China’s Cancer Screening Pioneer New Horizon Health Raises HK$2.42 Billion in Hong Kong IPO Debut
On Feb. 18, biotechnology company New Horizon Health (6606.HK) raised HK$2.42 billion in an initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong, with the firm’s IPO being oversubscribed 4133 times. The company’s 76.598 million shares were priced at HK$26.6 and quickly skyrocketed by 185% in value. The firm’s market value reached HK$30 billion.
Founded in 2013, Hangzhou-headquartered firm New Horizon Health is the first biotechnology company focusing on innovative technologies for early cancer screening. The firm’s products cover colorectal, cervical, gastric, and lung cancer.
At the IPO ceremony, CEO Zhu Yeqing said: “Obtaining the first license in China’s early cancer screening industry, New Horizon Health witnessed the milestone success of the company. Our dreams come from millions of people with high cancer risk and we will continue to change more people’s lives.”
The star product of the firm, Coloclear, is a self-developed non-invasive colorectal cancer screening service. This first and only multi-target stool FIT-DNA test product in China marked many “firsts” in the industry. According to the firm, Coloclear’s test sensitivity (the ability of a test to correctly identify those with the disease) for Colorectal cancer reached 95.5%. According to a report by Frost & Sullivan’s, Coloclear has the best clinical results in the global early cancer screening industry.
With the significant challenges brought by the pandemic, the number of shipments of Coloclear in the fourth-quarter of 2020 surged by 60.7% year-on-year from 2019.
Zhu told Pandaily that “We want a company that doesn’t only drive economic value, but also social value. I always tell young people at New Horizon Health: You’re doing the a public service whenever there’s a confirmed case by allowing the patient to initiate early intervention and treatment through early detection.”
The biotechnology pioneer has a high-profile group of investors, including Invesco, Lake Bleu Capital, Boyu Capital Advisory Company Limited, GIC, RBC, Columbia Funds, Janus Henderson Funds, Rock Springs Capital, Worldwide Healthcare Trust PLC, LAV, Cormorant Global, HBC Asia Healthcare Opportunities VII LLC, Octagon Investments, Sage Partners, China Southern Asset Management, and E Fund.
New Horizon Health is committed to studying accurate early cancer screening solutions for more people in the future by increasing the user compliance rate, accuracy, efficiency, and conveniences.
SEE ALSO: Biotech Unicorn New Horizon Health Receives China’s First Early Cancer Screening Approval from NMPA
In January 2020, New Horizon Health completed China’s first prospective multi-center clinical trial, covering nearly 6,000 patients. The firm has also set up three certified 3rd-party medical laboratories, located in Beijing, Hangzhou, and Guangzhou.
“We hope to make the early cancer screening products into fast-consumable products that everyone can get access to everywhere and the sales of each approved product should have the potential to exceeds one billion dollars in the long run. We also want to see cancer screening becoming a daily routine, just like the regular health checkups,” said Zhu.
