Zilico Announces $19M from New Investments
The strategic deal with MaxHealth is important to Zilico, as the company expands its global presence, increasing the uptake of ZedScan™. Figures show that China accounts for nearly a quarter of the world’s cervical cancer burden[1] and increasing. As a result, the Chinese government has prioritised screening as part of the solution to manage the disease.
“We are seeing double-digit growth in the uptake of medical devices in countries such as China, as they focus on improving standards of care. This deal supports our global aspirations of introducing ZedScan™ and our proprietary Electrical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) technology into the emerging markets, which are rapidly adopting medical technologies to help better manage patient diagnosis and treat disease,” explains Sameer Kothari, CEO Zilico Ltd.
MaxHealth Medicine Group,with its headquarters in Wuxi, will lead the registration of ZedScan™ with the Chinese Food & Drug Administration (CFDA). “We first met Zilico 18 months ago and were very impressed with the rigour of their science, supply chain and with ZedScan™. The positive outcomes from hospitals in the UK provides reassurance of us replicating these benefits for Chinese patients who suffer from this preventable cancer” says Tony Miao, CEO of MaxHealth. He continues, “The investment also helps align the two businesses, both with global ambitions”.
Zilico has also announced investments totalling $7M from Deepbridge Capital (UK) and MaxHealth. Both investments will help Zilico further drive the adoption of ZedScan™ across the UK and Europe as well as taking the product through its regulatory trials in the US. The company has recently appointed Dr Michael Gold, Past President of the American Society of Colposcopy and Cervical Pathology (ASCCP) to its Medical Advisory Board in preparation for entering the US market.
Commenting on their investment, Dr Savvas Neophytou, Partner for Life Sciences at Deepbridge says, “We are delighted to be working closely with the exceptional team at Zilico. We are very excited at the potential of electrical impedance spectroscopy for medical applications and the team at Zilico has already demonstrated its significance with ZedScan™.”
Zilico continues to strengthen its presence in developed markets where ZedScan™ is being adopted as an adjunct diagnostic in colposcopy. ZedScan™ is currently in routine use across a number of UK hospitals and 2017 saw supported service evaluations in France, the Netherlands, Poland and Finland. Real-world data from hospitals, which have adopted ZedScan™ into routine use, shows that they are detecting more disease and reducing the need for multiple biopsies. As improved diagnosis allows clinicians to treat women with high-grade abnormalities at first visit, ZedScan™ is also reducing the need for follow-up appointments, which aids patient management and contributes to positive health economics for the hospital.
