Man on a mission to overcome the sound of silence

Founder of Nurotron Corporation wants to help people with hearing

impairments hear by producing low-cost cochlear implant devices,

Hu Yuechun and Zhang Zhouxiang report.

Imagine a world without sound. What would it be like if you could not hear the words of a loved one, your favorite music or an alarm in case of danger?

Li Fangping, chairman of the Zhejiang Nurotron Biotechnology Co Ltd, says he shares the feelings of those who live in a soundless world, and that he hopes "I can bring voice to their worlds". Nurotron, the company he founded, specializes in cochlear implant devices.

Already a successful businessman in the 1990s, Li was always pursuing a way of effectively helping society. He insisted on donating money to orphans and supporting children from poor families in mountainous regions.

It was in 2000 he learned there were 27 million people living with hearing impairment in China, a number that continued to grow by 20,000 to 30,000 annually.

Some of those affected, he discovered, would recover their hearing ability with the help of cochlear implant devices, but these were only made in the United States, Austria and Australia, and the high prices and maintenance fees put them beyond reach of the majority of Chinese who would benefit from them.

Li decided that he had to do something and he decided to start a company offering affordable cochlear implant devices to poor people in need.

Fu Qianjie, a senior neurology researcher at the US-based House Ear Institute, and Zeng Fangang, a former chairman of the international electronic cochlear summit, owned a series of patents for a cochlear implant device, yet the headache for the two native Chinese living and working in the US was how apply them to benefit of people in their home country.

They had tried to cooperate with some domestic enterprises, but none was interested because of the huge investment required and slow returns.

Li was in Canada when he first heard about the two professors, and he quickly arranged to meet them.

Some months later, the Nurotron corporation was established in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, with a branch in US and an initial capital investment of 30 million yuan ($4.9 million).

The early days were quite difficult, as the starting capital was almost totally consumed by R&D within the first year.

But Li never gave up, he visited one successful entrepreneur after another and finally raised 150 million yuan for a second round of investment.

And besides the generous investors, many domestic scholars and experts are contributing their knowledge.

Nurotron has recruited a team whose members come from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tsinghua University, Fudan University, the General Hospital of People's Liberation Army, and Beijing Tongren Hospital; these researchers, who are also experienced medical practitioners, have worked together to create China's first cochlear implant device.

After four years of hard work - and silence - Nurotron researchers debuted their first low-cost cochlear implant device in China at the national seminar of implantation on April 24, 2010.

In 2011, it obtained a certificate of implanted bodies from China Food and Drug Administration. In other words, it was allowed to be sold in the market.

Three years later, Nurotron executives, not without pride, laid the foundation stone for their new factory in the Future Technology Zone, which was specially reserved for high-tech enterprises.

This was a milestone in the company's history because it meant their research results were finally ready for production. However, it is Aug 15, 2014 that is regarded as the most important day for the company so far, because the new factory finally opened, and production began.

Officials from the provincial government, the provincial federation of disabled people, and representatives from the main construction company Zhongtian Construction and the main investor Goldman Sachs all participated in the opening ceremony.

An excellent R&D team

"Are the cheaper domestic products comparable to imported ones? That's the question often asked by consumers in China. Nurotron faces the same question, with people often voicing doubts about the performance of its cochlear implants given the cheaper prices. The answer lies in our team," said Li.

Besides the previously-mentioned Fu and Zeng, they also have renowned experts in the field such as Robert Shannon. The University of California, the University of Miami, and the University of Washington also participated in the company's R&D.

Back in China, Tsinghua University, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Fudan University, Tongren Hospital of Beijing and the PLA General Hospital have all made contributions.

As many as 87 percent of its employees have a college diploma, which is rare in China. This high-quality team ensured that Nurotron can produce low-cost quality products.

That's why, in September 2012, Nurotron was listed by US-based Red Herring rating agency as one of the top 100 innovative enterprises in Asia. Two months later, Nurotron appeared on the list of the top 100 around the globe.

Glad to hear it

For Li, however, the highest honor is the good words of users. Wei Yong is a domestic securities analyst who is often invited to share his predictions about the financial market on TV.

When Wei was still a child, his parents found that he heard and spoke slower than his peers; later the doctor diagnosed him as having a congenital hearing impairment. As a child he had to study with a hearing aid. Yet he worked hard and received a degree in finance, working in several renowned domestic securities agencies.

However, as time elapsed, Wei found his hearing deteriorated so abruptly that even a hearing aid could no longer help him. Implanting a cochlear implant device was the only way he would hear again.

Between expensive, imported cochlear implant devices and a domestically produced Nurotron cochlear implant device, Wei immediately chose the latter: "With equal performance and a lower price, why not choose Nurotron?" After a successful operation, he could once again talk with TV hosts. When discussing the title of a program he was to participate in, he insisted on "Persistence and excellence".

"I'm not lucky enough to have natural hearing, but I'm lucky to have met Nurotron. Friends, as long as you persist in working hard, you will meet the right opportunity and will be able tell the world how excellent it is." Nurotron staff members also take it as their motto: to persist and prove they are excellent.

Another patient, a former soldier, could enjoy a subsidy from the government, yet he chose Nurotron in order to support the new domestic industry. Upon hearing his grandson once again, he cried.

The researchers cried, too, upon hearing that the old soldier was so happy.

"He trusts Nurotron and Nurotron has proved itself worth his trust," one of them said.

Even though it costs much less than foreign products, the company's cochlear implant devices are still quite expensive, and implanting one often involves a heavy financial burden.

Since Li first raised the idea, he endeavored to include Nurotron products in the social medical insurance list to make them affordable to more people who would benefit from a cochlear implant.

In 2015, Nurotron successfully persuaded the provincial authorities to include its cochlear implant devices in the social medical insurance list, which means the social insurance fund pays a huge percentage of the costs.

Entering the international market

In 2012, Nurotron received a CE certificate from the European Union, which meant it was granted access to the European market. Being only the fourth company with a market permit of this kind, Nurotron became immediately popular in Europe.

Scholars and ear doctors from overseas began visiting Nurotron, too.

"India, Egypt, Germany, Thailand, the United Kingdom, Spain, Columbia and Greece", said Li with excitement, "These are only some of the nations whose doctors visited us."

These doctors brought Nurotron back to their homelands.

On April 22, 2014, the first implementation of a Nurotron cochlear implant device was successfully done in Columbia. "The case makes us more confident" said Li at last, "we will make more people in this world hear again."

Contact the whriters at huyuechun @chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 03/26/2015 page14)