MiRXES wins BioSpectrum Asia Startup of the Year Award 2022- Special Jury Recognition

Asia has, indeed, become the new hub for potential growth and innovation, with no signs of losing steam. To appreciate the Asian companies and individuals for their commendable performance and achievements during Calendar Year (CY) 2021, BioSpectrum Asia Excellence Awards 2022 ceremony was held at Lavender Ball Room, Hotel Fort Canning in Singapore on December 2, 2022, and MiRXES received Startup of the Year Award 2022- Special Jury Recognition.

A spin off from Agency of Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore-based startup MiRXES has commercialised its technology and developed accurate multi-cancer early detection solutions and made them readily available and accessible to people who need them.

The founders Dr Zhou Lihan and Dr Zou Ruiyang have pioneered a highly sensitive, specific and robust detection technology for microRNA (miRNA), the smallest genetic material ever found in human and other living organisms. Realising the potential of miRNA-based clinical applications in solving unmet needs in cancer, cardiovascular, metabolic, and infectious diseases, the team decided to bring the technology from lab to clinic.

The year 2021 saw MiRXES raising $87 million in Series C funding to accelerate its push to deliver cancer early detection tests and preventive healthcare globally. This brings the total amount secured by MiRXES since its inception in 2014 to $130 million, which marks the largest funding to date raised by a Singapore-headquartered cancer diagnostics company.

The new investment is being used primarily to fund the development and commercialisation of MiRXES’s pipeline of multi-cancer early detection tests that look for blood borne microRNA and other molecular signatures released by cancer and immune cells. MiRXES currently collaborates with leading academic and clinical institutions in Singapore, the United States, China, Italy and Japan to conduct large-scale clinical studies on lung, colorectal, liver, breast, pancreatic cancers with total enrollment of more than 30,000 participants.

The startup is working towards moving the future of healthcare from treating the sick to preventive healthcare.

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“MiRXES is deeply honoured and humbled to receive Special Recognition at the BioSpectrum Asia Excellence Awards 2022, and would like to express our heartfelt thanks to the judging panel and BioSpectrum Asia for recognising MiRXES’s commitment to saving and improving lives through early, actionable, and personalised diagnosis, with our industry-leading, innovative microRNA technology and diagnostics. This recognition is a great validation of MiRXES’s journey to anchor RNA diagnostic technology development in Singapore for the world, which led to the development of GASTROClear, the world’s first miRNA test and our contribution to Singapore’s pandemic response through Fortitude Kit, its first approved COVID-19 PCR test. MiRXES looks forward to greater contributions to the healthcare ecosystem by continually strengthening and innovating our technology and development capabilities from research to manufacturing and clinical testing, as well as the delivery of preventive healthcare.”

- Dr Zhou Lihan, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, MiRXES

Image caption- L-R- Ravindra Boratkar, Publisher & Managing Editor, BioSpectrum Asia; Dr Dario Heymann, Chief Research Officer, Galen Growth; Dr Cheng He, Vice President, R&D, MiRXES