Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a high-resolution, non-contact, non-invasive biological tissue imaging technology that enables doctors to obtain retinal tomography non-invasively. This technology has been applied to ophthalmic clinical practice since the early 1990s, and has completed the three generations of technology changes from time domain OCT, spectral OCT, and scanning frequency OCT. At present, the mid-to-high-end market of Chinese ophthalmic OCT is completely monopolized by imported products, such as German Zeiss and Heidelberg, Japanese Topcon, American Optovue, etc.; domestic products have a big gap in performance parameters with imported products.
As the latest generation of OCT technology, the scanning frequency OCT scan speed is faster and the imaging depth is deeper. However, due to the high cost and difficulty of developing ophthalmic scanning frequency OCT, spectral OCT is still the mainstream in the Chinese ophthalmic medical market. Currently, only Germany's Zeiss and Japan's Topcon have obtained registration certificates for Ophthalmic Scanning OCT and achieved mass production. Only Topcon has obtained registration certificates and achieved sales in China. It is reported that in 2018, China's ophthalmic OCT sales volume was about 1,500-2,000 units, of which Topcon's ophthalmic scanning OCT-related models were sold. Wang Yingqi, co-founder of "Tupai Image", believes that scanning OCT is the future technical trend in the field of ophthalmic medical .
Tupai Image is a research and development company that 36Kr recently came into contact with that specializes in ophthalmic scanning OCT. According to Wang Yingqi, the company's first ophthalmic OCT retinal diagnostic system, the ultra-high-speed scanning frequency OCT product Sigma-1000/2000 model has been developed and completed. It supports fundus OCT blood flow imaging function (OCTA), and is equipped with a high-precision fundus auxiliary positioning system and a powerful image analysis system. It is expected to obtain a registration certificate in September this year and be officially released.
Sigma-1000 prototype (photo provided by the team)
Wang Yingqi introduced that the implementation of the above performance parameters lies in the company's difficulties in the following three aspects:
Sweep OCT system research and development : Sweep OCT is the latest generation of OCT technology, so it is difficult to design, assemble and debug based on a full understanding of the system theory;
Independent development of core underlying base components : Sweep OCT consists of many core optoelectronic devices, and the current domesticization rate of these devices is very low. Through cooperation with Tsinghua University, Tupai Image has broken through many technical and process difficulties in this field, realized the independent design and development of most devices, effectively reducing the cost of the whole machine material, and improving the stability of the supply chain;
imaging system : Currently, China is generally backward in the field of optical imaging, and fundus imaging requires that the product's spatial optical system can match the optical structure of the eyeball very well, which has high requirements for optical design. The Tupai Image team has formed an independent solution in this field.
16mm visual disk-macular tomography (photo provided by the team)
macular OCTA imaging effect (photo provided by the team)
Wang Yingqi revealed that the company has initially established a R&D production line and has reached cooperation with many domestic optoelectronic manufacturing companies. He also said that ophthalmic OCT products have been applied to a series of platform technologies that can be applied on a variety of optical medical devices. Therefore, in the future, Tupai Image will deploy more optical medical equipment and promote the development of upstream industries.
However, it is also difficult to open up medical channels after having products. Wang Yingqi admitted that in the past two years, the company has been focusing on improving parameters and polishing products to improve the overall user experience. has carried out academic cooperation with many well-known hospitals such as Tsinghua Chang Gung Hospital and Union Hospital through the Tsinghua academic platform, , which is based on the help of doctors to improve the ease of use of products. After more than two years of market research and feedback, Tupai has also formulated its own market operation strategy and formed an expert-level market operation consultant team.
From the market perspective, there are currently nearly 140 million patients with fundus diseases in China, and the scale of the ophthalmic medical market exceeds 100 billion, of which the equipment market is nearly 10 billion. The OCT market in the sub-sector has only sales of about 1.5 billion yuan in 2018, which does not look so sexy.Wang Yingqi told 36Kr that because the market is currently monopolized by imported equipment and lacks cost-effective products, the popularity of grassroots hospitals is not high, and a large number of patients with fundus diseases cannot undergo OCT examinations in a timely and effective manner. If the product's cost-effectiveness can be greatly improved and import substitution can be fully realized, demand will be released soon.
He predicts that with the popularity of OCT equipment in first and second-level hospitals, and the rapid increase in the number of private ophthalmic hospitals, optometry centers, and physical examination centers, the OCT market will usher in explosive growth in the next five years.
Finally, let me introduce the team. Currently, there are more than 20 full-time employees, mainly technical teams, and the founding teams are all Tsinghua University alumni. Chief scientist Professor Hu Li currently teaches in the Department of Electronics of Tsinghua University. He has 20 years of R&D experience in optical communications, optoelectronics and other technical fields, and has published nearly 100 papers in OCT-related technical fields; General Manager Wang Yingqi graduated from the Department of Biomedical Engineering of Tsinghua University, with many years of experience in medical equipment system design and development and team management experience; Technical Director Xing Yanfei graduated from the Department of Electronics of Tsinghua University, with more than ten years of R&D experience in the field of optoelectronics; Head of Software Algorithm Wang Xiao graduated from the Department of Electronics of Tsinghua University, with many years of experience in image algorithm research and development.
Some of the technical prototypes of this project come from the transformation of scientific and technological achievements of the Department of Electronics of Tsinghua University. The founding team was established at the end of 2016 and officially registered the company in 2017. It has completed two rounds of financing of tens of millions of yuan in total.
Wang Yingqi revealed that the company will launch a Series A financing in in April 2019 for research and development, marketing promotion and mass production.
