Zhixin Haozheng Secures Nearly $10 Million in Funding to Accelerate Functional Cure for Diabetes

VCBeat (WeChat: vcbeat) has learned that Suzhou EndoCell Regenerative Medicine Technology Co., Ltd. (“EndoCell”) recently announced the completion of a financing round totaling nearly $10 million, exclusively invested by Kaitai Capital. The company also announced the appointment of senior executives with extensive experience in the cell therapy field.

The funds raised in this offering will be used to advance the research and development of core product pipelines, build GMP-compliant manufacturing platforms, and conduct exploratory clinical trials.

EndoCell, established in 2019 and led by Principal Investigator Dr. Xin Cheng from the Center for Excellence in Molecular Cell Science at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (formerly the Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology), boasts a research and development team with over two decades of technical accumulation and extensive experience in the directed differentiation of stem cells in vitro and the regeneration of tissues and organs ex vivo. Dr. Cheng previously studied under the world-renowned stem cell scholar Dr. Gordon Keller. The company focuses on the ex vivo reconstruction of human tissues and organs, with its lead pipeline being regenerative islets suitable for transplant-based diabetes therapy. By leveraging innovative technologies in the ex vivo pancreatic differentiation system of stem cells and guided by unique fundamental theories, EndoCell achieves large-scale production of regenerative islet tissue that is non-tumorigenic in vivo and possesses complete physiological functions. This approach significantly reduces the risk of tumorigenesis associated with stem cell-derived cells/tissues from the ground up, providing enhanced safety assurances for the clinical application of regenerative tissues.

The essence of diabetes treatment is to maintain blood glucose levels within the normal range and to prevent or halt the onset and progression of diabetic complications. However, conventional therapeutic approaches often struggle to achieve this goal, as significant fluctuations in blood glucose can ultimately lead to severe complications. Clinical evidence from thousands of cases has demonstrated that vascular transplantation of donor-derived islet tissue into the liver enables nearly 70% of diabetic subjects to become completely insulin-independent over the long term, highlighting the immense potential of islet transplantation to cure insulin-dependent diabetes. Nevertheless, the widespread adoption and accessibility of this therapy are severely constrained by factors such as a critical shortage of donors and the need for lifelong immunosuppressive therapy. Regenerating islet tissue from stem cells in vitro represents a premier solution to overcome these bottlenecks associated with islet transplantation, offering significant advantages over donor-derived islets in terms of acquisition and quality control.

Cheng Xin, Chairman of EndoCell, stated: “We aim to leverage the latest regenerative medicine approaches to help patients, enabling the vast population of individuals with diabetes to regain functional islets of Langerhans and truly achieve a ‘functional cure’ for diabetes—restoring automatic blood glucose regulation under normal physiological conditions. EndoCell appreciates the trust and support from Kaitai Capital. We will accelerate the advancement of in vitro regeneration technologies for islets and other tissues, with the hope of benefiting patients at the earliest possible date.”

Kaitai Capital’s Biopharmaceutical and Life Sciences Team stated: “While the cure or functional cure of diseases is the relentless pursuit of new drug development, it remains a rare event in human history. We believe that regenerative islet technology will bring profound transformation to diabetes treatment, benefiting hundreds of millions of patients worldwide. EndoCell has accumulated extensive expertise and achieved unique innovations in the field of islet regeneration. We highly commend the EndoCell team for their professionalism, dedication, and efficient execution. We are confident that the company will become the world’s leading islet regeneration enterprise, creating a ‘diabetes free world’.”

Kaitai Capital, established in 2009, primarily invests in biopharmaceuticals and life sciences, artificial intelligence and digital technology, as well as community innovation and tech-enabled consumer sectors.

Kaitai Capital, with its global perspective, forward-looking industry research, and industrial ecosystem investment philosophy in the fields of biopharmaceuticals and life sciences, has invested in and laid out a portfolio of nearly 100 domestic and international biopharmaceutical and life science enterprises, initially forming an ecological industrial chain. It has established an ecological investment portfolio in the areas of oncology, autoimmune diseases, metabolic disorders, anti-infectives, respiratory diseases, cardiovascular diseases, neuroscience, nephrology, ophthalmology, dermatology, gene therapy and cell-based drugs, pharmaceutical manufacturing, innovative biotechnology, and the broader health industry.