Aorui Bio Secures Over RMB 100 Million Strategic Investment from Hotgen Biotech to Advance Multi-Omics Cancer Early Screening Platform

VCBeat (WeChat: vcbeat) learned at the earliest opportunity that recently,Hangzhou Ao Rui Biological Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “ORIOMICS”) has completed a Series B financing round exceeding RMB 100 million, with strategic investment from the renowned IVD listed company Hotgen Biotech.The funds raised in this round will be primarily used for the clinical trials and regulatory registration of the company’s early screening and diagnostic products for liver cancer, as well as for the research and development of multiple subsequent product pipelines. Changhai Capital served as the exclusive financial advisor for this financing round.

ORIOMICS, founded in 2018, has leveraged its proprietary patented technologies and algorithms to overcome technical barriers in the development of multi-omics testing products, creating a portfolio of single-cancer and multi-cancer products with unique value. Among these, liver cancer detection represents the company’s first product area to achieve commercialization.

ORIOMICS Laboratory

China Has a Huge Number of Liver Cancer Patients, Making Early Screening and Diagnosis Urgent.Currently, China has approximately 7 million patients with liver cirrhosis, 60 million with alcoholic liver disease, 100 million infected with hepatitis B or C viruses, and around 200 million with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Each year, there are about 420,000 new cases of liver cancer, which is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths among Chinese people. Seventy to eighty percent of patients are already at an intermediate or advanced stage when liver cancer is detected, leaving limited treatment options; however, if detected early, the five-year survival rate can increase from less than 15% to over 80%.

Liquid Biopsy Technology Holds Significant Clinical Value for Early Screening and Diagnosis of Liver Cancer.Traditional early diagnostic markers such as alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) suffer from poor sensitivity, yielding false-negative results in approximately 30%–40% of patients, which significantly increases the risk of missed diagnoses. Furthermore, conventional ultrasound often fails to detect early-stage liver cancer. Although contrast-enhanced CT and MRI—the “sub-gold standard” imaging modalities for liver cancer—can identify distinct lesions, their widespread adoption for early screening is hindered by high costs, prolonged examination cycles, and limited equipment accessibility, restricting their use primarily to confirmatory diagnosis. In contrast, liquid biopsy, which detects trace amounts of tumor-derived DNA fragments released into the bloodstream, offers a non-invasive and precise approach suitable for screening and diagnosing early-stage and even very early-stage tumors (including precancerous lesions).

ORIOMICS’ Precision Diagnostic Solutions for Liver Cancer Include Early Screening and Auxiliary Diagnostic Products.The early screening product, based on PCR and immune multi-omics platforms, provides precise and comprehensive tumor information, with a sensitivity of nearly 90% and a specificity exceeding 95%., providing a convenient and accurate diagnostic method for individuals at high risk of liver cancer, enabling patients to receive treatment and intervention at an earlier stage. Currently, the company’s two products have both entered the registration testing phase and will rapidly advance to clinical trials. ORIOMICS’ early screening product for liver cancer is poised to becomeChina’s first multi-omics product for early screening of liver cancer to receive a registration certificate, marketed as test kits in hospitals at all levels。

In addition to high performance, the company’s early screening and diagnosis products offer three major advantages: ease of use, rapid results, and low cost, facilitating commercialization in hospitals and third-party institutions.Patients with liver disease demonstrate high awareness of self-care and seeking medical attention, along with strong adherence to regular check-ups, making hospitals the primary setting for treatment. Targeting this key sales scenario, ORIOMICS products utilize standard platforms in hospital laboratories at all levels, enabling patients to receive results on the same day within the hospital, thereby eliminating the need for a two-week waiting period associated with sending samples out for external testing. Additionally, withPCRPlatform-centric products offer controllable costs, with prices dropping significantly after mass production, compared to the more common offerings in the marketNGSThe product offers significant advantages, enabling rapid promotion and application in hospitals, health examination centers, and other medical institutions.

In addition to its liver cancer products, the company’s single-cancer and multi-cancer products for gastric cancer, breast cancer, and other indications have also largely been finalized and will gradually enter the commercialization phase in the future.

ORIOMICS Presented at the 2020 National Academic Conference on Tumor Markers

Since its inception, ORIOMICS has remained committed to R&D-driven growth, with the ambition of becoming a leading provider of cancer early screening and diagnostic products in China. The company boasts a high-caliber team specializing in R&D, regulatory affairs, and market operations, with many core members having previously held positions at renowned companies in the IVD and pharmaceutical sectors, bringing extensive experience to the table. Furthermore, ORIOMICS has established close academic and clinical collaborations with multiple top-tier Grade 3A hospitals, including the Chinese Anti-Cancer Association, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Xijing Hospital of Air Force Medical University, Peking University People’s Hospital, and Changhai Hospital. The company has also set up two medical laboratories in Hangzhou and Xi’an to provide auxiliary diagnostic and scientific research services.

Hotgen Biotech is the first high-tech in vitro diagnostics (IVD) enterprise to be listed on the STAR Market. After years of rapid development, it has established a closed-loop system for the research, development, and production of IVD reagents. The company’s marketing and service network covers all regions across China, and its diagnostic technology platforms are widely applied in both clinical and public safety fields. Hotgen Biotech made early strategic investments in serological protein biomarkers for liver cancer and exosome detection. Its signature “Liver Cancer Triple Test” (Lens culinaris agglutinin-reactive fraction of alpha-fetoprotein [AFP-L3%] / Alpha-fetoprotein [AFP] / Des-gamma-carboxy prothrombin [DCP]) is a commercialization project under the National Science and Technology Major Project during the 13th Five-Year Plan period. It has received numerous accolades, including the Gold Award for “2018 China IVD Excellent Innovative Product” and “2019 Capital Outstanding Scientific and Technological Innovation Achievement,” and has been included in multiple guidelines and consensus statements. In the future, Hotgen Biotech will collaborate with ORIOMICS to build a “Liver Health Management System,” expanding from specific points to comprehensive coverage to foster the coordinated development of multi-omics and multi-technology platforms. The company will actively respond to the national major strategy for cancer prevention and control, continuously developing early screening and auxiliary diagnostic products for other high-incidence single cancer types and pan-cancer applications, while remaining committed to enhancing national health and driving innovative development in the IVD industry.

Regarding this collaboration, Professor Huashan Yang, Founder of ORIOMICSStatement: It is a great honor to receive investment from Hotgen Biotech. We extend our sincere gratitude to Hotgen Biotech for its support and assistance to ORIOMICS. Early cancer screening is a vast and emerging industry in China. ORIOMICS remains committed to innovating and optimizing non-invasive technologies for early cancer screening and diagnosis, while actively advancing the research and development of detection products for specific cancers with significant clinical value, such as liver cancer, as well as pan-cancer assays. Through this partnership with Hotgen Biotech, the company will gain access to comprehensive resources in advanced corporate management, market operations, production, and regulatory registration. This will help enhance our competitiveness and accelerate the efficient achievement of ORIOMICS’ future strategic goals.

Mr. Lin Changqing, Chairman of Hotgen Biotech, an investor in this roundStatement: We are delighted to establish a strategic partnership with ORIOMICS. Early cancer screening and diagnosis constitute a critical component of the national strategy to improve public health, and represent a key area of long-term focus and investment for Hotgen Biotech. ORIOMICS’ multi-omics technology platform offers distinct technological advantages, and its product development roadmap aligns closely with our corporate strategic vision. Moving forward, we will actively support ORIOMICS in advancing the research and development, regulatory registration, and clinical promotion of its early screening and diagnostic products for liver cancer and other malignancies. We will also accelerate the development of its multi-omics technology platform for early cancer detection, thereby providing greater benefit to a broader population of cancer patients.

Wang Keshu, Partner at Changhai CapitalStatement: The ORIOMICS team is best positioned in the market to grasp the technical characteristics and clinical needs of early screening products for hepatocellular carcinoma, and the performance of its early screening and diagnostic products has been well validated. Following the establishment of a strategic partnership between ORIOMICS and Hotgen, the two parties have achieved complementary advantages in product development, regulatory registration, marketing, management, and talent. We look forward to ORIOMICS becoming a leading platform enterprise in China’s early cancer screening and diagnosis sector.

Hotgen Biotech is a publicly listed company (stock code: 688068) engaged in the research and development, production, and sales of in vitro diagnostic reagents and instruments. Guided by its mission to “advance biotechnology for the benefit of human health,” the company remains focused on innovation and industrialization of products in the fields of medical diagnostics and public safety testing. Its main product portfolio comprises in vitro diagnostic reagents and instruments, which are widely used in clinical areas such as liver cancer and hepatitis, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, and inflammatory infections, as well as in public safety and other sectors including biosafety, food safety, and disease control and emergency response.

Changhai Capital, established in 2021, is a financial advisory firm specializing in the healthcare sector, providing companies with in-depth, customized financing strategies and services. The firm’s founding team possesses extensive industry experience in medical devices and in vitro diagnostics (IVD), having led or participated in the financing rounds of numerous high-profile enterprises, thereby facilitating their rapid growth and maximizing their value.