Weixin Medical Revolutionizes Cervical Cancer Screening with a 2-Minute Point-of-Care Diagnostic Device

In the women's health market, the potential of a niche segment has undoubtedly been underestimated.

According to Acumen Research & Consulting, the overall market size for women's health reached $25.3 billion in 2021 and is projected to expand to $97.3 billion by 2030. Within this vast market, most entrepreneurs have focused on assisted reproduction, anti-aging, and weight loss, while overlooking entrepreneurial opportunities in another niche segment—namely,The female reproductive health sector.

On the one hand, morbidity and mortality rates in the field of female reproductive health remain high, and there is still significant room for improvement in the proportions of early screening and diagnosis, as well as medical consultations due to illness.Taking cervical cancer as an example, according to the latest global cancer statistics released by the World Health Organization, there were 110,000 new cases of cervical cancer among Chinese women in 2020, ranking sixth; and 60,000 deaths from cervical cancer, ranking seventh. However, currently, less than 60% of Chinese women suffering from reproductive health-related diseases seek medical attention for their conditions, and the cervical cancer screening rate remains below 30%.

On the other hand, gynecology departments still extensively rely on general surgical instruments and equipment. They are confronted with challenges such as outdated existing solutions, low profitability, diminished professional status for physicians, and poor patient care experiences. There is an urgent market need for higher-quality product solutions.

Meanwhile,In recent years, the state has vigorously promoted the widespread screening for cervical and breast cancers among women, facilitated public education on female reproductive health, and further advanced and encouraged the development of the female reproductive health industry.

Founded in 2021, microinno was established against the aforementioned backdrop, aiming to address the reproductive health challenges currently faced by women and to “innovate for Chinese women.” The founding team of microinno boasts extensive experience in the medical device industry and in developing innovative products. After nearly three years of market research, the team proposed a series of upgraded device solutions tailored to clinical pain points in gynecological settings.It has achieved full-stack development of natural orifice products spanning the vagina, cervix, uterine cavity, and fallopian tubes. The company has completed comprehensive product coverage ranging from diagnostic portable vaginal speculums and hysteroscopes requiring no cervical dilation, to photodynamic therapy and energy-based surgical platforms, electric surgical instruments, and integrated fluid management systems. This truly realizes the “see & treat” model, effectively streamlining existing gynecological diagnosis and treatment workflows.

Given the promising growth potential of the reproductive health sector and microinno’s innovative capabilities, shortly after its establishment,microinno quickly secured two rounds of financing.In 2021, microinno secured angel-round funding; in July 2023, it raised tens of millions of RMB in Series A financing from Jinding Capital and Taiyu Investment.

It is reported that, Microinno’s Nanjing factory completed the on-site inspection in March this year, just eight months after closing its Series A financing round. In addition, Microinno’s hysteroscope product requiring no cervical dilation won the 2024 German iF Design Award this month. Its first product, “Microinno Scope,” is scheduled to obtain NMPA approval in the third quarter of this year and complete EU CE certification within the year.

It is important to emphasize that,microinno’s eponymous product, “Weixin Jing,” is an innovative solution developed for the early screening of cervical cancer., leveraging the mandatory scenario of “two-cancer screening,” it streamlines the original diagnostic workflow while addressing the limitations of traditional colposcopes, which are confined to colposcopy suites and suffer from operational inconvenience and poor visualization.

Specifically, the microinno scope integrates UV LED laser-excited autofluorescence imaging to instantly resolve suspicious lesions at depths of 2–3 mm beneath the surface; its narrow-band imaging and 4K high-frame-rate display enable timely diagnostic documentation of suspicious areas. It achieves a 97% accuracy rate against the gold standard, far surpassing existing methods, and allows for earlier detection of early-stage lesions.Tests have demonstrated that the Weixin Endoscope can streamline the original process—requiring three hospital visits and a diagnostic period of nearly two months—into a single visit with diagnosis completed within two minutes.

Furthermore, the product is simple and lightweight, allowing for one-handed operation in an outpatient setting when used with dedicated consumables. This offers significant convenience for cervical cancer screening in primary care hospitals and enhances both the efficiency of routine gynecological outpatient examinations and the visual inspection experience for physicians.

It is worth mentioning that,The WeiXin endoscope can also be used in conjunction with photodynamic therapy devices from microinno., which enables real-time monitoring of both the absorption and metabolic status of photosensitizers in the human body and their state following laser excitation,Thereby achieving integrated photodynamic diagnosis and therapy under visualization.

Furthermore, microinno adopts a product development strategy of “developing one generation while reserving the next.” According to Zhang Yang, founder of microinno, currently,The second-generation "MicroinnoScope" product is undergoing animal trials., as subsequent clinical work progresses, its diagnostic accuracy data will also undergo professional validation. And the first generationThe “WeiXin Jing” product has received unanimous acclaim from physicians in clinical practice, with a large number of distributor partners seeking collaboration. It will be rapidly launched to the market after obtaining NMPA certification in Q3 of this year.

microinno has structured its product portfolio around the diagnostic and therapeutic needs of gynecological natural orifice procedures,In addition to Weixinjing, a diagnostic product for vaginal and cervical diseases, there are also hysteroscopic diagnosis and treatment products developed for female uterine cavity diseases.—such as no-dilation hysteroscopes, hysteroscopic tissue resectors (multimodal electric cold knives), intelligent uterine distension systems, and hysteroscopic surgery monitoring systems.

Unlike the design philosophies of products from many existing companies, microinnoUpholding the “less is more” product design philosophy,All product pipeline functions can be integrated into a single device, truly realizing the founding vision of “In a complex world, one system is all you need.”Meanwhile, the host features a modular design that allows for customizable product configurations tailored to platforms such as cervical diagnosis and treatment systems and hysteroscopic diagnosis and treatment systems, thereby meeting the practical operational needs of different hospitals and institutions.

In addition to the reproductive health sector, a market with substantial demand and promising growth prospects, microinno has also strategically focused on intimate aesthetics and postpartum recovery.Relevant data indicate that the volume of surgeries in this sector has now surpassed all other procedures to become the top category in medical aesthetics. Between 2019 and 2022, demand for female genital cosmetic surgery increased by 220%. Driven by factors such as the normalization of later marriage and childbearing, along with rising health awareness among women, postpartum rehabilitation is increasingly becoming an essential need, with market demand continuing to expand. The robust growth in the fields of intimate aesthetic care and postpartum rehabilitation undoubtedly presents significant opportunities for microinno.

Taking Microinno’s endoscopic system as an example, it not only addresses patients’ visualization needs in private aesthetic medicine settings but also integrates with software systems developed for such scenarios, helping aesthetic clinics quantify and enhance their corresponding services.

In addition to microinno's endoscopic products,The multi-purpose laser therapy platform developed by the company can also meet the diverse needs of both serious medical and consumer healthcare scenarios.This platform is not only widely applicable to hysteroscopic and laparoscopic surgeries, endometriosis resection, myomectomy, polypectomy, and other fields, but also serves areas such as postpartum recovery and intimate aesthetic procedures.

For microinno, “Innovating for Chinese Women” is its tireless pursuit. It is revealed that in the future,microinno will also continue to develop more consumer-grade and improvement-oriented functional products based on thorough market research, and actively seek collaborations with postpartum care centers and private aesthetic gynecology clinics, to truly address the full-scenario, diversified needs in the field of women’s reproductive health in China.