Tencent has made a $30 million investment into Insighta, a Hong Kong-based early cancer detection company, from health sciences firm Prenetics Global.
The investment sees Tencent boost its role in the artificial intelligence (AI) healthcare space, values Insighta at $200 million, and following the transaction, Prenetics’ stake in Insighta will be reduced from 50% to 35%. Insighta’s co-founders will retain their 50% shareholding.
As part of the agreement, Prenetics has received $30 million in cash from the sale of secondary shares to Tencent, boosting its pro forma cash and other current short-term assets to over $90 million at the closing of the transaction.
Tencent will take a seat on Insighta’s board of directors, to be held by Alexander Ng, president of Tencent Healthcare.
Insighta’s early cancer detection platform is uses proprietary FRAGMA technology, a system designed to detect DNA methylation aberrations in cell-free DNA (cfDNA) in bodily fluids such as blood. By identifying specific fragment patterns associated with cancer cells, FRAGMA enables non-invasive, accurate early epigenetics-based detection of multiple cancers, according to a media release.
Epigenetics is the study of biochemical modifications of the genome without changes in DNA sequences. This approach in detecting fragmented DNA signatures allows the cost-effective detection of cance, the release added.
There has been increasing investment from a host of firms going into Asia's cancer healther market over the last 18 months.
Insighta has commenced clinical trials in mainland China, focusing initially on liver cancer, and will soon expand to include lung cancer detection. Insighta is also actively developing tests for additional cancer types, and plans on updating as appropriate.
With $80 million in cash reserves, Insighta is well-capitalised to fund these trials and expedite the commercialisation of its revolutionary cancer detection technology in the next few years.
“We are excited to welcome Tencent as a strategic investor,” said Professor Allen Chan, co-founder of Insighta. “Their expertise in AI, combined with our proprietary FRAGMA technology, positions us to make significant strides in improving early cancer diagnosis, which can greatly enhance patient outcomes worldwide.”
