Yaguo Technology Files IPO Prospectus, Targeting the Billion-Dollar Blue Ocean Market in Respiratory Care Through Continuous Innovation

“There are only two outcomes in life: intubation and no intubation,” said Li Qian, CEO of Yaguo Technology, in an interview with VCBeat.

This statement may seem like a joke, yet it reflects the current reality in intensive care units (ICUs). In the ICU, the vast majority of patients require intubation for respiratory support. How to help patients overcome critical conditions and alleviate their suffering during treatment is the primary concern for families and the most challenging issue for healthcare professionals.

To address a series of issues faced by patients in clinical respiratory therapy,Li Qian, who has been engaged in the research and development of medical devices for many years, founded Yaguo Technology, with “airway management and respiratory therapy” as its main focus.。

Since its establishment over three years ago, the company has successfully developed three devices: an electronic cuff manometer, an intelligent bionic sputum drainage system, and a respiratory neuromuscular stimulator, with the electronic cuff manometer already launched on the market. Currently, three additional products are under development. These devices help address clinical challenges in patients, including deep pulmonary secretion drainage, complication reduction, monitoring, and rehabilitation. VCBeat has provided follow-up coverage on these developments.

Founder of Yaguo Technology: Li Qian

Li Qian told VCBeat that respiratory diseases are a major threat to human health. In addition to the aforementioned ventilator-associated pneumonia, four of the top 10 leading causes of death worldwide are respiratory diseases: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), pneumonia, lung cancer, and tuberculosis.

Data released by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington show that chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and pneumonia ranked third and fourth, respectively, among causes of death in 2013, with both the incidence and case fatality rate of COPD continuing to rise.

“The number of patients and deaths from respiratory diseases is so high, yet medical devices in the respiratory field suffer from limited variety, slow technological progress, and a low proportion of domestically produced devices,” said Li Qian.

Taking ventilators as an example: It took a full 30 years from the commercialization of the first positive-pressure ventilator in Europe in the 1940s to the advent of positive-pressure ventilators capable of maintaining PEEP. To date, improvements in ventilators have been limited to intelligent modes. According to Li Qian, domestically produced ventilators currently hold only a few percentage points of market share, a mere fraction of that commanded by imported brands.

Li Qian, founder of Yaguo Technology, graduated from the Chinese Academy of Sciences with a major in signal processing. In 2015, he participated in and successfully completed the Global Solutions Program at Singularity University.

Li Qian told VCBeat, “My father was a victim of the scarcity of medical devices in the 1990s, so I realized early on that doctors are not gods; when they are dealing with sacred lives, they need powerful tools. It was then that I decided I would not remain for long in fields unrelated to life.”

During his graduate studies at the Institute of Acoustics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Li Qian entered the medical device industry, where he has now accumulated twelve years of experience. At that time, he served as the project leader for an intracorporeal ultrasonic lithotripter, successfully guiding it from development to mass production. Later, working as a systems engineer in the corporate sector, he spearheaded the research and development of multiple ultrasound imaging products, all of which have achieved strong sales performance to date.。

Before starting her own venture, several companies invited her to lead teams in developing medical devices, offering highly competitive salaries. However, after careful consideration, she declined these offers. “Most of these projects were merely ‘nice-to-have’ improvements; even if executed well, they would only enhance product performance by about 10% compared to existing solutions,” said Li Qian. She expressed her desire to develop products that truly address clinical pain points.

During market research, Li Qian learned of a heartbreaking tragedy while chatting with a friend: a relative of the friend had been involved in a motorcycle accident and admitted to the ICU. While caring for the relative, the friend observed that the hospital’s sputum suction procedure, which involves inserting a suction catheter into the trachea, caused significant pain to the patient. This issue caught Li Qian’s attention. She conducted an in-depth investigation into this niche area and ultimately decided to focus her efforts on developing a solution to address this problem.

In early 2014, Li Qian began assembling a team for the project. Li Xiaomiao, co-founder of Yaguo Technology, is a senior circuit engineer who also graduated from the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The medical lead is an attending physician in the ICU of a Grade 3A hospital. Yaguo Technology’s team also includes a circuit systems expert who receives the State Council’s special allowance, as well as a marketing director with over ten years of marketing experience.

It can be said that Yaguo Technology boasts a multidisciplinary team with extensive technical expertise, comprising members from senior, middle-aged, and younger generations. Currently, Yaguo has established collaborations with numerous Grade A tertiary hospitals. As its integration with clinical practice deepens, the number of experts and department directors in its advisory team continues to grow.

After more than three years of development, Yaguo Technology has independently developed three devices: an electronic cuff pressure gauge, an intelligent bionic sputum drainage system, and a respiratory neuromuscular stimulator. As of press time, Yaguo Technology has filed nearly 30 patent applications, including one PCT (Patent Cooperation Treaty) international patent application and seven invention patents.

Since traditional cuff pressure gauges are mechanical, they require testing every 4–6 hours; however, the measurement process itself causes gas leakage from the cuff. Clinical practice has demonstrated that each insertion and removal of a mechanical cuff pressure gauge directly results in a decrease in intracuff pressure by 5–7 cmH2O.

Excessively high cuff pressure can cause ischemic injury to the tracheal mucosa, while insufficient pressure fails to prevent secretions from entering the bronchi. Therefore, the "Guidelines for VAP Prevention and Control" clearly state that continuous monitoring and appropriate control of endotracheal cuff pressure can effectively reduce the incidence of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP).

Yaguo Technology’s Electronic Cuff Pressure Manometer is the first product in China to provide continuous monitoring of cuff pressure.Real-time monitoring with automatic alarms for abnormal cuff pressure minimizes potential risks to patients. When intracuff pressure remains within the safe range, no personnel intervention is required, replacing routine manual pressure measurements and significantly reducing clinical workload.

The product has obtained certification from the China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA), been included in the textbook *Emergency and Critical Care in Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine*, and served as the subject of a paper published in the *Chinese Journal of Critical Care and Emergency Medicine*. It is also the only airway management device that complies with the recommendations of the *Guidelines for VAP Prevention and Control*. Within just over three months since its market launch, nearly 1,000 units have been sold, earning widespread market recognition.

“Every intubated patient deserves our continuous cuff pressure monitoring device to reduce complications,” said Li Qian. This product has a market potential of over RMB 500 million in China.

Li Qian stated that the primary motivation for developing the intelligent bionic sputum drainage system was that “sputum clearance is extremely painful” for patients in the intensive care unit (ICU). Traditional sputum clearance methods, such as mechanical chest percussion and suction catheter aspiration, are not only ineffective but also cumbersome to perform. For more details, please click on “Yaguo Technology: Sputum Excretion Enters the Intelligent Era》。

According to data provided by Yaguo Technology, the total number of therapeutic ventilators in China stands at 625,000 units. The United States has nearly 1 million units, with a growth rate exceeding 30%, while Western Europe has 700,000 units, with a growth rate of approximately 20%. Invasive ventilators (requiring intubation) account for 58.3% of the market; there are approximately 360,000 such units in China, and nearly 1 million units worldwide.

However, a common complication of invasive mechanical ventilation—ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP)—has an incidence rate of 43.1% and a mortality rate as high as 51.6%, primarily due to the ineffective clearance of secretions from the deep lungs.

Yaguo Technology's Intelligent Bionic Sputum Excretion System,By simulating a normal physiological cough, it enables patients to safely and effectively clear secretions from the deep lungs through coughing, just as healthy individuals do.。

UseAccording to Cao Zhixin, Deputy Director of the Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine at the Jingxi Campus of Beijing Chaoyang Hospital, the greatest advantage of this device is its ability to be connected in parallel with any model of ventilator. It enables effective sputum clearance without disconnecting the ventilator, thereby avoiding airway injury associated with conventional sputum clearance procedures.。

No other product on the current market can achieve this; this system effectively fills a gap in this niche segment of the medical device industry. Currently, the device is undergoing clinical trials at several Grade A tertiary hospitals, with Beijing Chaoyang Hospital serving as the lead institution.

Regarding the future market size, Li Qian stated that it would be a market worth hundreds of billions of yuan, as there are millions of invasive ventilators worldwide, and all patients using invasive ventilators should use sputum evacuation systems. Calculated at a 10% penetration rate, this still represents a market worth nearly ten billion yuan, and the figure would be even larger if consumables are included. Additionally, there are currently no similar products on the market, making it a significant blue ocean for a certain period.

Chronic respiratory diseases are the third leading cause of death, following cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases and cancer. Among these, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the only condition with continuously rising incidence and mortality rates. As a common and frequently occurring disease that poses a serious threat to human health, COPD significantly impairs patients' quality of life.

Data from the latest survey by Academician Wang Chen shows that the prevalence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) among individuals aged 40 and above in China is 13.7%.. According to World Health Organization data, China has the highest mortality rate from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) among all countries. Respiratory muscle weakness or fatigue is a major cause of respiratory failure in patients with COPD.

Yaguo’s innovatively developed Respiratory Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulator enhances the mobility of the diaphragm and abdominal muscles through coordinated electrical stimulation of the respiratory muscle groups, thereby improving pulmonary ventilation. It is indicated for rehabilitative therapy in patients with stable chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and chronic respiratory failure.

Regarding future development directions, Li Qian told VCBeat that Yaguo will focus on the fields of airway management and respiratory therapy, continue to be guided by clinical needs, explore and develop blue-ocean markets, independently conduct R&D on two to three key areas each year, pursue continuous innovation, and consistently provide innovative products and services for clinical practice. For products already on the market, the company aims to enhance their clinical influence and strive to establish industry standards or guidelines.

It is reported that Yaguo Technology has completed two rounds of financing, with investments from funds including Shanghai Tianyi and Suzhou Rongtuo. The company currently operates a 1,000-square-meter cleanroom workshop and an 800-square-meter office space, possessing industrial-scale production capabilities.

Currently, Yaguo Technology is also launching a new round of financing, primarily intended for the production and market promotion of existing products, as well as the research and development of new products.。