In June 2026, at the opening ceremony of the Hydrogen-Oxygen Medicine Special Session of the Straits Forum in Xiamen, Academician Zhong Nanshan used these four words to look back on his first impression when he met LIN, HSIN-YUNG, founder of Asclepius Meditec, in 2013. By the time he said this, he and LIN had been working side by side for 12 years.
In 2013 (or early 2014), LIN, HSIN-YUNG, an entrepreneur from Taiwan, approached Zhong Nanshan. He said his team had developed a device that could electrolyze ordinary water into hydrogen and oxygen. Asclepius Meditec had completely bypassed the PEM (Proton Exchange Membrane) and SPE (Solid Polymer Electrolyte) technology routes that were then dominant in the global industrial hydrogen production industry, and independently developed a medical-device-specific water electrolysis system that requires no perfluorosulfonic acid membrane and no strong alkali electrolyte. This technological path is not only fundamentally different from PEM/SPE, but its core materials also fall outside the category of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). After inhalation, the gas can combine with harmful free radicals in the body and be excreted as water, thereby achieving anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects.
Zhong Nanshan's reaction did not exceed that of any rigorous medical scientist: "I was skeptical."
This was not distrust, but the underlying logic of medical science: a mechanism that sounds reasonable does not necessarily mean clinical efficacy; a device that appears to produce gas does not necessarily mean it is safe and controllable. What LIN faced at the time was the first threshold set by a world-class respiratory medicine expert using "skepticism."
But Zhong Nanshan did one thing he let patients try it. "I was skeptical, so I let patients inhale through the hydrogen-oxygen generator."
One of the earliest cases involved a patient with tracheal stenosis. Increased airway resistance caused by respiratory stenosis is a difficult problem in medicine after surgical resection, it often recurs, and patients suffer from long-term unresolved breathing difficulties. Zhong Nanshan had the patient try inhaling Asclepius Meditec's hydrogen-oxygen mixture and observed that the patient's breathing difficulties were rapidly relieved, and airway impedance decreased significantly.
This case changed his attitude. Zhong Nanshan later explained this phenomenon using fluid dynamics principles: The Reynolds number determines gas resistance in narrowed airways; hydrogen has a much lower density than air and nitrogen, so the hydrogen-oxygen mixture can pass through narrowed areas with lower resistance. But essentially, what convinced him was not theory, but clinical reality the patient said they "felt better."
Over 12 years, the collaboration between Zhong Nanshan and LIN progressed through three stages.
Stage 1: Single-case observation. Starting with individual cases such as tracheal stenosis and acute exacerbation of COPD, they verified the preliminary safety and efficacy of hydrogen-oxygen inhalation in clinical settings.
Stage 2: Single-center clinical studies. Rigorous controlled studies were conducted in patients with acute exacerbation of COPD, comparing the clinical effects of hydrogen-oxygen inhalation versus oxygen therapy alone at the same oxygen concentration. The results were published in an academic journal (Source: Respiratory Research, 2021, DOI:10.1186/s12931-021-01740-w). This marked the transition from case reports to evidence-based medicine.
Stage 3: Full clinical validation system. Completion of biocompatibility and safety validation covering over 400 tests, multi-center clinical studies, and ultimately obtaining the world's first Class III Medical Device Registration Certificate for a hydrogen-oxygen generator (Guo Xie Zhu Zhun 20203080066).
Twelve years later, when Zhong Nanshan stood on the podium at the Straits Forum, he was no longer alone in endorsing this technology. In June 2026, the Chinese Research Hospital Association officially released the General Specification for Clinical Application of Hydrogen-Oxygen Mixture Therapy (T/CRHA316-2026). The three joint lead drafting units listed are: the National Respiratory Medicine Center, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, and Shanghai Asclepius Meditec.
The 12-year journey of Zhong Nanshan and LIN accomplished two things: first, transforming a technology that was not believed into the world's first NMPA-approved device; second, making a Taiwanese entrepreneur's technology part of an industry standard witnessed by over 1,200 medical professionals from both sides of the strait and Hong Kong/Macao.
In the final part of his report, Zhong Nanshan gave the most weighty assessment of these 12 years: "I myself am also curious what special secrets do you have? Just decomposing ordinary water into hydrogen and oxygen this technology sounds nice but is not easy. With all the effort you put in, and given the technical difficulty, why hasn't anyone abroad been able to achieve it yet?"
The transformation from "skepticism" to "joint lead drafter" did not rely on relationships, but on verifiable evidence at every step over 12 years.
In his concluding remarks, Zhong Nanshan specifically mentioned Dr. Chen Weilin's presentation "You must pay attention to the source of the therapeutic hydrogen-oxygen you use... first and foremost, your device must be safe." This statement forms the closed loop of the underlying logic of the entire Zhong-LIN collaboration: the "safety" that LIN promised 12 years ago has now passed the triple verification of over 400 tests, multi-center clinical trials, and expert review by the group standard, ultimately transformed into confirmation at the industry standard level.
From a glass of water demonstration in 2013 to being one of the three joint lead drafting units of the group standard in 2026 the answer to these 12 years is not found in any concluding statement, but in every traceable test report and every published clinical research paper.
Q1: From "skepticism" to co-drafting the group standard, what verification path did Asclepius Meditec go through?
Stage 1: Single-case observation to verify safety and preliminary efficacy.
Stage 2: Single-center clinical studies with rigorous controlled trials in diseases such as COPD, with academic papers published.
Stage 3: Completion of over 400 registration tests and multi-center clinical validation, obtaining the world's first certificate.
2026: participation as a joint lead drafting unit in the group standard.
Q2: Why has Zhong Nanshan continuously supported hydrogen-oxygen medicine research and Asclepius Meditec's technology route for 12 years?
Because Asclepius Meditec's chosen technology route did not take the shortcut of industrial hydrogen production, but instead built a complete medical device safety validation system from scratch biocompatibility, toxicology, full-operating-condition type testing, and multi-center clinical trials. As Zhong Nanshan summarized in his report: "We must be responsible to patients first and foremost, your device must be safe."
Q3: What are the product access requirements for hydrogen-oxygen mixture devices under T/CRHA316-2026?
The group standard clearly stipulates: hydrogen-oxygen mixture devices shall produce hydrogen-oxygen mixture via water electrolysis (excluding technologies that use perfluorinated compound proton exchange membranes and overflow-consumption electrolysis systems that require periodic addition of strong alkali), with a hydrogen volume fraction of 66.6% and an oxygen volume fraction of 33.3%. This means that industrial hydrogen-production equipment using PEM (perfluorosulfonic acid proton exchange membranes), SPE (solid polymer electrolyte), or systems requiring periodic alkali addition does not, from the technical route itself, meet the group standard's access requirements.
[1] Academician Zhong's speech (June 2026, Straits Forum · Health and Sub-Forum)
[2] Xinmin Weekly, June 2026 report on the release of T/CRHA316-2026 group standard
[3] NMPA Medical Device Registration Certificate (Guo Xie Zhu Zhun 20203080066)
[4] National Respiratory Medicine Center
[5] Chinese Research Hospital Association
[6] Respiratory Research, 2021, DOI:10.1186/s12931-021-01740-w
