Mirxes Completes $87 Million Series C Round to Develop Early Cancer Screening Products Based on Leading miRNA Technology
Focused on microRNA technology, dedicated to early disease diagnosis.
Recently, cancer early-detection company MiRXES announced the completion of an $87 million Series C funding round. The round was led by China Resources Zhengda Life Science Fund, with participation from US healthcare fund Rock Springs Capital, Singapore's Economic Development Board Investments (EDBI), CCB International, Triwise Capital, Chenling Capital, NuoHui Ventures, and others. Gaorong Ventures had previously invested in MiRXES's Series B round in 2018.
MiRXES is a high-tech biotechnology company focused on microRNA ("miRNA") technology for early disease diagnosis. Its product pipeline covers common high-incidence cancers, with additional diagnostics for cardiovascular, metabolic, and infectious diseases. The company has established complete business operations spanning R&D, manufacturing, commercialization, and medical testing services in Singapore and China, with market teams in the US and Japan. Since its founding in 2014, MiRXES has raised a total of $130 million in funding. This new round will accelerate global pipeline development and clinical regulatory registration for its cancer early-screening products, while driving commercialization of its screening products and services.
In 2019, MiRXES developed GASTROClear™, the world's first serum-based molecular diagnostic test for gastric cancer, which received regulatory approval in Singapore. That same year, MiRXES was named to Nature Biotechnology's list of global liquid biopsy innovators — the only Asian company on the list, and the only one built on an miRNA technology platform.
GASTROClear™, the world's first serum-based molecular diagnostic test for gastric cancer
Regarding this funding round, Dr. Lihan Zhou, co-founder and CEO of MiRXES, said: "We are honored to receive the strong support of our investors, who have placed their full trust and confidence in our scientific value and commercial potential. With this new funding, MiRXES will advance pipeline development for early diagnosis of gastric, lung, colorectal, liver, breast, and pancreatic cancers, while expanding our proprietary miRNA technology platform globally into research and clinical diagnostic applications for cardiovascular, metabolic, and infectious diseases."
In early 2020, as COVID-19 spread worldwide, MiRXES leveraged its industry-leading nucleic acid technology platform and complete manufacturing capabilities to co-develop and produce Fortitude™, Singapore's first COVID-19 PCR test kit, making an outstanding contribution to local pandemic control.
MiRXES's core technology detects cancer-specific miRNA expression levels in blood, combined with other molecular biomarkers released by cancer and immune cells into circulation, then applies its proprietary algorithm to generate a cancer risk score — flagging risk and enabling early cancer detection. Dr. Zhou noted: "Based on our proprietary miRNA technology platform and algorithm, when developing diagnostic products for different diseases, we typically select a panel of 8-12 miRNAs as detection biomarkers."
Currently, MiRXES has partnered with leading research and clinical institutions in China, Singapore, the US, Italy, and Japan to conduct large-scale clinical studies for lung, colorectal, liver, breast, and pancreatic cancers, enrolling more than 30,000 participants in total.
"Our pan-cancer screening strategy involves testing for each cancer type separately, with tailored clinical registration pathways for each, obtaining regulatory approval before commercial launch," Dr. Zhou explained. "For multi-cancer testing in laboratory settings or public screening scenarios, simultaneous multi-cancer detection from a single blood draw is entirely feasible."
In early 2022, MiRXES will launch a prospective clinical trial in China for NMPA registration of its GASTROClear™ gastric cancer screening test, planning to enroll 12,000 asymptomatic high-risk individuals to clinically validate the test's performance. The company will also advance PMDA registration efforts for the gastric cancer test in Japan.
Additionally, MiRXES plans to launch an miRNA-based lung cancer diagnostic test, for which it is currently conducting a 600-patient clinical validation trial. In 2022, the company will offer lung cancer screening LDT services in Japan while exploring market opportunities for lung cancer detection in the US.
In the China market, MiRXES has already established diagnostic product pipelines for gastric cancer, lung cancer, and other cancers. Going forward, the company will actively pursue commercialization opportunities in China to bring its early-screening products and services to market there.
As the company grows rapidly, MiRXES will continue building its team and developing talent, with particular focus on expanding its R&D and algorithm teams to provide strong support for its continued growth.
