Founded in 2018, Epiprobe Biotech is a pioneer of cancer screening which focuses on tumor molecular diagnosis. The core team has discovered a series of pan-cancer biomarkers through 10 years of research. The general feature of these discoveries has expanded the tumor testing methods.
Shanghai Epiprobe Biotech (Chinese: 奕谱生物) recently announced the completion of nearly CNY 100 million (USD 160,000) in a Series B financing round. This round of funding was jointly led by industrial capital, government investment platforms and listed company Yi Yi Co., Ltd (Chinese: 依依股份, SZ:001206).
By virtue of the top epigenetic expert team and profound academic accumulation, Epiprobe is deeply involved in the tumor screening and early diagnosis, adhering to the mission of "keeping everyone away from cancer".
In terms of testing methods, pyrosequencing is considered the "golden standard" for DNA methylation analysis. But the test process relies on bisulfite conversion, which is marked by an unstable conversion efficiency, proclivity to DNA degradation, high operating requirements, and the need for expensive analysis instruments.
Through R&D processes, Epiprobe has developed ME-qPCR, a DNA methylation analysis platform that does not require bisulfite conversion. The platform not only improves the test stability and clinical operability but also tremendously reduces the testing cost, rendering the biomarkers testing easy to use.
Dedicated to the company's core pan-cancer biomarkers and methylation analysis methods, Epiprobe has filed more than 30 domestic and international patents. Epiprobe currently cooperates with more than 20 top domestic hospitals to carry out extensive research on female genital tract tumors (including cervical cancer, endometrial cancer), urothelial carcinoma (including bladder cancer, ureteral cancer, renal pelvis cancer), lung cancer, thyroid cancer, hematologic tumors and so on. Besides, the startup and has completed double-blind verification of more than 30,000 clinical samples in 25 types of tumors.
Epiprobe’s main competitors include New Horizon Health (Chinese: 诺辉健康, HK:6606), Burning Rock biotech (Chinese: 燃石医学), Singlera Genomics (Chinese: 鹍远基因), Genetron Health (Chinese: 泛生子, NASDAQ:GTH)