Landing Medical Completes New Funding Round Led by BOC Investment, Highlighting First-Mover Advantage in AI-Powered Cervical Cancer Screening

Recently, VCBeat (WeChat official account: vcbeat) learned that Wuhan Landing Medical High-Tech Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Landing Medical”) has completed a new round of financing led by BOC Group Investment Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “BOC Investment”), with China Merchants Venture Capital following on. In early 2016, Landing Medical received Pre-A round investment from Daotong Investment, and in early 2017, it secured Series A funding from Xiantong Capital.

Landing Medical is a leading medical artificial intelligence enterprise, primarily engaged in the research, production, sales, and clinical screening services of AI-based cancer cell diagnosis. Its independently developed AI technology for cervical cancer screening and diagnosis, integrated with the internet, has provided high-quality, efficient, and low-cost cervical cancer screening services to millions of women in China, pioneering the introduction of cervical cancer screening into the new era of artificial intelligence worldwide.

The healthcare industry has always been a key focus for BOC Investment, with the application and promotion of artificial intelligence in healthcare being a priority sub-sector.

Artificial intelligence has achieved remarkable progress over the past one to two years. As a branch of AI, medical artificial intelligence faces greater challenges than applications in other fields in terms of data availability, algorithm maturity, and service fault tolerance.

Meanwhile, like other AI sectors, the core value of medical AI lies in enhancing both the “quality” and “quantity” of services. For instance, Landin has improved the speed and accuracy of cervical cancer screening, thereby largely meeting market demand. Therefore, BOC Investment holds that companies standing out in the medical AI track must, on one hand, possess the capability for iterative technological development to gradually establish stable and reliable algorithms, and on the other hand, have an in-depth understanding of the healthcare industry, clearly identifying the needs and pain points of medical application scenarios, so as to realize the practical implementation and application of technological value.

BOC Investment believes that the application of AI technology is currently mainly focused on early screening, optimal surgical planning and navigation, as well as extracorporeal artificial organ devices. Wuhan Landing is a leading enterprise in the niche field of cervical cancer early screening. Under the leadership of its chairwoman, Ms. Sun Xiaorong, and her team, who have dedicated nearly two decades to this sector, the company has developed prominent core technologies and intellectual property rights.

Meanwhile, based on communications with the management team and its assessment of industry trends, BOC Investment (Zhongyin Tou) believes that Wuhan Landing possesses strong commercialization prospects. It recognizes Sun Xiaorong’s vision and execution capabilities in technological upgrades and corporate management development, and thus participated in this financing round as the lead investor.

Cervical cancer is the second most common malignant tumor threatening women’s health worldwide. In China, there are approximately 130,000 new cases annually, accounting for 28% of the global total, and one Chinese woman dies from cervical cancer every 20 minutes. Early-stage cervical cellular carcinogenesis is readily detectable, with a cure rate exceeding 90%; early detection and timely treatment are key to combating this disease.

Cervical cancer cytology screening largely relies on pathologists’ interpretation and judgment of cell slides based on clinical experience, which is highly subjective. Due to variations in pathologists’ professional competencies, the rate of missed diagnoses in pathological testing is relatively high, efficiency is low, and standardized quality control management is lacking. Consequently, the daily slide review volume for screening technicians should be kept below 100 cases.

Landing’s products facilitate a transition from subjective, manual diagnosis to precise, quantitative, and objective testing, thereby achieving automation, standardization, quantification, and intelligence in detection. In terms of diagnostic efficiency, only one technician is required to support the initial screening of 2,000 cases per day, significantly liberating pathologists from repetitive tasks. Regarding accuracy, Landing’s products demonstrate a 12% higher accuracy rate than pathology experts. In quality control, automated quantitative quality control technology increases the sensitivity of quality control from 42%–73% with manual methods in the United States to over 85%.

Landing’s “Landing” system has separately obtained certification from China’s CFDA, the U.S. FDA, and the EU CE. In addition, Landing has partnered with Alibaba to establish a cloud-based platform for cervical cancer screening and diagnosis, pioneering the migration of third-party clinical laboratory services for cytopathology to the cloud. This innovation provides high-quality, cost-effective solutions for large-scale cervical cancer screening both in China and internationally.

In December 2017, the Hubei Provincial Women’s Federation, the Provincial Health and Family Planning Commission, and the Provincial Department of Finance jointly launched a three-year public welfare initiative to provide free screening for cervical and breast cancer (“two cancers”) among impoverished women in both urban and rural areas. The project aimed to offer free “two-cancer” screenings to 370,000 eligible impoverished women across the province. Through an open bidding process, Wuhan Sun Xiaorong Medical Laboratory, a third-party testing institution, was selected to conduct cervical cancer screening using the “Landing” AI cloud platform-based big data screening model. The “Landing” laboratory has a monthly sample testing capacity of up to 1.08 million cases, which is more than 300 times higher than the work efficiency of traditional physicians.

AI-based screening not only offers advantages such as high accuracy, efficient screening, and convenience for the public; women undergoing screening can receive their reports at home via mobile phones, and management departments at all levels can monitor the progress of screening activities in real time through software.
 
Beyond Hubei Province, Landing Medical is currently undertaking government-led “two-cancer” screening programs in multiple regions, including Shanxi, Henan, and Yunnan, and has entered more than 400 large and medium-sized hospitals across China to provide related diagnostic services.

According to VCBeat, Landin has prominent advantages in technological upgrading, channel development, and commercial implementation.

The company has been continuously upgrading and expanding its technological capabilities. For instance, in 2017, it successfully developed an automated skeletal diagnostic system and launched a cloud-based diagnostic platform, effectively leveraging artificial intelligence to enhance medical diagnostics.

In terms of channel development, Landing has not only established strong collaborative relationships with domestic tertiary hospitals, earning their widespread recognition. In January 2018, in Houston, USA, Landing Medical announced a cooperation agreement with the MD Anderson Cancer Center, ranked No. 1 in the United States. The two parties plan to collaborate on clinical research and applications of AI-based automated diagnosis for high-incidence tumors in cytopathology. Leveraging Landing’s big data cloud platform for cervical cancer screening, which has already achieved mature clinical application in China, they will conduct joint remote international quality control diagnostic experiments in cytopathology.

Professor Dr. Savitri Krishnamurthy, Director of Cytopathology at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, stated that Landing AI’s technological innovations in artificial intelligence within the field of cytopathology have made big data cloud-based diagnosis and direct mobile delivery of reports a reality, completely disrupting the existing traditional diagnostic landscape. She added that their successful collaboration will bring about a revolution in the global pathology diagnostics industry.

In terms of commercial implementation, with capital and talent gradually in place, Landin undertook government-led “two-cancer” screening projects in multiple regions including Hubei, Shanxi, Henan, and Yunnan in 2018. Its products and equipment have been deployed in 400 hospitals across China, while three independent clinical laboratories in Chengdu, Changsha, and Hangzhou are poised to commence operations.

Following this round of investment, BOC International Holdings stated that it would further seek to facilitate communication and collaboration between Landing Medical and its portfolio companies across various dimensions, including technology, products, and distribution channels. Meanwhile, it will leverage the comprehensive strengths of the Bank of China Group to provide Landing Medical with multifaceted support.

BOC Group Investment Company Limited is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bank of China, incorporated in Hong Kong in December 1984. As Bank of China’s professional investment management arm, BOC Group Investment engages in diverse investment activities across Hong Kong, Macau, mainland China, and overseas markets, with investments spanning sectors such as healthcare, consumer goods, energy, transportation, and finance.

Over the years, leveraging the Bank of China’s robust financial strength and extensive business network, BOC Investment has achieved remarkable performance in equity investments in enterprises, fund investment and management, real estate investment and management, and non-performing asset investment. Currently, the company’s assets under management have exceeded HK$180 billion.