Zhongke Ion raises nearly $89.5M as proton therapy enters the clinic

Zhongke Ion, a Chinese maker of superconducting cyclotrons and proton-radiotherapy systems for hospitals, has completed its first market-based equity financing, raising nearly $89.5 million. Regional technology outlet The Yangtzeer reported the amount for the September 29 announcement; Chinese financial outlets said the proceeds will support core research and market expansion.

At the center of the business is the SC240, a superconducting cyclotron that produces the proton beam used in radiotherapy. Zhongke Ion integrates that accelerator with treatment hardware, then designs, installs, operates and maintains systems for treatment centers. Its work therefore runs from building the facility to supporting the equipment clinicians use to treat tumors.

The fusion connection is technological, not a claim that Zhongke Ion already sells grid power. Its proton-treatment equipment grew out of superconducting and accelerator work developed around the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ large research facilities. The company also makes cyclotrons for isotope-drug development, radiation research and agricultural breeding, and supplies large-aperture superconducting magnets for fusion-related facilities.

The equipment has moved beyond laboratory testing. Cailianshe reported in September that Zhongke Ion’s proton-radiotherapy system was in clinical use and the SC240 had entered mass production. In April, Shanghai Securities News had described the system as approaching its first patient treatment at a University of Science and Technology of China-affiliated hospital in Hefei.

Zhongke Ion’s offer spans the life of a proton center: system design and production, installation, operation and maintenance. That gives hospitals one domestic supplier for the accelerator, the surrounding treatment system and continuing service. A company executive told Shanghai Securities News in April that its system cost about two-thirds as much as imported equipment.

Wanneng Capital, CMB International, Qianhai Ark, China Securities Capital, SMIC Capital and other investors participated. Zhongke Ion says it plans to keep extending its superconducting and accelerator technology across nuclear medicine, nuclear energy and nuclear instrumentation.