HaiBo Biotech Secures Tens of Millions RMB in Pre-A Financing Led by PuHua Capital

VCBeat has learned that Zhejiang Haibo Biotechnology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Haibo Biotech”) recently announced the completion of its Pre-A financing round, amounting to tens of millions of yuan. This round was exclusively invested by Puhua Capital and will support Haibo Biotech’s rapid development in product R&D, clinical trials, and scientific research collaborations.

As a pioneer in innovative near-infrared tumor-targeted precision imaging drugs in China, Ningbo Haibo Biotechnology Co., Ltd. has submitted a Pre-IND application to the NMPA for NC527-X, its near-infrared hypoxia-targeted contrast agent. The company has currently established multiple pipelines targeting solid tumors.

In 2020, the number of new cancer cases in China was approximately 4.6 million, which is projected to reach 4.8 million in 2022 and 5.2 million by 2025, accounting for 26.9% of the global total of new cases. Surgical resection is typically the first-line treatment for solid tumors, and the feasibility of complete tumor removal significantly influences patients’ postoperative survival duration and quality of life.

Although various methods are currently available for tumor diagnosis and preoperative planning, the lack of effective real-time tools to assist surgeons in delineating tumor margins—due to equipment and other limitations—means that complete resection relies primarily on the operating surgeon’s experience, thereby posing a risk of positive surgical margins. Near-infrared tumor-targeted precision imaging technology provides real-time intraoperative guidance, facilitating visualization and further improving surgical success rates, thus holding substantial market potential.

Specifically, compared with traditional imaging methods, near-infrared fluorescent molecular probes for tumors can be used for intraoperative tumor resection, as well as early screening, early diagnosis, and follow-up examinations.Real-time intraoperative imaging, high-precision tumor targeting, radiation-free and side-effect-free, high specificity, and extended surgical time windowsuch characteristics. Statistics indicate that even in the United States, the average incidence rate of positive surgical margins is as high as nearly 9%, reaching 20–30% in certain types of cancer.

In November 2021, Cytalux, the world’s first near-infrared tumor-targeting contrast agent, received FDA approval for market launch. Cytalux is a near-infrared tumor-targeting contrast agent that targets folate receptors and has currently obtained New Drug Application (NDA) approvals for ovarian cancer and lung cancer. According to the product catalog of CVS Health, a U.S. pharmaceutical retailer, the list price of Cytalux is $4,465.50, with a discounted price of $2,790.93.

Unlike Cytalux, Haibo Biotech’s NC527-X targets the tumor hypoxia pathwayApplicable to intraoperative imaging for all solid tumors。

Meanwhile, it demonstrates significant clinical advantages: it is applicable to all solid tumors, including folate receptor-low expressing malignancies such as prostate cancer, which are not suitable for Cytalux; it binds efficiently to human serum albumin, exhibits excellent in vivo metabolism, and has no side effects; it offers high sensitivity, enabling clear visualization of tumor boundaries with no false negatives; it is not limited by the blood-brain barrier and can be used for imaging brain metastases; it has an extremely wide therapeutic window, resulting in high acceptance among surgeons; and as a new molecular entity with full independent intellectual property rights, it enjoys global commercialization rights.

Dr. Wang Weiwei, Founder and CEO of Haibo Biotechnologystated: “Haibo Biotechnology has established a hypoxia pathway technology platform compatible with all solid tumor types. The company has currently submitted the Pre-IND application for NC527-X and expects to file the IND application within the year.”NC527-X has demonstrated favorable efficacy and safety in preclinical trials, positioning it as a promising first-in-class product for intraoperative imaging across all tumor types, thereby addressing the domestic and even global gap in near-infrared tumor-targeted precision imaging products.“We extend our sincere gratitude to Puhua Capital for its investment in this round, as well as to Sherpa Investments and Nuohui Venture Capital for their early-stage support. We will continue to intensify our efforts, striving to make our independently developed near-infrared hypoxia-targeted contrast agent available to cancer patients and individuals undergoing early screening at the earliest possible date, while expanding our pipeline to cover all solid tumor types.”

Zhu Baolin, Vice President of Investment at Puhua Capitalstated: “The team at Ningbo Haibo Biotechnology Co., Ltd. has accumulated extensive expertise in the field of fluorescent contrast agents, successfully overcoming various drugability challenges encountered during the R&D process. The product has now advanced to the stage of preparing for clinical trial application, positioning the company at the forefront in China with broad potential application scenarios. We look forward to the upcoming clinical trials and hope to soon see Ningbo Haibo Biotechnology’s comprehensive portfolio across all solid tumor types, thereby benefiting cancer patients.”

Shi Yina, Managing Director at Sherpa Capital“Surgical resection remains the most effective method with the potential to cure solid tumors. Near-infrared fluorescence imaging provides a new solution for intraoperative navigation, ushering in an era of precise surgical identification and addressing an urgent clinical need. Leveraging years of research achievements by its founding team, Ningbo Haibo Biotechnology Co., Ltd. has developed a product that offers competitive advantages over other tumor diagnostic products, including rapid labeling, real-time imaging, and ultra-high specificity and sensitivity. This product will significantly shorten surgery time and improve patient prognosis. As one of the earliest investors in Haibo Biotechnology, we look forward to the early market launch of the company’s products to benefit a broad patient population.”

Li Yanrong, Partner at Nuohui Venture CapitalIt stated: “Currently, white-light/fluorescence endoscopy is increasingly widely used in minimally invasive tumor resection; however, there is a lack of contrast agents on the market that can specifically target and visualize tumors to help surgeons better localize and precisely and completely resect tumor lesions in real time. The difficulty in determining positive margins intraoperatively has led to high postoperative tumor recurrence rates. In late 2021, the FDA approved CYTALUX, the world’s first near-infrared fluorescent contrast agent capable of specifically targeting and visualizing tumors, marking an epochal breakthrough in the history of oncologic surgery. We are delighted to see that the near-infrared tumor-targeting fluorescent contrast agent independently developed by Ningbo Haibo Biotechnology Co., Ltd. has demonstrated superior visualization performance compared with CYTALUX in animal studies. We look forward to this product entering clinical trials soon, thereby taking the lead in filling the significant gap in the domestic market and addressing key pain points in tumor surgery.”

Puhua Capital, founded in 2004 and headquartered in Hangzhou, maintains offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and London, UK. The firm focuses on investments in four key sectors: frontier technologies, new energy/new materials, healthcare, and consumer culture. Leveraging its profound industry insights and extensive capital market experience, Puhua Capital has established a “capital + industry” dual-drive strategy, committed to investing early, innovatively, in specialized ventures, and in growth-stage companies, thereby serving as an incubator and accelerator for entrepreneurship and innovation.

Currently, Puhua Capital manages assets exceeding RMB 25 billion, has continuously invested in and supported the development of nearly 500 startups, and achieved exits for over 150 portfolio companies through IPOs and other means. Its investment portfolio includes ByteDance, Zhongchu Guoneng, MicroPort Scientific Corporation (Nanwei Medicine), Bioprocess, Jiangsu Genostem Pharmaceutical, Remebot Surgical Robot, Aim Vaccine, and others. In various annual rankings of China’s venture capital industry, Puhua Capital was honored in 2022 as “TOP 14” on the Zero2IPO List, “TOP 16” on the Financing China List, “TOP 18” on the CVSource List, and recognized as a Leading Investment Institution in Zhejiang Province.