Baseline Medicine Completes $40 Million Series C Financing to Advance Innovative Global Leadership in Early-Stage Cancer Screening and Diagnosis

VCBeat (WeChat ID: vcbeat) has learned that on February 22, 2021, Guangzhou AnchorDx Medical Co., Ltd. (“AnchorDx Medical”) announced the completion of a $40 million Series C financing round. The round was co-led by OrbiMed, a globally renowned biomedical investment fund, and WuXi Huiying Investment Fund, which focuses on investments in the healthcare and medical industry. With this financing, AnchorDx Medical’s roster of domestic and international investors now includes leading pharmaceutical and biomedical enterprises such as WuXi AppTec and KingMed Diagnostics, as well as prominent investment funds including Northern Light Venture Capital, Tonghe Yucheng, Sijia Jianxin, Yuanyi Capital, Arch Venture Partners, OrbiMed, and WuXi Huiying Investment Fund. This provides a solid foundation for AnchorDx Medical to accelerate the regulatory registration and commercialization of its early screening and diagnostic products both domestically and internationally.

The proceeds from this financing round will be primarily used to accelerate the domestic and international regulatory registration and commercialization of multiple NGS-based early screening and diagnostic products for single-cancer, multi-cancer, and pan-cancer applications, while also expanding into other major disease areas.

Mr. Wang Guowei, Global Partner and Senior Managing Director for Asia-Pacific at OrbiMed, stated, “OrbiMed focuses on investing in the most promising biopharmaceutical and life sciences companies. AnchorDx Medical’s products and technologies boast first-class competitiveness and broad development prospects both in China and internationally. By choosing to invest in AnchorDx Medical, we aim to help truly outstanding enterprises grow stronger and expand globally, thereby advancing the cause of human health.”

Mr. Hu Zhengguo, Chairman of WuXi Huiying Fund Management Co., Ltd., stated: “WuXi Huiying is an industrial fund focused on the healthcare and wellness sector. AnchorDx Medical stands out prominently among domestic and international enterprises in early screening and diagnosis, particularly in terms of the originality and autonomy of its technologies, the comprehensiveness and advanced nature of its product portfolio, and the international recognition of its large-scale, forward-looking clinical trials. We believe that AnchorDx Medical will become an influential enterprise in the global field of early diagnosis and screening in the near future.”

AnchorDx Medical was founded in 2015 by Dr. Fan Jianbing, an international leader in the field of genetic testing, who returned to China to establish the company. Previously, Dr. Fan was a founding employee at Illumina and brings nearly 30 years of experience in human genomics, gene chips, and the development of high-throughput sequencing technologies and products. Since its inception, AnchorDx Medical has been dedicated to the independent development of cancer screening and early diagnosis products with genuine clinical value. Its current commercialized and pipeline products cover 70% of high-incidence cancer types.

Dr. Fan Jianbing, Founder and CEO of AnchorDx Medical

Dr. Fan Jianbing, Founder and CEO of AnchorDx Medical, stated, “Driven by continuous innovation, we are developing globally leading technologies and NGS products, striving to build an internationally competitive enterprise in early cancer detection and screening.” In June 2020, at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), AnchorDx Medical presented research findings on its next-generation methylation-based liquid biopsy sequencing technology, AURORA, for multi-cancer early detection. The company plans to launch this multi-cancer early screening product in the market this year.

To develop independently innovated, world-leading products for early cancer screening and diagnosis, AnchorDx Medical took the lead in launching the world’s first large-scale prospective clinical trial for lung cancer (“Zhongsheng Project”) as early as September 2018. Led by Academician Zhong Nanshan and AnchorDx Medical, the project was organized and implemented in collaboration with 23 top-tier hospitals across China. Dr. Fan Jianbing stated, “Through this prospective clinical trial, we aim to demonstrate that AnchorDx Medical’s products can achieve early screening, diagnosis, and treatment of lung cancer in real-world settings, thereby benefiting patients and reflecting socioeconomic value within the entire healthcare system. We also hope to rewrite oncology diagnostic guidelines, establishing our approach as the gold standard for lung cancer diagnosis and treatment.” To date, the Zhongsheng Project has completed the enrollment of 9,687 participants and is systematically conducting follow-up observational studies. Meanwhile, leveraging rigorous clinical trials, AnchorDx Medical has accumulated a vast amount of multi-dimensional dynamic imaging and clinical data, forming its proprietary big data and artificial intelligence platform centered on early lung cancer screening, diagnosis, and treatment. This rich and valuable data not only fills gaps in related fields of lung cancer research in China but also provides a solid scientific foundation for AnchorDx Medical’s future product development focused on early lung cancer screening, diagnosis, and companion diagnostics. This year, building upon its previously launched core NGS product, “PulmoSeek,” an auxiliary diagnostic tool for differentiating benign from malignant early-stage pulmonary nodules, AnchorDx Medical will introduce an upgraded version, PulmoSeek Plus, which organically combines liquid biopsy with AI-powered low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) imaging. AnchorDx Medical will continue to expand into the early cancer screening and diagnosis markets in both China and the United States, while simultaneously laying out strategies in other major disease areas, ensuring that precision medicine truly benefits the general public.

AnchorDx Medical “Bell Toll Project” Launch Meeting

OrbiMed was founded in 1989 as an investment firm dedicated to the healthcare and life sciences sectors, committed to identifying and supporting enterprises that advance human health. With approximately $16 billion in assets under management, OrbiMed has focused on global healthcare investments for over two decades. Its portfolio spans biopharmaceuticals, life sciences technologies, medical devices, healthcare services, and diagnostics, covering investment stages from early-stage startups and growth-phase companies to mature enterprises and post-IPO entities. OrbiMed’s investment team comprises more than 80 distinguished professionals worldwide, with expertise spanning life sciences, medicine, finance, and law.

Founded in 2015, AnchorDx Medical is an internationally leading company dedicated to the development of next-generation sequencing (NGS) products for early screening and diagnosis using high-throughput methylation sequencing. Led by world-class experts in the field of genetic technology, AnchorDx Medical leverages its successful experience in the United States to stand out in the industry. The company focuses on the independent research and development of cutting-edge international products in next-generation genetic testing, clinical diagnostics, precision medicine, and medical "big data." It develops a series of products with significant clinical application value, including those for early cancer diagnosis, along with subsequent R&D platforms.

AnchorDx Medical is the first company in China to apply high-throughput ctDNA methylation sequencing technology to cancer diagnosis. Its proprietary technologies include AnchorIRIS™, a methylation library preparation technique with efficiency ten times higher than comparable commercial products, and AnchorMonarch™, an analytical pipeline for methylation data based on machine learning algorithms. The company provides more accurate and sensitive testing products and services for clinical applications in early cancer screening, auxiliary diagnosis, treatment efficacy assessment, and recurrence monitoring.