Ankon Medical Secures Tens of Millions in USD Investment from SoftBank China, Accelerates IPO Push with Its NaviCam® Robotic Capsule Endoscopy System

On February 22, 2017, Anhan Medical, the company behind the NaviCam® magnetically controlled capsule endoscopy robot, selected SoftBank China Capital for a strategic partnership from among numerous investment offers. SoftBank China Capital injected tens of millions of US dollars into Anhan Medical to accelerate its expansion in the medical market.

Anhan Medical’s independently developed high-tech medical device—the Anhan NaviCam® Magnetically Controlled Capsule Endoscopy Robot (hereinafter referred to as the Anhan Capsule Gastroscopy)—has gained widespread recognition in China’s digestive endoscopy market and health checkup market after eight years of technological research and development and three years of market promotion. Ji Pengsong, Chairman of Anhan Medical, revealed that the Anhan Capsule Gastroscopy has been extensively deployed in 400 medical institutions across China, with plans to expand this number to 1,000 in 2017. The annual sales volume of the Anhan Capsule Gastroscopy reached 160,000 units in 2016, and orders placed at the beginning of 2017 have already exceeded 600,000 units, with projected full-year sales reaching 1 million units.

Dr. Hua Ping, Managing Partner at SoftBank China Capital, stated, “SoftBank China highly values outstanding enterprises like Anhan Medical, which possess world-unique technologies, demonstrate sustained innovation capabilities, and operate online cloud healthcare platforms. SoftBank China is full of confidence in Anhan’s future development and believes that in our future collaboration, SoftBank China will leverage its extensive resources and rich experienceJoin hands with Anhan to jointly promote the transformation of the medical market in the era of “Healthy China,” and collaboratively build a healthier and higher-quality industry ecosystem.

As early as the R&D stage, Anhan’s capsule gastroscope attracted the attention of the capital market with its novel concept and cross-disciplinary, multi-field innovative approach.In 2013, the product received approval as a Class III medical device in China and was successfully commercialized, becoming the world’s first and only “capsule gastroscope” capable of precise gastric examination.. With its world-leading products and a pipeline of multiple capsule robot products under subsequent development, Anhan Medical has seen its valuation in the capital market rise continuously.Currently, Anhan has entered its first year as a publicly listed company.

China is a region with a high prevalence of gastric diseases, and its incidence of gastric cancer ranks first globally. Health screenings through physical examinations play a crucial role in early detection, early treatment, and improving cure rates. However, the following drawbacks associated with traditional gastroscopy have led many individuals to forgo this essential health screening:

First, conventional gastroscopy is the primary diagnostic method for digestive system diseases, but it is an invasive procedure.The examination process is relatively painful., many patients are thus deterred from undergoing endoscopy.

Second, equipment is limited. The number of people requiring gastroscopy in China is 120 million person-visits, but the current equipment capacity can only accommodate over 20 million examinations. Some patients give up during the waiting period.

Third, electronic gastroscopy is not only associated with significant patient discomfort and a risk of cross-infection due to repeated use, but also carries a certain rate of complications.

When accounting for the needs of health checkup screenings, even more individuals require annual gastrointestinal examinations.

Anhan's independently developed magnetically controlled capsule gastroscopy robot has revolutionized traditional gastroscopy.“Tubeless” Innovation: Patients need only swallow a capsule-sized robotic gastroscope to complete a painless, non-invasive gastroscopy free from cross-infection within 15 minutes. The entire procedure requires no anesthesia, and the capsule robot is naturally excreted through the digestive tract afterward, designed for single-use without retrieval.

The innovation of the Anhan Capsule Gastroscopy lies in its use of precise magnetic control technology, which enables physicians to maneuver the capsule endoscope freely within the human stomach. This system overcomes the limitation of first-generation capsule endoscopes, which were restricted to small bowel examinations, by allowing for precise gastric inspection. Through the cloud-based medical platform developed by Anhan, specialists can perform remote image interpretation, providing robust support to primary healthcare institutions with limited specialist resources. Benefiting from such smart healthcare solutions, patients no longer need to travel to tertiary hospitals; instead, they can undergo comfortable and accurate capsule gastroscopy examinations at nearby facilities, with access to digestive disease experts via the cloud platform.

To achieve precise gastroscopy, the Anhan Capsule Gastroscopy System has overcome numerous technical challenges: millimeter-level precision control, accurate clinical data acquisition, and multidisciplinary technologies integrating optical systems, customized components, and safety features. Only after surmounting these challenges one by one did Anhan Medical’s research team bring the final product to market.

Following the launch of the Anhan Capsule Gastroscopy product, it was selected as a major scientific and technological achievement of China’s 12th Five-Year Plan and hailed as an outstanding representative of the “national treasures” in China’s medical industry. A research article on the accuracy of the Anhan Capsule Gastroscopy was published as the cover story in the prestigious international academic journal Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology (CGH) in September 2016. In January 2017, the Journal of Japan Gastroenterological Endoscopy Society, a leading authoritative journal in Japan—a global powerhouse in digestive endoscopy—also prominently featured this highly influential academic publication. The diagnostic accuracy of the Anhan Capsule Gastroscopy has gained recognition from the international medical community.

Currently, there are two sales channels for the Anhan Capsule Gastroscopy.One channel involves medical institutions or health checkup centers, where patients undergo examinations and receive treatment at hospitals. The other is online sales, where users are connected with gastroenterology experts via cloud-based healthcare platforms after purchase. However, the former remains the primary channel, as patients prioritize effective treatment in addition to diagnostic examinations.。

Mr. Ji Pengsong, Chairman of Anhan Corporation, stated that Anhan Medical currently has more than ten gastrointestinal products in the R&D pipeline, with two to three expected to reach completion in 2017, primarily for the diagnosis and treatment of gastrointestinal conditions.

As the standard for gastric screening and follow-up examinations, the Anhan Capsule Gastroscopy is garnering increasing attention and plays a significant role in early gastric detection among the general population. The widespread adoption of the Anhan Capsule Gastroscopy not only addresses common reluctance toward traditional gastroscopy—characterized by unwillingness, resistance, and fear—thereby ending the era of “gastric exclusion in health checkups,” but also carries substantial social significance.

Ji Pengsong, Chairman of Anhan Medical, stated that given the high incidence of gastric cancer in China, the use of Anhan’s capsule gastroscopy can significantly improve early screening rates, thereby changing the current reality where gastric cancer is often diagnosed only at advanced stages. This approach will conserve substantial medical resources for society and bring well-being to hundreds of millions of families. Furthermore, it will empower endoscopists by relieving them from burdensome initial screening and examination tasks, allowing them to focus on endoscopic surgical procedures for gastric cancer. This shift will optimize the allocation of medical resources and help address the shortage of specialized endoscopists in China.