township markets to reach a broader base of grassroots target users. Village clinics/community health stations and township health centers/community service centers have emerged as highly promising commercial settings for early cancer screening services.