Pro-Health Completes Spin-off from Coyote Bioscience and Secures Tens of Millions in Pre-A Funding

VCBeat (WeChat ID: vcbeat) has learned that Pro-Health (Coyote Medical Laboratory), established three years ago, recently announced its separation from its parent entity, Coyote Biotechnology (Beijing) Co., Ltd. As an independent entity, Pro-Health also announced the completion of a Pre-A financing round worth tens of millions of yuan. This round was jointly invested by FreeS Fund and Lianli Capital, with Life Capital serving as the exclusive financial advisor.

Following this round of financing, Pro-Health will focus on precision health services for women and children within the microbiome sector of the broader healthcare industry. Supported by three core pillars—precision medical products for women and children, physician services, and preterm birth education coupled with telemedicine—Pro-Health will establish its new business entities around medical testing and remote physician consultations, as well as product solutions leveraging artificial intelligence, big data, and probiotics. This strategy aims to complete a closed-loop ecosystem for precision health services tailored to women and children.

In recent years, Pro-Health has focused on the microbiome sector for women’s and children’s health, collaborating with numerous renowned experts and teams to conduct cutting-edge research.

Since 2017, Pro-Health has engaged in multiple collaborations with authoritative experts, including Academician Zhou Honghao, a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and a pioneer in pharmacogenetics and pharmacogenomics in China, as well as several researchers selected for the “Hundred Talents Program” at the Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Additionally, Pro-Health has partnered with leading obstetrics and gynecology hospitals, such as Peking University People’s Hospital, the Chinese PLA General Hospital, and Peking Union Medical College Hospital, accumulating over one thousand clinical datasets and establishing an exclusive microbiome database for preterm birth risk assessment.

According to industry data from the National Health and Family Planning Commission, China sees 1.2 million preterm births annually, ranking second globally. Preterm birth has become the leading cause of neonatal and infant mortality in China.

Among these, more than 50% of preterm births are associated with vaginal infections in women. Based on this, Li Xiang, CEO of Coyote, stated: “Precision medicine for women and children based on the microbiome is an effective approach to identify risk factors for preterm birth in women, reduce the incidence of preterm birth, and significantly improve the survival rates of preterm infants.”

In addition to microbiome testing, Pro-Health also offers genomics-based services, including precision medication guidance for children, genetic disease screening for children, and spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) screening.

Currently, Pro-Health offers hundreds of microbiome testing services, with prices generally ranging from one or two hundred yuan to over a thousand yuan. The company aims to bring precision health into every household by having Coyote develop affordable products that can comprehensively reach the target population for precision medicine.

The product is primarily promoted through medical institutions, providing physicians with effective auxiliary screening tools. It is further supported by collaborations with vertical online platforms such as Dr. Cui Yutao’s Parenting Academy, high-traffic platforms like Alipay, and complementary well-known third-party service providers to achieve precise coverage of the target population.

Currently, Pro-Health has entered into an exclusive partnership with Dr. Cui Yutao, a renowned pediatric expert in China, to jointly develop world-class tests for children’s gut microbiota and personalized medication. This collaboration has established the only online platform dedicated to promoting precision medicine in pediatrics.

In 2018, Pro-Health will finalize contractual partnerships with two subsidiary laboratories operated by Hehe Inspection, currently China’s leading vitamin testing platform, and Huayin Health, one of the largest third-party pathological diagnosis centers in China.

Meanwhile, Pro-Health is also collaborating with DuPont, the world’s largest contract manufacturer and supplier of probiotics, to design and develop a variety of user-oriented personalized probiotic solutions.

In the future, Pro-Health will continue to upgrade its domestic precision medicine products for pediatrics and microbiome-based products for obstetrics and gynecology, gradually expanding its portfolio of preterm birth-related, personalized medication, and oncology-related products, as well as AI-integrated diagnostic and therapeutic solutions, into overseas markets and ultimately the global market.

Li Xiang stated, “As a third-party testing service provider, Coyote aims to accelerate the clinical application of cutting-edge technologies and precise diagnostic techniques, facilitating their widespread adoption at the primary care level and expediting the implementation of China’s tiered diagnosis and treatment system in grassroots hospitals.”

Ultimately, he hopes that these technologies will benefit more mothers and children at primary-level maternal and child health care institutions and children’s hospitals in second- and third-tier cities. Coyote will continue to uphold its longstanding tradition of public welfare by establishing a charitable foundation and engaging more extensively in philanthropic activities.