Zhongjing Pukang Completes Tens of Millions of Yuan Series A Financing to Lead Blood-Based CRC Early Detection
VCBeat (WeChat ID: vcbeat) has learned that Zhongjing Pukang has completed a tens-of-millions-yuan Series A financing round, led byHongrunVenture CapitalLead Investor,Zhongguancun QihangandZhongguancunSynergyFundCo-investment,Fangyuan Capital | Optimas CapitalServing as the financial advisor consecutively, previous shareholders also include Taiyu Investment and Tengye Venture Capital. The funds from this round of financing will be primarily used to advance clinical trials for Class III medical device certification and commercial promotion.
Since securing venture capital funding in 2017, Zhongjing Pukang has initially focused on colorectal cancer (CRC) blood testing. Leveraging its core algorithmic platform for multi-omics data and disease mechanism mining, and employing LC-MS mass spectrometry as the detection method, the company has developed serum metabolomics assays for cancer and other major diseases. Its currently flagship product is the LDT test “Zao Chang Jing R” for colorectal and gastrointestinal tumors, which is designed to detect intestinal polyps, early-stage cancers, and tumors.
China’s annual medical expenditure on malignant tumors exceeds RMB 220 billion. Malignant tumors have become one of the major public health issues seriously threatening the health of the Chinese population, with a grim situation in prevention and control. The Outline of the “Healthy China 2030” Plan proposes promoting opportunistic screening for chronic diseases such as cancer, stroke, and coronary heart disease.
Exact Sciences, the U.S. leader in early colorectal cancer screening, has seen its stool-based test Cologuard become the first screening product to achieve annual sales of $1 billion after eight years of development, fully demonstrating the commercial value and growth trajectory of early colorectal cancer screening. In China, the early screening sector is experiencing a surge in financing activity. In 2020 alone, 16 Chinese cancer early-screening companies completed 17 funding rounds, raising a total of RMB 6.3 billion. More importantly, recent clinical developments by leading international companies suggest that multi-analyte blood tests will truly enable the detection of early-stage colorectal cancer. At this year’s JP Morgan Healthcare Conference, Exact Sciences and Guardant Health have both announced substantial investments in blood-based 2.0 products for early colorectal cancer screening using multi-omics technologies.
Preliminary results presented by the Zhongjing Pukang team at the 2021 ASCO Annual Meeting demonstrated the clinical performance of its blood-based metabolomics technology. Across all stages—from polyps and early-stage cancer to colorectal cancer (CRC)—its performance was comparable to data released concurrently by Freenome, an international benchmark company. Consequently, Zhongjing Pukang has become the only team in China ranked among the global first tier in this field with fully independent core technologies. Its research findings were recently published in Gut, a top-tier international journal in the field of gastroenterology (Impact Factor: 23.059), and the company’s core technologies have been filed for patent protection under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT).
The development of new technologies relies on decades of accumulated expertise. The founder of Zhongjing Pukang possesses extensive experience in multi-omics data analysis and the elucidation of disease mechanisms. Dr. Dai Xudong earned his clinical medicine degree from Peking University Health Science Center and subsequently obtained his Ph.D. in the United States. In 2000, he joined Rosetta Inpharmatics and Merck. At Merck, Dr. Dai was responsible for the discovery of biological standards and their application in indication identification, work that successfully accelerated drug development and market approval. Prior to returning to China, Dr. Dai served as an Associate Professor at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, where he led the development and clinical translation of blood-based tests for predicting resistance in prostate cancer.
After returning to China, Dr. Dai independently developed the B-GPS system for elucidating disease mechanisms. By integrating vast amounts of medical and pharmaceutical literature and employing multi-source data mining algorithms, the system identifies pathogenic biomarkers. It has currently established extensive collaborations with institutions such as the Cancer Hospital of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Aerospace Center Hospital, Peking University Third Hospital, and the 301 Hospital (Chinese PLA General Hospital).
Concurrently with this financing round, Zhongjing Pukang has confirmed the launch of large-scale clinical studies in collaboration with leading hospitals, aiming to become the first multi-omics blood-based early screening product for colorectal cancer derived from original clinical research in China.
Hongrun Venture CapitalIt is believed that: "With the rapid global increase in cancer cases and favorable policy support, there is significant room for improving the penetration rate of early tumor screening, indicating a substantial potential market size. Zhongjing Pukang (Beijing) Pharmaceutical Technology Co., Ltd., leveraging its independently developed disease mechanism data mining technology and an experienced scientific research team, continuously develops more accurate and sensitive testing products that are low-cost and highly convenient, making early detection and treatment of tumors possible."
Zhongguancun Co-Innovation Fund“Diagnosis precedes treatment in disease management. In vitro diagnostics has always been a key focus area of our investment portfolio. As a pioneer in multi-omics blood testing in China, Zhongjing Pukang’s diagnostic products are well-aligned with China’s national conditions and address the unmet needs of clinical practice and patients at large, thereby delivering broad market and social value. We are honored to participate in this round of financing.”
Wang Chunping, Founding Partner of Zhongguancun Qihang Fund“It was stated that, from the perspectives of clinical benefit and health economics, early screening and diagnosis are key to cancer prevention and control. However, their industrial implementation requires a comprehensive consideration of dimensions such as market potential, sample accessibility, technical feasibility, diagnostic criteria, and the closed loop of diagnosis and treatment. We believe that colorectal cancer early screening is the cancer type with the most clear prospects for implementation in the short to medium term. Pioneers such as Exact Sciences abroad, and New Horizon Health and ColonClear domestically, have already conducted thorough concept validation and market education. Zhongjing Pukang’s unique serum multi-omics testing platform is expected to provide patients with more precise, stable, and highly compliant products for early colorectal cancer screening and prognosis monitoring. Qihang Fund will continue to empower enterprise development, helping Zhongjing Pukang become an emerging leader in this field.”
References
[1] Feng Chen, Xu-Dong Dai, Chang-Chun Zhou, et al. Integrated analysis of the fecal metagenome and serum metabolome reveals the role of gut microbiome-associated metabolites in the detection of colorectal cancer and adenoma. Gut 2021;0:1-11.doi:10.1136/gutjnl-2020-323476
[2] Yachida, S.et. al. (2019) Metagenomic and metabolomic analyses reveal distinct stage-specific phenotypes of the gut microbiota in colorectal cancer, Nature medicine. 25, 968-976.
[3] Pleguezuelos-Manzano, C., Puschhof, J., Rosendahl Huber, A. et al. (2020) Mutational signature in colorectal cancer caused by genotoxic pks+ E. coli. Nature 580,269–273.