Zhuoyou Medical Launches China's First Electromagnetic Needle-Free Drug Delivery System, Files for IPO

Whether infants or adults, no one enjoys being pricked by a needle. This holds true for injections administered in serious medical settings, as well as those in consumer healthcare sectors such as minimally invasive aesthetic procedures and dental injections, or for the long-term management of chronic diseases requiring regular injectable medications. A study from Harvard University found that this experience has led to a specific phobia—up to 25% of adults fear getting injections.

Although mechanical spring-driven needle-free drug delivery products were introduced in the United States in 1933, they failed to meet expectations for painless injection, precise dosing, and accurate control of injection depth. Electromagnetically driven drug delivery devices, as an upgraded alternative, address these shortcomings and represent the current development trend and direction in the field of needle-free drug delivery.

Zhuoyou Medical (Suzhou) Co., Ltd. is a startup dedicated to the research and development of electromagnetic-driven needle-free drug delivery devices. Established in 2022 at the Medical Device Industrial Park in Suzhou High-Tech Zone, the company leverages years of technological accumulation from interdisciplinary medical-engineering projects conducted in collaboration with Beihang University, the National University of Singapore, and Singapore General Hospital. Its product portfolio addresses medication needs across diverse scenarios, multiple clinical departments, and home-based chronic disease management, encompassing needle-free delivery systems for serious medical care, aesthetic injections, and animal health immunization. Featuring multi-model designs, the company’s products are adapted for market deployment across various fields and dimensions. By adopting an integrated business model combining “hardware products + software services + consumables,” Zhuoyou Medical aligns with customer requirements and enhances client stickiness.

Zhou Ping, founder of Zhuoyou Medical, worked for over a decade at Siemens Magnetic Resonance Ltd. and Siemens Healthineers, holding roles that included local product innovation design, R&D project management, and business general manager of a business unit. He joined Huawei in 2007, serving as Head of Global Sales Business Management at the Shenzhen headquarters and later as Head of Sales Operations for the Western Europe Region. With more than twenty years of experience in the R&D, production, and sales of ICT and high-end medical devices both domestically and internationally, he is well-versed in the application of electromagnets in high-end medical equipment.

Leveraging his keen insights into the European and American healthcare industries, Zhou Ping identified the significant market opportunities inherent in needle-free drug delivery devices as early as 2015, when domestic companies’ imitation of mechanical spring-based needle-free injectors led to medical incidents, prompting national regulatory authorities to upgrade their classification from Class II to Class III medical devices.

“Needle-free drug delivery devices will bring about a transformation in the entire drug administration industry, but why has this change been so long in coming?” Many have raised this question, and Zhou Ping has often pondered it as well. “The transformation driven by any innovative technology does not happen overnight,” Zhou Ping explained to VCBeat, outlining the developmental logic of needle-free drug delivery systems.

Over the past century, the core technology for power sources in needle-free injection systems has undergone several generations of iterative evolution, progressing from gunpowder and high-pressure gas to mechanical springs, electric motors, and electromagnetic force. As a medical technology, needle-free injection has been gradually adopted in clinical practice in developed countries in recent years, particularly in the North American and Western European markets. In China, domestically produced needle-free injectors that use copied spring-based mechanisms are purely mechanical devices. Once triggered, the injection process lacks any form of control, leaving parameters such as drug dosage and injection depth unregulated. Coupled with widespread customer feedback citing issues such as cumbersome operation, inaccurate dosing, loud popping noises from high-pressure air bursts, residual medication, and redness, swelling, or bruising at the injection site, these shortcomings have led to numerous medical incidents, thereby limiting market adoption. However, electromagnetically driven needle-free drug delivery devices can revolutionize the field by offering painless administration, precise controllability, and broader indications, making them the most promising emerging technology to drive industry transformation.

"After graduating from Harbin Institute of Technology, I joined Siemens Healthineers and worked across multiple departments, engaging in R&D design for products such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) systems, as well as production management. Later, during my seven to eight years working in Germany, I gained profound insights into how many of the country’s world-renowned ‘hidden champion’ companies in niche sectors were founded and operated, and I conducted in-depth research into their R&D and market operation strategies," said Zhou Ping.

Through market research, Zhou Ping discovered that, on one hand, the few domestic companies manufacturing generic spring-driven needle-free injectors based on foreign designs have been cultivating the market for over a decade. This has enabled pharmaceutical companies and consumers to gain a certain level of understanding and awareness of needle-free injector products, clarifying their key requirements. On the other hand, Zhou Ping found that within his familiar field of electromagnetic applications, niche Lorentz force-driven needle-free injection represents the future direction of needle-free drug delivery. Consequently, he conceived the idea of founding an innovative company focused on the niche segment of needle-free drug delivery, leveraging the technology mastered by himself and his team. This venture aims to provide customers with an experience distinct from that of spring-driven needle-free injectors, making advanced technology accessible to the general public.

Consequently, Zhou Ping began assembling a team and establishing a company to strategically position himself in the field of electromagnetic-driven needle-free drug delivery devices, aiming to fill the gap in core technologies within China’s needle-free injection sector.

Zhou Ping and his core team’s efforts to tackle challenges in this field date back to 2015. In July 2015, a project task force was established by two professors from Beihang University and the National University of Singapore, one chief physician from Singapore General Hospital, and three postdoctoral researchers, officially launching the interdisciplinary medical-engineering project on needle-free drug delivery. In October 2017, following international peer review, the team completed an IEEE academic paper and filed patent applications for their electromagnetic needle-free drug delivery technology, ranking second globally and first in China.

The core team of Zhuoyou Medical comprises former executives from multinational pharmaceutical and medical device companies, clinical experts from medical institutions, and professional R&D engineers from pharmaceutical and medical device enterprises. From foundational research in 2015 to current industrial application development, the company has navigated challenging paths, including enduring three years of the pandemic. Currently, its self-developed latest-generation needle-free drug delivery technology has completed the upgrade of gas- and spring-driven administration devices. Zhuoyou Medical has established deep strategic collaborations with leading pharmaceutical companies and clients in the animal health, healthcare, and medical aesthetics sectors. This technology significantly enhances drug bioavailability while avoiding adverse effects such as pain, bruising, induration, ulceration, and infection.

Zhuoyou Medical’s electromagnetically driven needle-free drug delivery system (hereinafter referred to as the “Zhuoyou Drug Delivery System”) is a first-of-its-kind innovation in China. Its independently developed electromagnetic needle-free drug delivery technology has made it the only enterprise in China to hold core invention patents in the field of needle-free drug delivery. The core technology stems from the team’s translation of aerospace technologies—specifically electromagnetic coil guns and electromagnetic gyroscope precision guidance systems—into medical applications.

This technology converts electrical energy into magnetic energy, thereby generating kinetic energy in a ferromagnetic component. This propels the medication via a high-pressure jet, which momentarily breaches the skin barrier to deliver the drug into the subcutaneous tissue, ensuring uniform absorption through diffusion. During administration, the device enables precise control over force and velocity, addressing the issue of uncontrolled delivery associated with mechanical spring-based needle-free injectors. This not only enhances drug absorption rates and simplifies patient operation but also improves the overall user experience.

Furthermore, the Zhuoyou needle-free drug delivery system integrates magnetic levitation technology with customized magnetic materials, enabling it to overcome the limitations of current mechanical delivery systems in simulating drug administration across different domains and molecular units. This makes it more suitable for injecting biologics with larger volumes and higher viscosities.

Leveraging the properties of electromagnetic materials, the Zhuoyou Drug Delivery System offers significant advantages over currently available mechanical spring-driven needle-free injection products. The Zhuoyou system experiences virtually no mechanical degradation during use, thereby avoiding numerous quality issues associated with spring-driven needle-free devices, such as mechanical failures, spring fatigue, and elastic deformation. This enhances the stability and durability of the device. For patients requiring long-term or periodic self-administration of injections, Zhuoyou Medical provides a solution that is easier to operate, less painful, more precise in drug delivery, and features a longer service life, all without increasing costs.

Meanwhile, leveraging research based on over 100,000 animal experiments and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations, the Zhuoyou Medical team has developed an injection driving force adjustment system tailored for inter-individual variability. This system dynamically modulates injection pressure, depth, speed, and dosage according to medication viscosity, patient age group, and administration site, thereby achieving optimal drug delivery outcomes through precise control.

Building on this foundation, the Zhuoyou Drug Delivery System has truly achieved the goal of “painless self-injection by patients.” Representatives from VCBeat experienced the Zhuoyou Medical Drug Delivery System on-site and reported that the operation process is simple and convenient, featuring one-button drug aspiration and one-button injection. The system imposes no professional threshold for operators, allowing non-professionals to use it with ease. It demonstrates high stability during use, produces no bursting sounds, and prevents any leakage of the medicinal solution.

“Unlike spring-driven needle-free delivery devices, Zhuoyou Medical’s delivery device is not a simple injector but an intelligent entry point for patient self-management,” Zhou Ping told VCBeat. The device can connect with patient monitoring devices via NB-IoT or Bluetooth, and can also establish a user data platform through the Internet of Things (IoT) to provide customers with additional self-management services. The device links relevant patient information, including injection time, medication administered, number of doses, and treatment efficacy, thereby strengthening patient engagement in the treatment process, preventing missed or forgotten injections, and assisting both patients and healthcare providers in better planning treatment regimens.

Zhuoyou Drug Delivery Systems offers additional self-management services to customers.

Currently, Zhuoyou Medical's needle-free drug delivery solutions primarily cover three sectors: serious medical care, consumer healthcare and aesthetic medicine injections, and animal health protection.

Serious Medical "Aibeite" Series: Medical syringes are primarily focused on the field of serious medical care, with an application scope for intramuscular injection administration at depths of 4mm-8mm, including medication needs such as self-administered insulin and growth hormone injections.

Needle-Free Injection Products for Medical Growth Hormone and Insulin

Consumer Healthcare “Sumier” Series: Aesthetic injection devices, primarily targeting the non-contouring segment of minimally invasive aesthetic medicine, are suitable for needle-free injections of hyaluronic acid, poly-L-lactic acid (Sculptra), and lipolytic agents. Aesthetic injections are typically administered into the mesoderm and subcutaneous layers at shallow depths; the “Sumai'er” series can precisely control the injection depth between 0.5 and 3 millimeters. No topical anesthesia is required before treatment, nor are post-procedure repair masks needed, allowing patients to resume normal activities immediately with no downtime or social recovery period. While spring-loaded needle-free injectors have been explicitly prohibited by the FDA for aesthetic applications due to uncontrollable delivery processes, Zhuoyou Medical’s electromagnetic-driven needle-free drug delivery device has effectively resolved this challenge.

Animal Health Immunization “Churuikang” Series: Focusing on livestock such as pigs and cattle, as well as the pet market, we have developed syringes capable of intradermal, subcutaneous, and intramuscular injections. With an injection depth ranging from 2 mm to 35 mm and a single-dose volume ranging from 0.2 ml to 2 ml, these syringes are compatible with various aqueous and oil-based vaccines, helping breeding enterprises enhance efficiency and reduce costs.

Animal Health Series of Needle-Free Injection Products

Zhuoyou Medical has established unique production process barriers based on materials, techniques, and specialized equipment, while also achieving significant success in patent acquisitions. Currently, Zhuoyou Medical has four granted domestic invention patents, with an additional 22 under examination, and three international PCT invention patents pending application.

Upholding the truth that “change is the only constant,” Zhuoyou Medical initially focused on needle-free injection technologies for human healthcare. During the pandemic, the company promptly adjusted its strategy and expanded its product pipeline into the animal health sector, establishing a partnership with Tiankang Biology. Compared with traditional manual injection methods used by livestock enterprises, Zhuoyou Medical’s “Churuikang” series of veterinary injectors can meet dosing requirements for intradermal, subcutaneous, and intramuscular administration. This solution nearly quadruples injection efficiency while preventing cross-infection. The product will be officially launched for sale at the end of this month.

Zhuoyou Medical’s three core pillars—animal health immunization devices, aesthetic injection equipment, and medical devices—are advancing in tandem. The company has established a “three-step” development strategy: leveraging the animal health business to scale up and generate cash flow, driving the aesthetic medicine business to create a second growth curve and reach a valuation of tens of billions of yuan, and utilizing the medical device business to establish a third growth curve, steadily progressing toward the trillion-yuan market threshold.

In August 2022, Zhuoyou Medical completed an angel financing round of RMB 20 million, led by Yuanming Capital, and plans to conduct a Pre-A financing round for its three major sectors—animal health protection, medical aesthetics, and serious medical care—as an integrated entity. According to the BCC Research report “Needle-Free Devices, Technologies and Global Markets,” the global needle-free technology market reached USD 3 billion in 2018 and is projected to grow to USD 4.6 billion by 2023, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.3%. Driven by increasing patient demand for convenient and painless injections, along with advancements in electromagnetic drive technology, the needle-free drug delivery industry boasts promising prospects and significant market growth potential. It remains to be seen what new breakthroughs Zhuoyou Medical will achieve in this competitive landscape.