Hangzhou winonco Medical Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “winonco”) was founded and led by Professor Yao Chenguo of the School of Electrical Engineering at Chongqing University. Since 2000, the team has been among the first in the world to explore irreversible electroporation (IRE) tumor treatment technology, and it is a pioneer in this field and a global technology leader. In 2020, the company settled its “Wknife” project in the Medicine Port Town of Qiantang District, Hangzhou. Relying on the efficient policy support and abundant industry-academia-research resources of the new district, it quickly grew into a benchmark enterprise in the field of minimally invasive tumor treatment.

winonco is located in Anhe Pharmaceutical Valley, Qiantang District, Hangzhou. It is a National High-Tech Enterprise driven by clinical needs to develop innovative medical technologies, focusing on the R&D, production, and sales of Class III active medical devices. The company’s main business focuses on the field of minimally invasive tumor ablation, with fully independently developed high-voltage pulsed electric field irreversible electroporation technology as its core, and it covers a multi-physics, multi-modal technology platform including cryoablation, radiofrequency, microwave, and ultrasound. It develops internationally leading minimally invasive tumor ablation solutions, with products covering the treatment of various solid tumors such as liver cancer, pancreatic cancer, lung cancer, and thyroid cancer, aiming to organically combine the latest minimally invasive medical technologies to offer patients the best treatment options. At present, the company has built an R&D and production base of more than 3,000 square meters and is accelerating its industrialization process, targeting sales of more than 1 billion yuan in the next 3–5 years to become a leader in the global minimally invasive tumor treatment market.

winonco’s core technology, the “Wknife” (SIRE), is a world-leading irreversible electroporation (IRE) tumor ablation system with the following innovative advantages:

1. Non-thermal ablation: it precisely destroys the tumor cell membrane structure through a high-voltage ultrashort pulsed electric field, and has the non-thermal selective advantage of ablating the lesion while protecting healthy tissues such as important blood vessels and nerves. It can break through the clinical no-go zones of existing treatment technologies and avoid the cold and heat damage and heat-sink effect of traditional cryo/thermal ablation on surrounding nerves, blood vessels, and other tissues.

1. Single-needle local anesthesia: the world’s first single-needle pulsed electric field tumor ablation procedure under local anesthesia, achieving the clinical leap of pulsed electric field tumor ablation technology from “general anesthesia” to “local anesthesia” and from “parallel multi-needle” to “single-needle ablation.” The surgical time is shortened to within 15 minutes, patients remain fully awake and pain-free throughout, postoperative recovery is fast, and there is no residual carbonized nodule.

2. Multi-pathway integrated expansion: combining comprehensive therapies such as chemotherapy and immunotherapy to provide personalized minimally invasive solutions for complex tumors.

In 2024, the Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Center of Beijing Tsinghua Changgung Hospital successfully performed the world’s first local-anesthesia “Wknife” liver cancer ablation treatment. Local anesthesia was administered, and under B-ultrasound combined with CT guidance, the “Wknife” was used to ablate the lesion area through a single needle, with the ablation process lasting 15 minutes. No muscle relaxants were used during the procedure, nor was endotracheal anesthesia adopted; the patient had no obvious pain or discomfort, and postoperative follow-up showed complete ablation with no damage to adjacent bile ducts or blood vessels, marking a major breakthrough in the technology’s safety and efficacy. At the same time, Zhejiang Cancer Hospital successfully performed the world’s first local-anesthesia “Wknife” ablation of papillary thyroid microcarcinoma; three months after surgery, the lesion volume had shrunk by 68.97%, with no nerve or tracheal damage, further validating the major breakthroughs achieved by the “Wknife” in terms of technology and scope of application. In addition, the “Wknife” has carried out clinical trials for liver cancer, pancreatic cancer, lung cancer, and other diseases at a number of tertiary hospitals in China, verifying its broad applicability.

The winonco team published the world’s first paper on IRE tumor treatment and holds more than 20 core patents; its technological achievements have been highly praised by the global academic and industrial communities. In 2019, it won multiple awards in the Medical Device Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition and the China “Internet+” Competition, and was selected for the national-level innovative medical device approval “green channel.” In 2023, it appeared at the Future Healthcare Equity Investment Forum, where it became the focus of the roadshow with its “minimally invasive tumor ablation solution,” attracting in-depth cooperation from leading investment institutions. At the 2024 “Winning the Future” 3rd Yangtze River Delta G60 Science and Technology Innovation Corridor Science, Technology and Industry Innovation Competition, it won the second prize in the start-up group.

With the mission of “making tumor treatment more precise and more minimally invasive,” winonco has completed a series of core patent layouts in IRE technology, completely breaking the previous passive situation in which domestic irreversible electroporation devices lacked core foundational patents, and laying a solid foundation for this technology to go abroad and reach the world, thereby benefiting more patients. The company will use innovative technology to reshape the hope of life and aspires to become the global standard-setter in the field of minimally invasive tumor ablation, letting the world witness the power of China’s intelligent medical manufacturing.