Gaomei Gene is advancing a new round of financing, with Gaoxin Venture Capital as one of the investors. It previously secured tens of millions of yuan in its Pre-A round of financing.
Methylation chips solve the cost pain point of pan-cancer early screening, Gaomei Gene is seeking financing
Gaomei Gene focuses on tumor epigenetics, taking whole-genome DNA methylation detection and self-developed AI algorithms as the core, and has built a product system covering early tumor screening and detection, companion diagnosis, dynamic monitoring and prognosis assessment. At present, the company is focusing on promoting the "AI-driven methylation pan-cancer early screening gene chip" project, trying to chip the sequencing-level methylation detection capability, so as to reduce the cost and usage threshold of multi-cancer early screening. Previously, Gaomei Gene completed a Pre-A round of financing of tens of millions of yuan in July 2020, with the investor being Gaoxin Venture Capital under Nanjing Jiangbei New Area Science and Technology Investment Group.
The "cost wall" of pan-cancer early screening: detectable but unaffordable
Data from the National Cancer Center shows that there were about 4.8247 million new cases of malignant tumors and about 2.5742 million death cases in China in 2022; with the deepening of population aging, Frost & Sullivan predicts that new tumor cases in China will reach about 5.81 million by 2030. The "Healthy China Initiative - Implementation Plan for Cancer Prevention and Treatment Action (2023-2030)" proposes that the overall 5-year survival rate of cancer will reach 46.6% by 2030, and early screening, early diagnosis and early treatment are regarded as the key to achieving this goal.
In terms of early screening technical routes, circulating cell-free DNA (cfDNA) methylation detection is regarded as the mainstream direction of multi-cancer early screening in the industry due to its dual specificity for tumors and tissues. However, to achieve "pan-cancer" detection, the data volume and cost of whole-genome methylation sequencing are quite considerable: according to the company, the detection data volume of a single sample in the R&D stage is no less than 90GB, and the finished product data volume delivered to customers starts at 12GB, with the mainstream ranging from 30 to 60GB. If sequencing is taken as the only carrier, the detection price can hardly cover the popular demand at the physical examination level; if we turn to targeted sequencing or PCR, the panoramic information of whole-genome loci will be lost. The contradiction between "detectable" and "affordable" is exactly the core bottleneck of the commercialization of pan-cancer early screening, and it is also the value of the gene chip route.
From sequencing to chip: a single chip covers tumor detection of 12 organs
Gaomei Gene's path is to first consolidate the underlying data capability, and then promote the cost reduction of detection carriers. The company has independently established a Chinese population whole-genome methylation database, and developed an AI-driven whole-genome methylation analysis technology. A single detection can cover about 28 million CpG dinucleotide loci, capturing the panoramic dynamic signal of tumors through both horizontal and vertical comparisons, and the detectable cancer types can be continuously expanded with the accumulation of sample size.
Based on this system, the company has launched the "Ganmeiqing" series of early cancer screening and detection products and completed the declaration of Class I medical devices. Using 10mL peripheral blood as the sample, it achieves a maximum detection sensitivity of 95% and specificity of 99% for liver cancer and lung cancer while controlling costs; among them, "Meiganfei" focuses on lung cancer, which can output methylation characteristic scores of four main pathological subtypes, and "Meiganxin" focuses on liver cancer, covering two major liver tumor subtypes, providing reference for treatment path selection.
On this basis, the company migrates its detection capability to gene chips: a single chip can complete the detection of tumors in 12 organs, and supporting R&D of gene chip scanners and other equipment and consumables. In June 2026, the invention patent "Sample processing kit and sample processing method suitable for methylation chips" applied by the company was published (publication number CN122445774A). Through bisulfite transformation combined with two rounds of isothermal amplification of Klenow exo- enzyme, it increases the DNA volume while keeping the methylation information of the transformed sequence consistent, solving the problem of loading trace DNA samples onto the chip. In terms of industrialization, Gaomei Gene's GMP base located in Yancheng was put into use in April 2025. According to the company's plan, the declaration of medical device registration certificates for gene chips and related PCR kits will be completed in the next two to three years, and an integrated automated workstation from blood sample processing to report output will be built within five years.
From scientific research cooperation to physical examination and clinical practice, targeting 100 million users in five years
Sun Deqiang, founder and chief scientist of Gaomei Gene, is a national-level talent, who has been engaged in epigenetics research for more than ten years, and has published more than 30 papers in journals such as Nature Genetics and Cell Stem Cell. His self-developed MOABS methylation analysis software is widely used by domestic and foreign scientific research institutions, including the Broad Institute of the United States. Public reports show that the company has carried out subject research on liver cancer, lung cancer, esophageal cancer, ovarian cancer and other cancer types with many hospitals including West China Hospital of Sichuan University, the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital affiliated to Zhejiang University School of Medicine, and the First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University.
In terms of business model, Gaomei Gene takes database and algorithm as its core assets, and provides services for physical examination institutions, clinical departments and high-risk population screening scenarios. The company once proposed to cover 100 million users within five years and promote the listing plan, aiming to complete the initial screening of common cancers through a single tube of blood, and move the prevention and control window forward to the reversible stage of carcinogenesis. According to the company, a new round of financing is underway, and the funds raised in this round will be mainly invested in the registration and declaration of gene chips and related kits, production capacity construction and the expansion of the multi-cancer database.