Amazon-backed cancer detection firm mulls Hong Kong IPO

Grail boasts of a wide range of blockbuster investors including Tencent and Bill Gates.

Cancer detection firm Grail Inc., which counts the personal venture fund of Amazon, Tencent and Bill Gates as its big-time investors, is reportedly planning a Hong Kong IPO that could raise as much as $500m in its share sale, according to Bloomberg. 

Grail earlier announced its first product which is a screening test for a type of cancer in the upper throat and behind the nasal cavity that is slated to launch in 2018. It also counts Johnson & Johnson, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., Celgene Corp., and Merck & Co amongst its other blockbuster backers. 

Hong Kong recently revised its listing rules to attract early-stage biotech firms to the bourse with Shanghai Henlius Biotech the first to take advantage of the proposal.

Here’s more from Bloomberg: