Orange Persimmon Interactive reporter Gu Guofei
A small parrot easily picks up a "coin" and puts it exactly in the hands of the bird trainer. This lightweight "coin" is the new Weitai Dynamic AiDEX X, which was officially released by Wetech Medical in Shanghai recently.
Weitai Dynamic X is the second generation of continuous blood glucose meter developed by Weitai Medical, which has been comprehensively improved in terms of wearing convenience, comfort and product function compared with the first generation. After wearing it, users can automatically monitor changes in blood glucose levels in the body 24 hours a day, and can clearly see which time of day blood sugar spike and when blood sugar trough is experienced on the mobile phone. These data can show not only the body's response after eating (or not eating), but also the body's response after exercise (or not exercising).
In 2011, Dr. Zheng Pan, who returned from the United States, founded Weitai Medical in Hangzhou Future Science and Technology City, focusing on the R&D and manufacturing of medical devices in the field of diabetes. ®
Regarding the latest release of Dynamic X, Zheng Pan bluntly said at the press conference, "Dynamic X is the most satisfactory product of Wetech Medical since its establishment 13 years ago. ”
The industry predicts that the market size of continuous blood glucose meters will reach 10 billion in the next three years, which is 5 times that of the current one. Weitai Dynamic X has plunged headlong into a new "blue ocean". How does Wetech Medical achieve Changyou? How does Zheng Pan plan for the future of Wetech Medical? Metropolis Express and Orange Persimmon Interactive and Hangzhou CPPCC Entrepreneur Association walked into Weitai Medical and chatted face-to-face with Zheng Pan, executive vice president of Hangzhou CPPCC Entrepreneur Association and chairman of Weitai Medical.
See big with "small".
In Weitai Medical Company, the reporter saw Weitai Dynamic X, round, smaller than a one-yuan coin, with a thickness of 4 mm, about equal to two 1-dime coins, which is half of the first generation of products; At only about 2.2 grams, which is almost the weight of half an A4 sheet of paper, it is only 40% of the first generation of products, and it is currently one of the smallest products of its kind.
On the day of the interview with Metropolis Express, Zheng Pan wore a shirt, and he tightened his sleeves near his arms, "I have a dynamic X on my arm, you see, I basically can't see it." ”
Human beings have been testing their own glucose for more than 100 years, from urine glucose to blood glucose, from hospital professional testing to self-testing, the overall trend of testing equipment in the development process is smaller and easier to use. What is the breakthrough point in the process of making a small X number of Weitai dynamics? What kind of new quality productivity is contained in it?
Zheng Pan: First of all, the size of the product is made small is an actual user demand, after all, it is a perennial wear on the body, in terms of comfort, the smaller the better, it is best not to feel its existence. In addition, in terms of reliability, it is also small and not easy to be scratched, so as to avoid failure.
Of course, if you want to make the volume smaller, the greater the difficulty. A lot of things are small, and they challenge technology and design ideas, and we put a lot of effort into that.
In addition to the small appearance, the real feature or breakthrough point of the dynamic X is to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the sensor when the whole product is less than the size of a dollar coin and the thickness is only 4 mm. This is the result of close cooperation between materials engineers, chemical engineers, and engineers in mechanics, electronics, software structures, communications, etc.
In order to achieve these breakthroughs, we have invested more than 40 outstanding engineers in the Dynamic X project, many of whom are returnees with PhDs and PhDs from famous universities in China. It took us 5 years to develop the first generation of continuous glucose meter, and dynamic X is on this basis, and we spent 3 years to study how to use more advanced electronic and sensor technology, how to adopt some advanced design concepts, so that it is currently the smallest dynamic sensor in China, which requires the innovation of many engineers.
(Zheng Pan received a master's degree in mechanical engineering from Zhejiang University in 1996 and a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Florida State University in 2004. Zheng Pan has a separate office on the 5th floor of the company, which is spacious and tidy, and there is not even a computer on the desk. After the interview, I learned that he usually works on the 3rd floor of the company, and invests in research and development with the engineers. ）
Dynamic X is the first in China to create an all-in-one design, no assembly, unscrewed and wried. Although it is small, it is equipped with a new high-performance chip, which can be continuously monitored for 15 days at a time, and the data is updated every minute, monitoring 1440 blood glucose values per day, which can more completely reflect the blood sugar information of the human body.
From the current point of view, this product is one of the most advanced products both domestically and internationally.
Protruding heavy 围
Diabetes mellitus is a chronic disease that generally takes a long time to treat. According to the United Nations World Health Organization, the number of diabetics in China will reach 140 million in 2023, and the corresponding medical devices and products are a huge market.
International giants such as Medtronic, Abbott, Johnson & Johnson, and Roche have entered China around the 90s of the last century, and currently occupy most of the market share of domestic diabetes medical devices.
Founded in 2011, what are the advantages of Weitai Medical in the competition with international giants? How to break out of the encirclement?
Zheng Pan: In fact, the continuous glucose meter is a relatively new thing in recent years, and the earliest concept was introduced into China by a company in the United States. It helps patients understand their blood sugar levels through continuous monitoring, and can also consult doctors according to these maps, and even adjust their life and diet after mastering the data of blood sugar changes, and effectively exercise to control their blood sugar.
We all know the story of the "blind man touching the elephant", the ambulatory glucose meter does not only see a point and a leg, but can see the whole picture, it is like a video recorder to record all the changes in your blood sugar. It is not only suitable for diabetics, but also for people who are fit and lose weight. For example, many people are now taking weight loss injections, and in the United States, it is recommended that users monitor blood sugar with a continuous glucose meter, because hypoglycemia is likely to occur during this weight loss process, causing some physical damage.
The promise of continuous glucose meters is very high, and they are a real game-changer for diabetics who rely on blood glucose levels to decide the dosage of their medications. It's an opportunity for us, and we're one of the first companies to get into this space, and now some of the new and traditional companies are coming in and doing it.
From the perspective of products, the biggest feature of Wetech Medical is that it has a full range of independent intellectual property rights, which is one of the moats of Wetech Medical. We have developed all our products without any patent risk, which enables our company to go further and longer not only in China but also overseas.
Weitai also has a moat, we have formed a set of organic ecosystem, we not only have monitoring products, but also therapeutic products, on this basis, we have also launched a digital diabetes management platform, management of diabetes treatment equipment, forming a complete sugar reduction system.
The development of China's science and technology industry has a common characteristic: the front goes slowly, and the later it goes, the faster it goes, because the front pays special attention to its own basic research. It took 5 years for Weitai Medical to develop the first generation of continuous blood glucose meter, and 3 years to develop the second generation, and the speed of later iterations will be faster and more advanced.
We have an even bigger product, the artificial pancreas, or closed-loop insulin pump system, which is now nearing completion of clinical trials. For some patients with impaired pancreatic function, this product provides an exogenous insulin supplement, which perfectly combines our Dynamic X and insulin pump products, and uses a set of artificial intelligence algorithms to help type 1 and type 2 diabetes patients better control their blood sugar, help them recover their health and prolong their lives. It has been approved by the State Food and Drug Administration for innovative medical devices last year, and it may complete clinical application for listing in the first half of this year.
To do this, long-term investment is required, including financial and technological innovation. Nowadays, more and more attention is paid to the protection of intellectual property rights in China, which can effectively ensure that entrepreneurs innovate.
In this process, some players may be eliminated in the field of continuous glucose meters, and I expect that only about 4 companies will be left to produce this product in the future.
China's Weitai
Weitai Medical was founded in 2011 and listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2021. Before the listing, it completed 4 rounds of financing, including Lilly Asia Ventures, Qiming Venture Partners, IDG and other star capitals participated in the investment.
Wetech has 2 core products that have been recognized as innovative medical devices by the State Food and Drug Administration. It has the first "14-day, calibration-free, real-time" continuous glucose monitoring system and the only patch insulin pump system in China. The digital chronic disease management system, formed by combining advanced medical hardware with cloud services, has been applied in more than 1,000 hospitals. The world's leading closed-loop artificial pancreas system has also entered the clinical stage. Related products have won the title of "Made in Zhejiang".
Weitai Medical is a national high-tech enterprise and a specialized and new "little giant" enterprise. Last year, Zheng Pan was invited to participate in the "2023 World Economic Forum Global Entrepreneurs Dialogue", and Premier Li Qiang's speech gave Zheng Pan great encouragement, and said at the meeting: "I deeply feel the government's encouragement and attention to innovative medical enterprises, China is the most dynamic market with unlimited future growth potential. ”
In an interview with other media, Zheng Pan once said that Weitai's goal is to be the popularizer of ambulatory blood sugar management in China. So what is the business goal of Wetech?
Medtronic in the United States has an annual revenue of 32 billion US dollars, of which the diabetes business reaches 2.3 billion US dollars, about 17 billion yuan, and is the leading company in the diabetes medical device industry. Does Weitai want to become "China's Medtronic"?
Zheng Pan: When I came back from Silicon Valley in 2011 and founded Wetech Medical, my dream was to bring some advanced treatment devices to more than 100 million diabetic patients in China. The first to do was a patch insulin pump, the size of a matchbox, and later combined with the needs of blood glucose monitoring, the first and second generation of Weitai continuous blood glucose meters were launched.
Over the past 13 years, including during the pandemic, there have been indeed various opportunities. I can't say that I gave up these opportunities because I stuck to my main business, both for technical reasons and for business vision. But it can be hard to comment on whether I'm doing it right or wrong, because there's no way to verify it. But there's nothing wrong with me sticking with it at least in one industry.
We do advanced medical devices, but at the end of the day, we are still a manufacturing industry. Manufacturing is a lot of investment, and it's hard to assemble a team. It requires long-term investment, sticks to a certain product line, and has a long R&D cycle, so it will not be easily converted because it can be costly.
Now our insulin pump is the best in the industry, and the market share of continuous glucose meters is weaker than that of other companies in the United States. Many similar companies in China dream of becoming "China's Medtronic", and my opinion is that we don't have enough scale to set such a big goal ourselves.
Our goal is first of all to do a good job in China's micro-tech. We still have a lot of room for growth, and we should learn from large international companies in business, and the goal is not to compete for the first, but to let more people use our products to improve their lives.
Wetech Medical is not a company that specializes in sales and business model, we are more of a company based on technological innovation. We're going to keep going so focused.
Business card for entrepreneurs
Zheng Pan: male, Han nationality, born in September 1971, chairman of Weitai Medical. Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Florida State University, professor-level senior engineer, national distinguished expert, member of Zhejiang Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, vice chairman of the Hangzhou Municipal Committee of the Zhi Gong Party, vice president of the Provincial European and American Returned Scholars Association, vice president of the Provincial Haigao Association, and Hangzhou Model Worker.
Weitai Medical Devices (Hangzhou) Co., Ltd.: Founded in 2011, it is a national high-tech enterprise and a specialized and new "little giant" enterprise. In October 2021, it was listed on the main board of Hong Kong.
In 2014, with the support of the provincial government, the provincial key enterprise research institute of diabetes detection and treatment equipment was established, the provincial postdoctoral workstation was established, and joint research and development centers were established with many well-known universities in China.
In 2017, he undertook the research of major special projects of the national "13th Five-Year Plan".
At present, Weitai has more than 800 employees, and its R&D team was rated as a provincial leading innovation team in 2017, including many high-end talents such as national distinguished experts, Zhejiang distinguished experts, overseas engineers, etc., and has more than 20,000 square meters of R&D and production space.
Editor in charge: Xue Yongjun
Review: Chen Xinwen Gu Guofei