Quzhen Medicine Secures Strategic Investment from Yangzi State Capital, Officially Joins National Team to Build Full-Chain Precision Oncology Ecosystem

VCBeat has learned that in May 2018, the Yangzi Technology Venture Capital Equity Investment Fund, under the Yangzhou State-owned Assets Investment Group (hereinafter referred to as “Yangzi Guotou”), acquired a stake in Qiuzhen Medical Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Qiuzhen Medical”). This move marked Qiuzhen Medical’s official inclusion in the national team, becoming a member unit of the National Health and Medical Big Data Center. The two parties jointly invested RMB 50 million to strategically lay out the upstream and downstream industrial chains of oncology, establishing an oncology biobank, constructing a tumor atlas for the Chinese population, and building an oncology big data center.

Yangzi State Investment is a wholly state-owned enterprise funded by the Nanjing Municipal People's Government, with a registered capital of RMB 5 billion. As of the end of 2017, its total assets amounted to RMB 180 billion. It serves as an investment and financing platform primarily responsible for undertaking major functional project investments and industrial transformation tasks in the Nanjing Jiangbei New Area, a national-level new area.

Yangzi State-owned Investment Group’s Yangzi Science and Innovation Center—now the largest gene sequencing base in Asia, with an annual sequencing capacity of 400,000 to 500,000 individuals—is also among the first batch of National Health and Medical Big Data Centers, boasting a storage capacity of 52 petabytes (PB) and leading domestic supercomputing capabilities. This collaboration marks the first step in the strategic partnership between Qiuzhen Medical and Yangzi State-owned Investment Group. Leveraging this opportunity, Qiuzhen Medical will actively participate in the strategic development of the life and health industry in Nanjing Jiangbei New Area and the application of national health and medical big data.

Qiuzhen Medicine is committed to becoming a global leader in providing comprehensive products and services across the entire cancer care continuum. Its product portfolio covers early cancer screening, prevention and diagnosis, dynamic monitoring, medication guidance, prognostic assessment, and bioinformatics-based big data analysis. Headquartered in Jinghai Industrial Park within the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area, the company operates several subsidiaries, including Beijing Qiuzhen Medical Laboratory Co., Ltd., Zhengzhou Qiuzhen Medical Laboratory Co., Ltd., Hangzhou Qiuzhen Medical Laboratory Co., Ltd., Nanjing Qiuzhen Gene Technology Co., Ltd., Hangzhou Qiuzhen Diagnostic Technology Co., Ltd., and Beijing Qiuzhen Medical Devices Co., Ltd. Qiuzhen Medicine has initially established a full industrial chain layout encompassing upstream production of instruments and reagents, midstream operation of a chain of third-party specialized oncology testing laboratories, and downstream genetic big data analysis and translational medicine technology services, aiming to build a world-class translational medicine R&D center.

Qiuzhen Medical possesses globally leading liquid biopsy molecular diagnostic technologies. Its independently developed SMART-ctDNA sequencing technology can accurately detect low-frequency mutations at an allele frequency of 0.1%. Furthermore, by pioneering the application of unnatural nucleotide analog technology, it enables ultra-multiplex detection of trace specimens. This innovation addresses practical clinical challenges such as low detection success rates, narrow detection panels, and low throughput associated with trace samples. The technology is broadly compatible with multiple platforms, including PCR, Sanger sequencing, next-generation sequencing (NGS), third-generation sequencing, and mass spectrometry.

Qiuzhen Medical boasts a top-tier professional team. Leveraging extensive experience in molecular diagnostics, molecular biology, and oncology, the team has established a multi-platform-based precision molecular diagnostic matrix for cancer. Holding multiple patented technologies and capitalizing on Qiuzhen Medical’s specialized strengths, the company has developed a series of commercial molecular diagnostic products characterized by high sensitivity and high specificity that meet clinical needs. Building on years of accumulation in the molecular testing industry and a deep understanding of clinical requirements, Qiuzhen Medical will continue to launch innovative cancer detection products that are more closely aligned with clinical needs in the future.

Dr. Zhou Qiming, President of Qiuzhen Medical, stated: “Through leapfrog strategic deployment, Qiuzhen Medical has entered a fast track of development. By establishing a strategic partnership with an industry group backed by state-owned capital, we have further perfected our full-industry-chain layout to address national and societal needs in precision oncology care. We will continue to advance translational research and the development and upgrading of products in precision oncology medicine, ensuring that cutting-edge medical technologies benefit the general public and tangibly improve the health standards of the Chinese people.”