Origin
A vaccine scientist's second act.
WOX comes from Kawasaki, an industrial city between Tokyo and Yokohama, and from a founder who spent the first half of his career on infectious disease.
- Founded
- June 2004, Kawasaki
- WOX on sale
- Since 2011
- Bottles sold
- 7,000,000+1
- Advisory team
- 16 · ten disciplines
- US patents
- 3
Takaaki Matsumoto · lecture, Kawasaki
Takaaki Matsumoto, MD, PhD, pharmacist.
He developed infectious-disease therapeutics and diagnostics at Kyowa Hakko, then topical and cancer vaccines at Pasteur Mérieux Connaught. In 2004 he founded MediScience Espoir with a stated aim of prevention rather than treatment. Between 2010 and 2011 he designed a gas-liquid mixing device, found that the water it produced held oxygen far longer than expected, and launched it as WOX. He is first-named inventor on all three US patents.
"I wanted to contribute to people's health from a whole view: not only medicines and supplements, but the environments people live in."
薬やサプリメントだけではなく、生活環境や住居空間なども含めたトータルな視点から人の健康に寄与したい
Takaaki Matsumoto, founder. Translated from the Japanese site.
2004 to now.
- 2004
- MediScience Espoir founded in Kawasaki.
- 2010
- Gas-liquid mixing device designed; patent filed. Kawasaki Entrepreneur Excellence Award.
- 2011
- WOX goes on sale in Japan. First SpO₂ observations presented to the Japanese Society of Preventive Medicine.
- 2014
- Measurement method filed. Substance patent priority date. Subsidiary Wox Inc. established.
- 2016
- First peer-reviewed papers, Progress in Medicine.
- 2018
- Manufacturing patent US 9,943,815 B2 and measurement patent US 10,018,605 B2 issue.
- 2020
- Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover study published.
- 2021
- Substance patents granted in the United States (February) and China.
- 2022
- Mt. Fuji field study published. The company begins seeking US partners.
- 2025
- Exhibits at BioJapan, Yokohama.
- 2026
- Seven million bottles. US launch.
Sixteen advisors, ten disciplines.
Medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, veterinary medicine, nursing, health science, agricultural chemistry, engineering, natural science, and sports science.
Takaaki Matsumoto
MD, PhD, pharmacist. Representative director. Kyowa Hakko; Pasteur Mérieux Connaught. First-named inventor on the WOX patents.
Toshikatsu Hagiwara
DVM, PhD (agriculture). Technical development. Formerly zoonoses research at Japan's Ministry of Health; JICA expert in Southeast Asia and Africa.
Seitaro Shimizu
Product and technical development. Formulation of WOX-based products.
Also on the team: Miyako Matsumoto, MD, safety management, with 37 years of respiratory-virus and vaccine research at the Ministry of Health; Keiko Oda, MD, pediatric infectious disease, formerly Kurume University and UC Irvine; and advisors in regulatory affairs, hair science, and management.
The portfolio.
- Substance
- US 10,913,037 B2 · JP 7087235 · CN ZL 2015 8 0071029.1
- Manufacturing
- US 9,943,815 B2 · JP 6367519
- Measurement
- US 10,018,605 B2 · JP 6527161 · CN ZL 2015 8 0042784.7
- Licenses
- Quasi-drug and cosmetics manufacturing and marketing, Kanagawa Prefecture.
Substance patents for the oxygen clathrate hydrate: Japan, United States, China.
Fifteen years in the home market.
Over seven million bottles since 2011. Sold through the company's own shop, Amazon Japan, Rakuten, Yodobashi, and department-store delivery. Used by professional athletes in baseball, golf, cycling, and sumo, some of whom the company sponsors. Ninety-three percent of buyers buy again, by the company's count.1
The company's offices and laboratory are in Saiwai ward, Kawasaki. Manufacturing is at contract plants in Tokyo, Chiba, and Osaka.
Fifteen years of production. Three US patents. One claims policy.
Sources
- MediScience Espoir company data, 2026. Cumulative bottles to March 2026; repeat rate as reported by the company.