The roadshow introduced four outstanding applied projects initiated by sci-tech innovation teams from the University of Cambridge, University of Oxford and University College London - “BioMavericks”, “Suzhou PlasmaMed Co., Ltd.”, “VasoDynamics” and “SunsCell”.

At the event, those representatives demonstrated the projects panoramically from the industry background, market size, technical advantages, business model and financing needs. Investors from Infiniti Capital, Winsoul Capital, Share Capital and Lion X Venture, and guests from Nanjing Biotech and Pharmaceutical Vally, Nanjing Jiangbei New Area Sci-Tech Investment Group and other local industrial parks and investment insitutions, exchanged enthusiatically with the roadshow representatives and gave professional and vital comments on their projects.

 

Cancer is the major killer threatening human health. Focusing on the medical cre and big health industry, the three projects of the roadshow— “BioMavericks”, “Suzhou PlasmaMed Co., Ltd.” and “VasoDynamics”, start from the early screening of cancer, the painkilling indication of cancer, and the prevention of the side effects of cancer treatment respectively, devise solutions according to the segmented demands at different stages of cancer treatment, and strive to improve the quality of life for cancer patients and extend the life cycle.

 

Therefore, the roadshow project “BioMavericks” has developed a new blood nucleic acid detection reagent for early cancer screening, and introduced an integrated cancer management solution from early detection to treatment and monitoring. “BioMavericks” was founded in London, UK in 2021, as a liquid biopsy company focusing on the development of new in vitro diagnostic reagents. Its co-founder and CEO, Guo Shuang, is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Cambridge, with more than 10 years of experience in biomedical field. Gu Qinying, co-founder and COO, is a PhD of the Department of Physics at the University of Cambridge, with more than 10 years of experience in artificial intelligence.

With blood nucleic acid test kit of “BioMavericks” and the software developed by its team, the results of nucleic acid amplification can be automatically analysed to accurately differentiate between healthy and cancer samples. Through this model, “BioMavericks” can provide a comprehensive cancer management solution covering early intervention and targeted therapy for people aged 40-60 who are at high risk of cancer and who have already been diagnosed with cancer but need to be companion diagnostic and recurrence monitoring. It is reported that the team has successfully developed nucleic acid technology for the detection of eight common cancers, including the pancreatic cancer which is called “king of cancer”, and successfully completed a clinical verification in a small-sized cancer population in India.

“Committed to providing customised biomarkers for accurate cancer diagnosis, effective treatment evaluation and accurate recurrence prediction, “BioMavericks” has significant advantages in terms of technology, cost and time-effectiveness and commercialisation,” Dr. Guo Shuang concluded, “At the technical level, through the detection of specific nucleic acid markers, the team achieved a sensitivity up to 97%, a specificity close to 100% compared to methylation detection. Strong scalability also makes it possible to detect more cancer types. At the cost and time-effectiveness level, the PCR technology adopted in the project reduced the cost by tens of times and the detection cycle was shortened to a few hours compared with NGS technology, which is convenient for rapid and large-scale application. At the commercialisation level, the project has established in-depth cooperation with UCL in UK and local hospitals in India, and actively expanded clinical and commercial cooperation in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai regions in China.”

Relying on the Suzhou Institute of Biomedical Engineering and Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the roadshow project “Suzhou PlasmaMed Co., Ltd.” is positioned as a leading R&D and manufacturer of high-power low-temperature plasma medical equipment, taking cancer painkilling indications as the cut-in point. Its founder and Chairman, Zhang Zhongcheng, is a PhD of quantum chemistry from the University of Cambridge. Its General Manager, Devin Xu, is an associate professor at the School of Electrical Engineering of Xi’an Jiaotong University and a distinguished professor at the Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University, whose research fields are plasma technology and biomedical applications.

Why can plasma technology achieve the purpose of significantly inhibiting the cancer pain? Professor Devin Xu interpreted that, on the one hand, the high field intensity of plasma can regulate the membrane potential of sensory neurons and inhibit the conduction of neuron action potential, to achieve the pain relief for patients. On the other hand, based on the metabolic differences between cancer cells and normal cells, plasma active particles can selectively induce the death of cancer cell and exert little effect on normal cell, to achieve the fundamental elimination of cancer pain.

It is reported that the relevant equipment of “Suzhou PlasmaMed Co., Ltd.” has been subjected to human experiments, which proved that it can quickly and effectively relieve the cancer pain of patients in the case of other drugs ineffective, and its analgesic effect on advanced cancer is obvious, without toxic side effects.

Aiming at the series of side effects of cancer treatment, the roadshow project “VasoDynamics” is dedicated to the development of innovative drugs to prevent the side effects of cancer treatment in order to achieve the optimisation of anti-cancer treatment. Its co-founder and CEO, Dr. Li Ningfeng, graduated from University College London and is a specialist in clinical oncology and tumor biology. He has more than 20 years of experience in cancer research, clinical trials and drug development. COO Gary Bower is a clinical trial management specialist with more than 20 years of experience in biotechnology. At present, “VasoDynamics” has been commercialised in the UK, and is actively exploring the Chinese market.

It is reported that in response to the side effects of cancer treatment such as radioactive oral ulcer, radiation dermatitis, and radiotherapeutic alopecia, “VasoDynamics” has developed three product pipelines in the pre-clinical or clinical phase - mouthwash for oral gargle, spray solution for skin, and ointment foam for scalp. So far, various clinical trials have achieved successfully safety verification and preliminary effective prediction. “Statistically, 50% of all cancer patients and 87% of breast cancer patients have experienced radiation dermatitis. Aiming at the Chinese market, radiation dermatitis will be our focus to enter the Chinese market,” Qi Bang said. It is reported that as a technology research and development enterprise, “VasoDynamics” focuses on building intellectual property barriers. The patent life of its current product technology is extended to 2042 and 2043, and its product is eligible for market and data protection after putted into the market.

In addition to the above series of projects to serve the needs of cancer patients, the roadshow also paid attention to cell preparation and culture, which is the basis of biopharmaceutical and synthetic biology research. 

With microsphere technology as the starting point, “SunsCell” is mainly focused on large-scale automated cell culture and preparation. Its founder, Zhang Hao, is a PhD of biomaterials from the University of Oxford and a postdoctoral researcher of the Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Research Center in UK. He has been selected as a leading entrepreneurial talent in Jiangsu Province, Suzhou City and Suzhou Industrial Park. The team has launched industry-university-research cooperation with Chinese Academy of Sciences, Harbin Institute of Technology, Xi’an Jiaotong University, South China Institute of Technology and Suzhou University.