Asia-Pacific Headquarters of ReLive Opens in Baoshan
A world-class biomedical industry cluster resembling a “tropical rainforest“ is rapidly taking shape in Shanghai. On the first working day of the Year of the Loong, there was a piece of good news for the biomedical “rainforest”—the Asia-Pacific headquarters of the international cutting-edge technology company ReLive, an investment of Shanghai Healthcare Capital (SHC), officially opened in Baoshan District, Shanghai.
Another successful case in the integration of innovation resources
Founded in 2021, ReLive is a tissue engineering and regenerative medicine enterprise targeting the global market. Its core team is composed of European and American experts in the fields of tissue engineering, regenerative medicine and cell therapy from both academia and industry. In January 2023, SHC led the Series A funding for ReLive.
Focusing on better post-investment empowerment, the two sides spent more than seven months planning and implementing, and completed a key growth-oriented M&A and integration the same year, successfully acquiring all the core assets of the German-listed company Co.Don AG.
This move can be considered an “accelerator” that propels ReLive into a leading position in the field. ReLive’s product Spherox has become one of the only two approved autologous cell regeneration therapies for knee cartilage defects in the world and the only one approved in the European Union. It has provided treatment for nearly 17,000 patients with severe knee cartilage defects.
Subsequently, under the leadership of SHC, ReLive’s Asia Pacific headquarters settled in Baoshan District.
ReLive’s settlement in Shanghai the year after its fundraising and M&A is a success story. This achievement is attributed to the support of SHC, a municipal-level industrial fund that has integrated global biomedical industry and innovation resources and accelerated the convergence of Shanghai’s biomedical industry chain, innovation chain, fund chain, and talent chain.
57 investments mobilizing over RMB 19 billion in social capital
In December 2020, with the approval of the Shanghai Municipal People’s Government, SHC was established by Shanghai Industrial Investment (Holdings) Co., Ltd. (SIIC). “As a municipal-level industrial fund, SHC focuses on serving national strategies and promoting the development of Shanghai’s medical and health industry. With an aim to target global sci-tech frontiers, serve the main economic battlefields, fulfill the significant needs of the country and benefit people’s lives and health, SHC positions itself as a long-term, patient and professional industry capital. Its primary focus lies in investing in small technology start-ups,” said a representative from SIIC.
Over the past three years since its establishment, SHC has completed 57 investments in 46 enterprises at home and abroad through strategic collaboration with the government, incubators, medical institutions, universities, multinational pharmaceutical companies and biotechnology enterprises as well as cooperation with universities and research institutes, mobilizing a total of over RMB 19 billion in social capital.
In May 2021, SHC, along with Shanghai Pharmaceuticals Holding Co., Ltd. (SPH) and Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine (SJTUSM), incubated the team of Professor Liu Junling from SJTUSM and established Shanghai Synvida Biotechnology Co., Ltd. (Synvida) in Lin-gang Special Area.
Through investment and incubation, Synvida has established original targets and new molecular pipelines in the fields of coagulation, including low platelet count, hemophilia, thrombotic diseases, etc. It has also developed a next-generation antibody and protein drug discovery and modification technology platform based on synthetic biology.
In January 2024, Synvida announced that it had secured nearly RMB 200 million in Series A funding, with a social capital leading the investment and SHC, the existing shareholder, making additional investments.
This fundraising event is considered a significant investment in new drug R&D in the field of coagulation and fibrosis in China in recent years. It is also the 57th investment completed by SHC since its establishment three years ago.
Introducing four world-class overseas scientist teams
The R&D of new drugs in the biomedical field generally takes 13 to 19 years, with costs as high as USD 1.9 billion to 3.2 billion. Investment in the industry features strong expertise, a lengthy timeline, high risks and substantial scale. Therefore, it is crucial to actively guide social capital to participate and leverage the functions of venture capital.
“As Shanghai accelerates its efforts to develop into an international sci-tech innovation center, with enterprises playing a pivotal role as primary innovators, SHC is dedicated to its mission of supporting enterprises in increasing R&D investment and promoting the high-quality development of Shanghai’s biomedical industry,” said a representative from SHC.
It is learned that among the 46 enterprises SHC invested in, 29 are recognized as “high-tech and urgently needed” biomedical enterprises. These enterprises involve 41 investments, with over RMB 14.6 billion in social capital mobilized.
It is worth noting that since its establishment, SHC has leveraged the advantages of its limited partner SIIC, which has a presence in the capital markets of both Shanghai and Hong Kong, as well as the successful global footprint of SPH, its other limited partner. SHC is thus able to intricately connect the capital chain, industrial chain, innovation chain, and talent chain composed of high-level talents, thus delivering “Shanghai’s voice” amidst current market fluctuations, drastic changes in the global biomedical industry landscape, and increasingly intense international competition.
As of now, SHC has introduced four leading overseas scientist teams to start businesses in Shanghai. These teams have established ReLive, NanoRibo, Neomics and Huayuan Biopharmaceutical in Baoshan, Lin-gang and Waigaoqiao respectively. Neomics, a world-class innovation platform for tumor immunotherapy, originated in Maryland, the heartland of cellular immunity innovation in the United States. In 2022, Neomics joined the investment platform of SHC. It is learned that when the entrepreneurs were abroad, SHC actively coordinated various resources of the government and the industrial park, and managed almost all the processes for Neomics to settle in Shanghai. It assisted the company in building a complete chain from scratch and helped establish its R&D center in Pudong. Through investment and cultivation by SHC, Neomics has successfully collaborated with Ruijin Hospital to conduct investigator-initiated clinical trials (IICTs) for the next-generation BCMA CAR-T. Additionally, its first-in-class second-generation tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) therapy for solid tumors is about to start clinical trials in collaboration with a major domestic pharmaceutical company. When evaluating the future of the company’s technology, the investment community believes that Neomics not only has the potential to develop a new generation of hematologic cancer therapies but also has the opportunity to apply them to a wider range of solid tumor patients.
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