Nanjing Novlead Biotech Corporation Ltd (Novlead Biotech) has achieved a Series B round of financing totaling RMB 120 million. This round of investment was led by Lilly Asia ventures, a top international medical investment institution, and followed by 3E Bioventures, a well-known institution. And attracted new investments from Jiangbei New Area Science and Technology Investment Group, and continued funding from Northern Light Venture Capital, the original Series A investor. This round of financing will be used to accelerate the study and market advancement of the company's pulmonary hypertension and diabetic foot ulcer projects, and the development of the follow-up items.
Founded in 2018,Novlead is the first domestic medical company focused on nitric oxide (NO) gas therapy, leading the development and production of innovative high-end medical devices with an internationally leading proprietary molecular technology platform, providing breakthrough solutions for significant unmet clinical needs that exist in the medical fields of cardiopulmonary, respiratory, and anti-infection.
With efficient R&D output and strong commercialization promotion efficiency, the company currently has five pipeline products under development, two of which will be commercialized in the coming year, corresponding to a $10 billion blue ocean market, and is expected to grow into a leading company in high-end gas therapy and testing.
With a single breath of "life-saving" gas, the patient's oxygenation index can be rapidly improved within minutes and the pulmonary circulatory resistance can be rapidly reduced, which is how efficient the Nobel Prize-winning molecule "NO" is. This treatment was approved by the FDA in the United States as early as 1999, and has been widely used in overseas clinical applications, from neonatal persistent pulmonary hypertension, hypoxic respiratory failure and other acute illnesses with high mortality rates, to adult pulmonary hypertension, perioperative life support and other clinical scenarios, which can effectively reduce the mortality rate of related diseases and has become an important emergency mode in ICU.
However, the development of this field in China is relatively slow, there are about 200,000 newborns and hundreds of thousands of adult patients who need NO life-saving treatment every year in China, the available means of treatment is very limited, and there are even cases of inhalation "Viagra" treatment for newborns.
The first product on the market, the portable NO inhaler, can not only bring timely, efficient and compliant treatment to Chinese patients, but also expand to more hospital and home treatment scenarios due to the miniaturization of the device and the instantaneous generation of gas. This disruptive technological revolution from "gas cylinder" to "instant generate" has been in the making for nearly 20 years in the United States until December 2019, when the FDA approved the first medical product for NO instant generation.
The NO instant generation technology of Novlead Bio has its own intellectual property rights, which is different from its international counterparts, and is more efficient, smaller and less costly.
Deeply exploring the technical application ways of NO, the endogenous gas molecule's vasodilatation, anti-microbial and immunomodulatory mechanisms, through continuous and high investment in R&D, Norin Bio has built a high barrier technology platform with electrochemical catalytic chelation generation technology, molecular sustained release control technology and gas composite sensing technology as the core.
The breakthrough gas real-time generation technology with real-time treatment and real-time monitoring will significantly improve the convenience, safety and treatment accuracy of clinical applications compared to existing products, reconstruct the value chain of existing products and allow more Chinese patients to benefit from the global synchronized advanced medical technology.
Currently, the company has other product items, including wound healing gas topical therapeutic device and exhaled air NO detector, covering 8 indications such as pulmonary hypertension, plateau pulmonary edema, diabetic foot ulcer, and pulmonary fibrosis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The company hopes to serve more patients and improve the quality of life through product innovation, and truly become a life science company that benefits society.
"Novlead Bio has the world's leading NO generation and sustained release technology, so we hope to be a company based in China, but with a global perspective, so that patients around the world can enjoy the benefits of the original medical technology from China, to achieve a true sense of in China for global strategy. Together with international top-tier investment institutions, the company will be more confident to move forward towards the goal of becoming an international medical company in the high-end gas therapy and detection track." Dr. Wen Mao, CEO of Novlead Bio, said.
Dr. Fei Chen, Managing Partner of Lilly Asia ventures, said, "As a platform technology, nitric oxide therapy has broad application prospects in critical disease areas such as cardiopulmonary emergencies, respiratory diseases and infectious diseases. Novlead's patented technology of NO gas instant generation, sustained release and detection is globally innovative and can greatly improve the efficiency and precision of NO treatment, filling the gap of related products in China and laying a solid foundation for future disruptive products. We believe that Novlead will grow into an innovative therapeutic solutions company with international competitiveness, and LAV is honored to participate in this financing and help the company continue to grow."
Feng Deng, Partner of Northern Light Ventures, said, "The excellent and efficient founding team of Novlead Bio, with complementary strengths and great technological innovation, has led the company to rapidly advance its products to the commercialization stage, which is also pleasing to us, and we look forward to accompany the company to develop at full speed in the blue ocean track of gas therapy in the long time."
Chien-Yeh Liu, Founder and Partner of 3E Bioventures, also said, "3E Bioventures has always paid much attention to the industrial opportunities brought by technological innovation. Nitric oxide has a great demand in clinical application, but the clinical use has been limited by the efficiency of NO gas generation and purification. Novlead Bio has applied the global breakthrough electrochemical-based NO generation technology to make a portable machine, which has the opportunity to lead the development of this field. We look forward to working with the company to explore more clinical applications and to go out of China and into the world."
Zhu Weiang, Vice General Manager of Jiangbei New Area Science Investment Group, said, "Novlead Bio is an innovative technology company born and grown in Jiangbei New Area, which can develop more efficient and portable new medical device products to meet the urgent clinical needs by using its global original NO generation technology based on electrochemistry. As a state-owned investment platform that has been committed to supporting science and technology innovation enterprises with independent research and development capabilities, we are very honored to cooperate this time and look forward to Novlead Bio's vigorous growth in the industrial field of the New District and embrace the recent future together."
Lilly Asia Ventures (LAV) is a preeminent venture fund focused on investments in the life sciences and healthcare sectors, headquartered in Shanghai, China, with offices in Hong Kong, China, and Silicon Valley, USA. Our long-term vision is to found great companies with breakthrough products that beat disease and improve human health and to be a trusted partner for exceptional entrepreneurs seeking smart capital.
Northern Light Ventures is committed to "making world-class Chinese entrepreneurs and founding world-class Chinese companies" and has invested in more than 400 early-stage, technology-innovative companies to date. Over the past ten years, Northern Light has invested in more than 70 companies, including CITIC Pharmaceuticals, BGI, Burning Rock DX, Zelgen Pharmaceuticals, iRay Technology, Tai Mei Medical, Cytek, and Guoke Hengtai.
3E Bioventures is a leading investment firm focused on the healthcare industry, investing in domestic and foreign healthcare innovation companies in various fields such as new drug development, medical devices, clinical diagnostics, and healthcare services. Their core investment team has professional background in biopharmaceutical industry, with more than ten years of successful investment and entrepreneurial experience, and has invested in more than 50 healthcare companies in total. The development opportunities in the healthcare sector in the next ten to twenty years are huge, and 3E Bioventures is committed to helping this industry achieve a number of outstanding and internationally competitive healthcare companies, create returns for investors, and build 3E Bioventures into a successful healthcare investment brand from China to the world.
Science Investment Group is a science and technology innovation investment and financing development platform directly under the management committee of Jiangbei New Area, with a registered capital of 3 billion RMB, total assets of 13 billion RMB and seven secondary holding subsidiaries. Focusing on the primary strategic positioning of "Innovation Pilot Zone" and the leading industrial development direction of the New Area, the Group clearly focuses on the main line of innovation development, the main responsibilities of investment in science and technology projects, science and technology platform services and science and technology carrier operation, effectively carries the mission of financial support for the construction of the innovation city pilot zone, and strives to build a service "We will focus on investment in science and technology projects, services of science and technology platforms and operation of science and innovation carriers.
