Christchurch Medtech Zuuka Seeks $2M for Wearable Drug-Delivery Platform Targeting US Launch
Key Insights
Zuuka (search) is raising up to $2 million to fund prototype development and regulatory submissions for a novel wearable drug-delivery platform, with a planned US launch in 2029.
The platform uses a proprietary low-power micro-actuator to create a miniaturized patch pump roughly half the size of current market-leading devices, with a reusable body that could reduce medical waste by up to 99%.
Beyond insulin delivery for diabetes, the technology is being positioned for Parkinson's, pulmonary arterial hypertension (search), and emerging Alzheimer's therapies transitioning to subcutaneous home-based administration.
Christchurch-based medtech startup Zuuka (search) is seeking between $1.5 million and $2 million in new funding to advance a wearable drug-delivery platform that aims to address one of the most persistent challenges in chronic disease management: long-term treatment adherence. The company, which has already secured backing from Angel Investors Marlborough, Stewart Capital Partners, Mainland Angel Investors, and the University of Canterbury, is targeting a commercial launch in the United States in 2029.
The platform was developed by Dr. Jake Campbell (Te Rarawa) as part of a post-doctoral research team at the University of Canterbury focused on low-power wearable drug delivery systems. Zuuka (search) co-founder and chief executive Jamie Cairns said the current funding round is expected to provide a 12- to 18-month runway through prototype completion, user trials, app development, and the commencement of regulatory processes.
"The global insulin pump market is projected to grow from about US$8.2 billion in 2026 to more than US$22 billion by 2034, driven by rising diabetes rates and growing demand for wearable patch-based delivery systems," Cairns said.
A miniaturized, low-power platform
At the core of Zuuka (search)'s technology is a proprietary micro-actuator platform that replaces traditional motor-driven wearable delivery systems. According to Dr. Campbell, this approach has enabled the development of a miniaturized wearable device around half the size of some current market-leading patch pumps, while allowing it to operate for more than a year without regular charging.
The system employs a reusable pump body with replaceable infusion components rather than fully disposable products. Dr. Campbell said this design could reduce medical waste by up to 99% compared with some disposable patch-pump systems currently on the market. He noted that a person diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes (search) at a young age could potentially use and discard more than 7,000 disposable pumps over their lifetime, with each device carrying a similar environmental footprint to approximately 18,000 disposable coffee cups.
Addressing adherence through user-centered design
Cairns emphasized that the platform was engineered around user experience rather than the technology itself. "People don't want to walk around feeling like they're attached to medical equipment," he said. "Existing systems can be intrusive, operationally complex and highly visible in daily life. We wanted to develop something that becomes almost invisible."
Dr. Campbell underscored the clinical stakes of poor usability. "The same barriers affecting insulin pump adoption, including complexity, stigma and treatment burden, increasingly exist across a wide range of injectable therapies," he said. "A huge amount of effort goes into developing medicines, but treatments only work if people can realistically use them every day and manage them long-term. The most expensive medicine in the world is the one the patient never ends up taking."
Industry data cited by Cairns suggests that approximately 18% of insulin pump users eventually discontinue pumps and return to injections because devices are too cumbersome or difficult to manage long term. Poor insulin adherence is associated with significantly higher rates of hospitalization and long-term complications, including kidney disease, blindness, amputations, and cardiovascular disease. Meanwhile, some existing insulin pump systems can require more than three hours of one-on-one clinician training for new users, placing additional pressure on already stretched healthcare services.
Clinical and market context
The funding push follows a wave of recent clearances by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that have extended automated insulin pump therapy to Type 2 diabetes (search) — a regulatory shift expected to bring millions of additional patients into the market for wearable insulin delivery devices. Cairns noted that approximately two million Americans already use insulin, and growing competition among pharmaceutical companies is increasing demand for wearable delivery systems capable of improving treatment adherence and long-term patient retention.
The platform is designed to integrate with continuous glucose monitoring systems, smartphone apps, and cloud-based clinician platforms. Cairns said wearable healthcare technologies are increasingly being incorporated into AI-driven monitoring systems as healthcare shifts toward more proactive and remote models of care.
Beyond diabetes: broader therapeutic applications
While the first commercial application is diabetes management, Dr. Campbell said the same wearable platform could eventually be adapted for a range of therapies moving into home-based treatment models. "We see potential applications in Parkinson's therapies, pulmonary arterial hypertension (search) treatments and emerging Alzheimer's drugs transitioning from intravenous to subcutaneous delivery, where treatment delivered at home could significantly reduce healthcare costs and hospital demand."
More than 300,000 New Zealanders are estimated to be living with diabetes. The company is targeting initial New Zealand regulatory approval and early local sales before pursuing full US regulatory approval and broader American market entry.
Expert perspectives
Christchurch paediatric endocrinologist Professor Martin de Bock said healthcare systems globally are increasingly focused on technologies that simplify long-term disease management. "The long-term challenge with chronic disease management is not simply access to medicines, but supporting people to manage treatment consistently over many years," he said. "Anything that reduces complexity and helps people better integrate treatment into normal daily life has the potential to improve long-term management outcomes."
Diabetes New Zealand chief executive Heather Verry echoed that sentiment. "Managing conditions like diabetes is relentless for many people because it requires constant monitoring, decision-making and treatment management every day," she said. "Technology that can reduce complexity and make treatment easier to maintain over the long term has the potential to make a meaningful difference to quality of life and long-term health outcomes."
Cairns summed up the company's ambition: "Our long-term goal is to make complex injectable treatments easier for people to manage independently at home over decades of living with chronic disease."