HONG KONG, Oct. 15, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Prenetics Global Limited (NASDAQ:PRE), a leading health sciences company, today announced that Tencent has made a strategic US$30 million investment in Insighta, a Hong Kong-based early cancer detection company. This investment values Insighta at US$200 million and underscores Tencent's endeavor to advancing AI-powered innovations in healthcare.
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 US$30 million in cash from the sale of secondary shares to Tencent, boosting its pro forma cash and other current short-term assets1 to over US$90 million at closing of the transaction. Tencent will also gain 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 powered by its proprietary FRAGMA technology, a cutting-edge 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, highly accurate early epigenetics-based detection of multiple cancers. Epigenetics is the study of biochemical modifications of the genome without changes in DNA sequences. This ingenious approach in detecting fragmented DNA signatures allows the cost-effective detection of cancer, making FRAGMA a crucial innovation in cancer detection.
Insighta has commenced clinical trials in Mainland China, focusing initially on liver cancer, and will soon expand to include ...
