GeneX Medical: Pioneering Tumor NGS Testing with a Craftsman’s Dedication to Patient Health
Cao Shanbai, founder of Jinxiang Medicine, remains deeply impressed by the birth of Dolly the cloned sheep in 1998. “The advent of the cloned sheep endowed life sciences with the power to change the world.” Driven by his passion for the life sciences, he unhesitatingly chose molecular biology as his major when filling out his college application in 2000.
“However, after entering the life sciences field, Cao Shanbai realized that the ideal of changing the world was ambitious, while reality was stark.”“In my view, China’s life sciences industry was virtually nonexistent between 2000 and 2010. It was not until the widespread adoption of next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology that the industrialization of the life sciences sector began to show promise.”
After completing his Ph.D. at the University of Hong Kong, Cao Shanbai worked for five years in the fields of assisted reproduction and non-invasive prenatal diagnosis (NIPD). During this period, he published multiple SCI-indexed papers and served as the principal investigator for a National Natural Science Foundation of China Young Scientists Fund project. In 2018, he co-founded Jinxiang Medicine with two other partners, dedicating himself to the field of tumor genetic testing. To outside observers, Cao’s decision was puzzling: given that assisted reproduction and NIPD were both booming sectors with promising prospects, and that he had already built a solid five-year foundation in these areas, why did he choose to root his career in tumor genetic testing?
In Cao Shanbai’s view, China’s technical capabilities in assisted reproductive technology and non-invasive prenatal diagnosis are on par with advanced international standards, but there remains a certain gap in oncology diagnosis and treatment compared to abroad. “We hope to bridge these gaps through the efforts of our generation, and“We hope to harness the power to change the fate of cancer patients, elevating the standard of oncology diagnosis and treatment in China to a new level.”
Driven by a reverence for life and an aspiration toward the life sciences, Cao Shanbai entered the field of oncology. “It is never too late to pursue one’s ideals.”
The period from 2015 to 2017 was the most fervent phase for domestic tumor NGS testing, with new enterprises and products emerging continuously. However, Cao Shanbai founded Jinxiang Medicine when the entire industry was cooling down. Cao Shanbai believes:“The founding team of the company has experienced the transition in the field of tumor gene testing from extreme fervor to a more rational state, which has helped us correct our development direction and avoid many mistakes commonly made by early-stage startups.”
Cao Shanbai stated that from 2015 to 2017, due to a lack of clear understanding of the clinical medical applications of next-generation sequencing (NGS), many companies’ R&D and product promotion strategies were significantly misaligned with actual clinical practice, resulting in substantial investments that lacked real clinical value.
The founding team of Jinxiang Medicine recognized the importance of identifying the right strategic direction. They conducted in-depth analysis and research on specific subsectors within oncology,“Guided by the tangible needs of clinicians and the improvement of patients’ quality of life, we conduct product development and tackle key technical challenges.”become the company's development direction.
As liquid biopsy gradually transitions into clinical application both domestically and internationally, Cao Shanbai has observed that the clinical use of next-generation sequencing (NGS) is becoming increasingly mature in disease areas with large patient populations, such as lung cancer and colorectal cancer. With the advancement of translational medicine, the boundaries of multidisciplinary tumor treatment continue to expand. For instance, in fields like hematologic malignancies and urologic tumors, relying solely on testing and companion diagnostic products developed for major cancer types such as lung cancer no longer meets clinical needs. There is an urgent demand for more refined, “specialized” NGS products tailored to subspecialties to support clinical decision-making. Currently, in the segmented domains of various cancer types, enterprises must devote focused efforts to both product design and medical interpretation services. This involves professional operations in clinical cohort design and management, collection and mining of real-world data, and potential collaborative development with pharmaceutical companions. The ultimate goal is singular: to provide more valuable products and services to the clinic, thereby improving patients’ quality of life.
Based on this, Cao Shanbai and his team analyzed that urological tumors and hematologic malignancies are both niche segments with significant growth potential in the field of tumor genetic testing.No influential leading companies have yet emerged in these two fields; Jinxiang Medicine has the strength and opportunity to grow into the No. 1 player.
Jinxiang Medical, established only in 2018, appeared to be “a step behind,” but now demonstrates clear late-mover advantages. In April 2020, Jinxiang Medical completed its Series A financing round of over RMB 100 million during the capital winter. Currently, the company has become one of the few in the industryAn NGS Medical Services Company with Dual Leadership in Solid Tumors and Hematologic Malignancies, has established unique brand advantages in lung cancer, gastrointestinal tumors, urological tumors, and hematologic malignancies,Launched over 30 testing products to date, covering early diagnosis and screening for multiple cancer types, hereditary risk assessment, companion diagnostics for targeted and immunotherapies, tumor diagnostic subtyping, prognostic evaluation, and dynamic monitoring. It has garnered recognition from numerous clinical and laboratory experts in oncology and currently serves over 300 hospitals.
Those familiar with the oncology genetic testing industry will note that most tumor NGS (Next-Generation Sequencing) companies currently focus on solid tumors. This is not only because solid tumors affect a large patient population and have well-established translational medicine research, but also because NGS-based companion diagnostics have gradually matured after years of market education and clinical application. This implies that in the field of solid tumors, a single database can support medication guidance across various cancer types, with a clear technological pathway.
“A senior clinical expert once told Cao Shanbai: “For tertiary internal medicine specialties such as hematologic malignancies, disease prognosis cannot be clearly determined through imaging and pathology as it is for solid tumors, creating an urgent clinical need for advanced technical tools to inform physicians.“Whether patients need to sell a cow to afford chemotherapy or are forced to grit their teeth and sell their home for a transplant is not only a matter of the patient’s fate, but also that of an entire family.”
“This remark by the expert often lingers in Cao Shanbai’s mind: the etiology of hematologic malignancies is more complex; their incidence rate is less than 5% of that of solid tumors such as lung cancer, making them a ‘niche field.’ Moreover, the relationship between genes and diseases in hematologic malignancies has not been fully elucidated, and there are no directly referenceable resources in open-source databases. Coupled with the scarcity of domestic companies specializing in hematologic malignancies, enterprises must build their databases from scratch, so the difficulty is self-evident.”
“The interpretation of data in hematologic malignancies differs from the ‘gene-drug’ model used for solid tumors, as it requires consideration of the impact of genes on clinical prognosis. This necessitates clinical follow-up data to continuously refine and calibrate the database.”Therefore, we designed an automated clinical follow-up system from the outset and collaborated with China’s leading hematologic oncology hospitals to gradually build a database for interpreting hematologic malignancies in the Chinese population, accumulating nearly 10,000 cases with complete clinical follow-up data.“Golden Oak’s hematologic oncology database is currently the largest in China. Its meticulously refined products can genuinely assist hematologists in providing accurate prognostic assessments and precise diagnoses for patients.”
As of now,Golden Oak Medicine has provided genetic testing services to tens of thousands of cancer patients, with over 300 partner hospitals.Has earned high recognition from a large number of doctors and patients. The reason why Jinxiang Medicine can gain customer recognition lies in the quality of its testing. It is understood that the company's quality control far exceeds industry standards, and its products have achieved full scores in various domestic and international quality assessments.
Cao Shanbai stated,The greatest technical challenges in the industry lie in maintaining detection accuracy with trace samples and providing accurate, scientifically rigorous interpretation of genetic variants.To address the aforementioned issues, Jinxiang Medicine has developed three key technologies.
1. Ultra-micro sample extraction technology.Under normal circumstances, a single test requires 10 mL of blood or 10 tumor tissue sections. Samples below this threshold are classified as micro-samples. Jinxiang Medicine possesses industry-leading micro-sample extraction technology, which can effectively increase the extraction efficiency from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissues and circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) by 2 to 10 times. This technology reduces the required initial sample volume, enabling testing with as few as 3 tissue sections or 2 mL of blood.
Second, Jinxiang Medicine’s proprietary chip design and analysis platform.The company has developed a comprehensive suite of bioinformatics algorithms to ensure the uniformity and stability of detection data, thereby ultimately guaranteeing the reliability of test results. Currently, it can achieve stable and accurate detection of low-frequency mutations at levels below 5%, and even below 1%.
Third, Jinxiang Medicine’s real-time updated interpretation database.Currently, Golden Oak Medicine has established a Chinese population tumor gene database comprising over 10,000 cases, including a Chinese population hematologic malignancy gene database, China’s first urologic oncology gene database, and TMB databases for specialized tumor subspecialties. The scale of these databases far exceeds that of all currently available public databases, and with daily real-time updates, they ensure the accuracy of genetic variant interpretation.
Regarding future plans and vision, Cao Shanbai expressed his hope that Jinxiang Medicine would become a top-tier player in the oncology genetic testing industry, and rank No. 1 in several specific cancer segments, such as urological tumors and hematologic malignancies. In the long run, Jinxiang Medicine will continue to commit to building a tumor gene database for the Chinese population, transforming into a big data enterprise. Based on tumor genetic data, it aims to create a comprehensive platform covering early screening, early diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis of tumors. This platform will not only provide support for the entire cycle of tumor diagnosis and treatment but also assist pharmaceutical companies in new drug target screening, expansion of drug indications, and other related tasks.