New crown open road capital remodeling mNGS this year to ride the wind and waves?

Wen: Wang Shiwei if the new crown outbreak with fire which biotechnology, nucleic acid detection theory first, pathogenic microorganism high-flunut sequencing (mNGS) may be the second.
the end of December 2019, independent medical laboratories such as Boao Bio, Huada Gene and Micro-Far Gene received samples from patients from Wuhan City.
These patients were admitted to hospital with fever, after various antibiotic treatment is ineffective, the disease worsened, into the ICU, for a while can not find an effective treatment plan, doctors hope they try to use mNGS technology to identify the pathogens in the case sample.
According to a paper published later in the Chinese Medical Journal, the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences Pathogen Institute, China-Japan Friendship Hospital, Hubei Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Wuhan Jinyintan Hospital, Wuhan City Center Hospital, micro-remote gene research team, collected Clinical data and bronchopulmonary alfusion samples from 5 patients with severe pneumonia in Wuhan Jinyintan Hospital, Hubei Province, were tested for mNGS and found that the coronavirus, which had never been reported, was 79% similar to the nucleotide sequence of SARS virus.
the discovery laid a key foundation for deciphering the genome of the new coronavirus, developing a nucleic acid test kit, and developing a new coronavirus vaccine.
mNGS refers to the direct high-flunsuit sequencing of infected specimens, through microbial database comparing and intelligent algorithm analysis, to obtain the genus information of suspected pathogenic microorganisms, and provide comprehensive and in-depth report analysis and interpretation, to provide a fast and accurate diagnosis basis for critical infection.
China's first external mNGS services Huada gene, in the first half of 2020 financial reports, said that its self-developed PMseq® pathogenic microbial high-volume gene testing products have completed a cumulative sample testing of about 100,000 cases, the main sample types include plasma, cerebrospinal fluid, respiratory samples three categories.
senior practitioners have calculated to the arterial network that by the end of 2020, the total number of samples received by various mNGS development teams across the country will exceed 200,000.
mNGS, as a new application direction for high-volume gene sequencing, began to gradually enter clinical applications from scientific research services in the pre-2018 period and gained the attention of investment institutions in the first place, with new teams joining the layout.
's outstanding performance during the new crown outbreak has shown more people that mNGS does have considerable clinical application value.
a rare opportunity for the mNGS development team that is exploring the path of commercialization at this stage.
Capital entered, sweeping the project according to the arterial orange database statistics, since 2016, a total of 7 domestic enterprises focused on pathogen macrogenomic testing completed 17 financing, more than 1 billion yuan of venture capital was invested in this emerging industry.
in the last three quarters, there have been nine financing incidents in the mNGS sector.
Funding status (data from public information) Supplement: Microrock Medical released Angel Wheel Financing in late 2019 October 2016, Songyu Innovation Capital and Shell Fund completed the Pre-A round of financing for Reed Bio, which can be counted as the earliest capital increase obtained by the mNGS project.
, however, at that time mNGS was only part of the personalized histological big data analytics solution provided by Reed Bio.
In fact, it was not until a new round of strategic financing was completed in February this year that Reed Bio referred to the mNGS testing product as an independent pipeline for the disease diagnosis business segment and for the first time indicated that it would use the financing for clinical certification and marketing of the product.
this time more than three years, Yuanyi Capital, Luxin Ventures, Wuxi Jin investment, Zhang Jianghaocheng and other institutions have fallen into the next organism, layout mNGS project.
, Yuanyi Capital and Luxin Ventures have increased their capital and held the next organism.
turning point in the mNGS industry may be in 2019.
this year, Huada Gene integrated its mNGS technical team and product pipeline, set up a holding subsidiary Huada Inyuan Pharmaceuticals, focusing on the use of molecular diagnostic technology for the development and operation of complex infection control business.
huada gene is the first promoter of the domestic mNGS technology application, in a few years by virtue of its main product PMseq® quickly occupied the main share of the market.
After being an independent army, Huada Reason accelerated the performance optimization of PMseq® and supporting bioinfossion processes, improved analysis efficiency, shortened analysis time, and upgraded PMseq® bioinsynomics workstations and related software for different sequencing platforms, assisted in localized pathogen detection, completed the development of the international version of the interpretation database and the automated interpretation process of reports, and officially began to lay out overseas markets in 2020.
for an emerging industry, the role of giant action is self-evident.
, according to industry sources, Huada Source quickly completed two rounds of financing, Sequoia Capital, Lilly Asia and other head institutions into the bureau.
April 2019, Arterial Network exclusively disclosed Junlian Capital A round exclusive lead investment key medicine.
is a representative investment in the mNGS sector, with many investment institutions and technical teams focusing on the new opportunities that NGS technology combined with severe infections may bring after the deal was disclosed.
from the reports at the time, we can also see the mNGS product team and investment institutions at that stage of the mutual testing.
Zhi, founder of Golden Key Medicine, said that after the company launched the financing, it attracted a number of first-line institutions in the field of gene sequencing and medical diagnosis to approach.
these institutions are acutely aware of the value of golden spoon medicine through their professional understanding of the field of genetic testing and diagnostics.
For the final choice to combine with Junlian Capital, Dr. Jiang Zhi gives three reasons: first, Junlian Capital brand is good, in many aspects of the medical industry has a systematic layout;
is clear that more than a year ago in the mNGS field, or a blue sea market.
entering 2020, Dachen Ventures, Next Star Ventures, Puhua Capital, Chende Capital, Volcanic Stone Capital, Guoke Jia and Dingyi Investment and other star investment institutions in the layout of professional medical circuits have entered the market.
notable features of mNGS financing during this period, one is that the financing interval of the project is very short, and the other is that the financing events occur intensively.
From the disclosure time, Golden Key Medical from B round financing to B-round financing interval of no more than 3 months, Jieyi Bio within 5 months to complete the Pre-A and A two rounds of financing, to fruit biology Pre-A and Pre-A-A-plus round of financing news released within six months.
considering that the project party does not necessarily choose to make an external sound immediately after the delivery of the shares, the actual completion time of these financings may be earlier and the interval may be shorter.
February, the fruit organisms and the next organisms have announced the financing news, in August, Jieyi biology and micro-far biological one after another announced the financing news, micro-far biological B round financing amounted to 200 million yuan, the mNGS field of capital attention to the extreme high point. Investors in
Microgen, a B-round investment agency, told Arterial.com that the investment was a difficult one in his investment career because of the high level of competition among investment institutions, "and we were finally able to get in, even with some luck."
" this investment institution in the domestic medical investment circle has been very well-known, and the investors themselves have been deeply cultivated pathogenic microbial detection research for many years.
According to Ma Self-Reliance, a former investor in Northern Lights Ventures, it took only a short time to make the decision to invest in fruit organisms, "the Northern Lights are all laid out and experienced in the core of the NGS."
we analyzed and compared the mNGS projects in the market, based on the recognition of the strength of the U.S.-China team and the distinct advantages of its products, we gave TS and bridge loan lock-in projects.
" Qingyu Capital Investment Director Yuan Shuo analysis, after several years of development, mNGS industry differentiation has begun, the emergence of technology, algorithms, data volume, channels, approval and certification in the field of a clear advantage of the head company.
addition, the launch of the Board and GEM registration system, for innovative projects to provide a clear exit path, some attention later, for high valuations acceptable institutions began to sell frequently.
" in the absence of a clear exit channel and industry development has emerged head players, institutions dare to form a clear technical and market advantage of the company bet.
essence, this reflects the investment logic of Pre-IPO.
, " the original shuo said to the arterial network.
Funding gap is still very large arterial network understand that although the investment institutions speed up the pace of layout, mNGS investment is still a buyer's market, with the exception of a very small number of head projects in the relatively late stage can select investment institutions, in the vast majority of cases, the project side in the investment or not decision-making in a relatively passive position.
the mNGS industry is very new in terms of the overall stage of development.
On the one hand, the main practitioners are not very long, and some even just transitioned from other industries, the understanding of pathogenic microorganisms and clinical experience need to be further accumulated;
" once described mNGS technology as opening a window into pathogen identification, making diagnosis easier and making medical evidence that had never been thought of before available.
" Ma told Arterial Network that clinicians and gene sequencing teams should work closely together to make mNGS technology more widely recognized.
After leading the Pre-A round of financing of the Northern Lights for fruit organisms, Ma left the Northern Lights on his own and made a COO for fruit organisms, "after the superiority of the new technology was seen by clinicians, the technical team needed to cooperate with clinicians to conduct more research, find more laws of pathogens, and continuously optimize the product."
" means continuous capital investment and data accumulation, compared with NIPT and tumor small panel sequencing products, mNGS maturity has a long way to go, the industry needs to sink to study.
in the relatively early stages, mNGS enterprises need to acquire equipment, develop products, and form technical teams.
the purchase of gene sequencing platforms and reagents, whether the choice of imported or domestic equipment, involving millions of dollars of capital investment.
development of these products needs to be repeatedly verified, the mNGS enterprises in the middle and lower reaches of the gene sequencing industry chain have limited bargaining power to upstream suppliers, and it is difficult to control cost growth.
addition, as a new industry, mature mNGS development talent is relatively scarce, the formation of technical team, training, is also a considerable investment.
the medium-term phase of the project, the funding required for data accumulation and clinical trials has increased dramatically.
According to Jieyi Biological founder Wang Wei, with NIPT product applications relatively concentrated, tumor NGS product sample size ceiling is different, mNGS sample distribution range is very wide, and the accumulation speed is very fast, whether it is to interpret sample data, or do standard database comparison, the scale of data processing is very large, the corresponding costs are higher than the first two applications.
mature stage, mNGS projects will also face financial investment in regulatory compliance and marketing.
it is understood that although product registration and approval has a long way to go, the regulatory side attaches great importance to the application of mNGS technology in scientific research and clinical compliance, several head projects are also actively cooperating with the development of mNGS-related technical standards.
senior practitioners told Arterial Network that since 2018, as the technical support department of the Drug Review Center (CDE) of the State Drug Administration, the China Food and Drug Inspection Research Institute has organized relevant enterprises to conduct joint research on mNGS standard products for three consecutive years.
Regulation of new technologies and products necessarily requires innovative rules, " Mr Ma said. "
" in fact, most companies in the industry are in a loss-making or break-even state, in addition to a few listed companies can be profitable and raise capital in the secondary market, more companies basically need capital support to maintain the company's development.
" in fact, companies in the mNGS industry are generally in the long-term financing process, and the overall demand for capital is very strong.
," the practitioner told Arterial Network.
In the last two years, especially after 19 years, due to the slowdown in the growth rate of investment in the domestic market, the overall market financing is more difficult, in the financing difficulties, long financing cycle, strict terms of the environment, many mNGS projects are also facing a large funding gap.
more money and clearer demand, the industry needs to be more cautious capital will not blindly enter an industry, clinical demand for newer, better infection detection methods is very strong.
is first and foremost a policy push.
recent years, the country has paid more and more attention to the problem of antibiotic abuse.
In recent years, the National Health and Health Commission issued a series of notifications on the rational application of antimicrobial drugs, requiring medical institutions at all levels to strengthen the importance of rational application of antimicrobial drugs, organize various types of learning to enhance the knowledge of the rational application of antimicrobial drugs by physicians and pharmacists, and put forward the detection of the concentration of antimicrobial drugs in patients is also an important measure to implement the rational application of antimicrobial drugs.
Following the release on March 29, 2019 of the Notice on the Continuous Management of The Clinical Application of Antibacterial Drugs, on June 8, 2020, the National Health and Safety Commission issued a draft of the Notice on The Clinical Application management of Antimicrobial Drugs under the New Situation, which clearly states that the construction of clinical testing laboratories should be strengthened, the level of microbial testing should be improved, and rapid diagnostic techniques should be actively explored to improve the diagnostic efficiency of infectious diseases.
In addition, the National Health and Safety Commission issued a "letter on seeking the advice of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on the construction of standards" from six aspects to set the center of disease prevention and control construction standards, but also provided for special laboratories, such as PCR laboratories, NGS laboratories and a large number of IVD equipment and equipment, such as standards;
, infectious diseases have been one of the major causes of morbidity and mortality among the global population over the past decade or so.