Will Support Rapid Expansion of PVmed’s AI Cancer Treatment Product Portfolio
GUANGZHOU, China, Dec. 23, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Perception Vision Medical Technologies Co., Ltd. (PVmed), a global artificial intelligence (AI) cancer treatment company, headquartered in Guangzhou, China, has secured US $14 million (RM 100 million) in Series A funding from investors including Cherami Investment Group, Philips, JHF Investment, COCOCAPITAL Corporation, and Strategy Capital. The funding will enable the company to further develop its AI cancer treatment product portfolio and ecosystem. It will also accelerate the adoption of the company’s AI-defined cancer surgery and radiotherapy workflow software and hardware products by hospitals and medical technology companies.
Xiaolin Wei, General Partner at Cherami, and Bill Chen, Senior Vice President of Philips Greater China and General Manager of Philips Precision Diagnosis Business Group, will join the PVmed Board of Directors.
Since its launch in May 2017, PVmed has developed a portfolio of AI-defined cancer treatment workflow products that have generated substantial interest from surgical oncologists, radiation oncologists, and medical physicists. The products automatically process and prepare three-dimensional (3D) computed tomography scan (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MR) data to help doctors plan and treat cancers (such as lung cancer, breast cancer, nasopharyngeal cancer, cervical cancer, and rectal cancer) more precisely and much faster. For example, the time required for physician contouring organs at risk (OARs) with PVmed’s auto contour technology is reduced from one to two hours to less than five minutes, a reduction in time by a factor of 10.
PVmed products are currently deployed at over 200 hospitals in China and have now processed over 200,000 cancer patients. The company recently completed a sales and collaboration agreement with Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital, one of the largest cancer centers in China, performing 32,000 surgeries and hosting 1.3 million outpatient visits annually.
Said Chenyang Xu, President and Co-Chairman at PVmed, “We are very pleased to receive this funding support from these leading Chinese and global financial and corporate investors. We are also excited about the strategic insights and resources these investors can provide. With thousands of doctors now using PVmed’s AI cancer treatment workflow products, benefiting hundreds of thousands of cancer patients, it’s clear the era of AI-defined cancer treatment procedures has arrived.”
Xu added, “We will increasingly see AI models that are trained using results from experienced doctors to empower a broader base of doctors by providing them with precise 3D contextual and target information about organs and tumors at each step of the procedure. For patients and doctors, that can mean safer, faster, and more precise treatment. Hospitals that have adopted AI-defined cancer treatment procedures have seen an improvement in doctors’ productivity and reduced operating costs, with doctors saving 1.5 hours per patient treatment on average, reducing the total doctor time by 20% to 40% per patient treatment.”
Said Xiaolin Wei, “At Cherami, we share PVmed’s vision of using AI to empower doctors to serve more patients and provide better care. There will be immense patient benefits where equipment and qualified doctors are easily accessible. But AI-defined diagnosis and treatment technology could be even more vital to people who don’t have easy access to basic healthcare facilities. Cherami cooperated with the University of Nairobi (UoN) in Kenya to launch the UoN Cherami Cancer Research and Training Hospital. With support and encouragement from the PVmed team, we have a clear vision for making this institute a harbor for introducing AI diagnoses, treatments, and other digital healthcare tools into Africa, so we can reach the previously unreachable and solve traditionally unsolvable problems.”
Said Bill Chen, “Philips is working closely with local partners to provide best experience for customers and patients in China. PVmed is one of our important innovation partners in the oncology domain. Since 2021, the two companies have co-created locally relevant radio-oncology solutions to deliver more precise and personalized treatment on cancer patients. Besides we’re also cooperating on go-to-market to create impact on market.”
PVmed’s AI cancer treatment portfolio includes three solutions:
iRT for Radiotherapy iSA for Surgical Oncology iCS for Customized Oncology Software
The company has received six medical device certifications (two NMPA Class III, one FDA 510k, and three NMPA class II), 92 invention patents, and 41 copyrights for its software for global medical institutions, equipment manufacturers, and technical service providers. It has formed partnerships with a number of leading hospitals in China and Singapore and has strategic collaboration agreements with Philips, Elekta, Noah Medical, RADLogics, Neusoft, MinFound, and Kanda Medical Equipment.
To learn more about PVmed, visit www.pvmedtech.com/en/.
Cherami Investment Group: Officially established on August 1, 2013, with its headquarters in Guangzhou, China, Cherami Investment Group’s vision is “creating value from wealth.” The company covers multiple business fields, including securities, equity, and international industrial investments. It has established more than ten branches in China and has initiated coverage of overseas markets, first expanding its business to African countries. The company’s private equity investments focus on deep-tech industries such as new energy vehicles, novel semiconductor materials, and healthcare. Cherami’s investment projects include Contemporary Amperex Technology, CALB, Ronbay Technology, Shanghai HIUV New Materials, Xi’an Sinofuse Electric, Semiconductor Manufacturing Electronics (ShaoXing) Corporation, Maxio Technology, GenFleet Therapeutics, and GenEros BioPharma.
Philips: Royal Philips of the Netherlands is a leading health technology company dedicated to improving people’s health and enabling better outcomes across the health continuum, from healthy living and prevention to diagnosis, treatment, and home care. Philips leverages advanced technology and deep clinical and consumer insights to deliver integrated solutions. The company is a leader in diagnostic imaging, image-guided therapy, patient monitoring, health informatics, and consumer health and home care.
JHF Investment: Founded in 2010, JHF Investment has years of experience in private equity investments, primarily focusing on start-ups and high-growth enterprises. Lixia Zhou, a well-known investor and the Union of Angel Investors Chairman, founded the company. Its team members include graduates from Tsinghua University, Fudan University, Central University of Finance and Economics, and other leading international universities. The company has made a number of investments in the medical industry, including Huilun Pharma, Xeno life science, Amplicon Gene, GX Pharma, and Deviceland.
COCOCAPITAL Corporation: Founded in 2015, COCOCAPITAL Corporation is a fund management company that focuses on providing the highest quality capital services for innovative start-ups, including venture capital funds, private equity investment funds, industrial investment, and M&A funds. Major investors include state-owned enterprise groups, listed companies, government guidance funds, and professional funds of funds. Its primary investment areas are intelligence and enterprise internet. Wei Feng, Founding Partner of COCOCAPITAL, has more than ten years of working experience in venture capital. He was awarded Best Venture Capitalist in China in 2019 and Best Angel Investor in China in 2018 by Forbes. Investments include Will Semiconductor, Shanghai Newtouch Software, Doright, and others.
Strategy Capital: Strategy Capital is a cutting-edge investment institution focusing on next-generation information technology, including Artificial Intelligence, and related advanced materials technology. The company employs a research-driven strategy, emphasizing its industry expertise, then prudently and meticulously selecting high-quality projects with solid growth potential for its investment portfolio. Strategy Capital is committed to providing industrial management, capital operation, human resources, other comprehensive services and in-depth empowerment for clients throughout the business lifecycle. Recent relevant investments include Shenzhen Zvit Technology, Suzhou Rochu Robotics, Shenzhen Breax Biological Technology, Shenzhen Vispek Technology and others.