China's National Key R&D Program on Confocal Endoscopy Officially Launched to Fill Domestic Technology Gap

On January 21, the kick-off meeting for the project “Development of Confocal Endoscopes,” under the National Key R&D Program’s Special Project on R&D of Digital Diagnostic and Therapeutic Equipment, was held at the Ezhou Industrial Technology Research Institute of Huazhong University of Science and Technology.

Over the next three years, Jingwei Shida will lead authoritative clinical institutions, medical device testing centers, universities, and research institutes across China. Leveraging a collaborative innovation platform integrating “industry, academia, research, healthcare, and testing,” the company will establish a complete innovation chain centered on core technology R&D, encompassing clinical application testing and evaluation, product registration, and industrialization layout. This joint effort aims to advance the development of domestically produced confocal endoscopes, filling another gap in China’s most cutting-edge segment of high-end medical equipment.

Wu Linzhang, Deputy Director of the Hubei Provincial Department of Science and Technology, delivered a speech in which he emphasized the importance of collaborative innovation among industry, academia, research, healthcare, and inspection sectors, and affirmed the project team’s solid preliminary R&D achievements. Attending the meeting as members of the advisory committee were Professor Yu Xing, Project Specialist at the Ministry of Science and Technology; Xuanyuan Kai, Director of the Hubei Medical Device Quality Supervision and Inspection Center; Hou Xiaohua, Director of the Department of Gastroenterology at Wuhan Union Hospital; Liu Bifeng, Professor at Huazhong University of Science and Technology; and Zeng Jianhui, General Manager of Wuhan Zhizhong Technology Co., Ltd.

Jingwei Shida’s project selected for this special initiative is the confocal endoscope, a novel endoscopic technology also known as optical biopsy. Leveraging the principle of confocal microscopy, this technology enables optical sectioning of tissues and provides up to 1000-fold magnification, allowing clinicians to directly visualize cellular structures during endoscopic examinations. This facilitates the diagnosis of early-stage minute lesions, particularly neoplastic changes, thereby improving biopsy accuracy and reducing the rate of missed diagnoses. Currently, industrial-scale production of this technology remains unachievable in China, resulting in prohibitively high costs that limit its clinical application.

This project is based on the domestically developed confocal endoscopy system independently co-developed by Huazhong University of Science and Technology and Precision Vision since 2007. Upon its launch, it will become a highly competitive product both domestically and internationally, filling a gap in this field in China. This will also help reduce medical costs and meet the healthcare needs of more people.