Portable medical devices lead the trend

Recently, at the 2013 International Biology Conference, several media reporters were attracted by a palm-sized blood pressure meter and they measured their blood pressure before the booth. It is understood that the company has developed dozens of portable medical devices, as well as remote diagnostics and other devices, so that users can go home to see a doctor without leaving home.

"China's medical device market has increased from 30 billion yuan to about 160 billion yuan in the past 10 years, an increase of 20% to 25%." Cheng Jing, a professor at the Chinese Academy of Engineering and professor at Tsinghua University, introduced the report. Among them, biochemical analyzers are relatively high-end products. The traditional, fast, high-end products and products that lead the new technology trend will co-exist in the future.

At present, China's automatic immunochemistry analyzer is gradually shortening the distance with the developed countries. The highest level of immunochemical analysis in foreign countries can be analyzed 200 times per hour. China currently also has manufacturers that analyze 100 to 200 samples per hour. From a global perspective, there are also rapid growth in medical device in vitro diagnostic devices, mainly in three areas: molecular diagnostics, pathological analysis and bedside monitoring.

Although the gap between some domestically-made equipment related to molecular diagnostics and developed countries is getting smaller, the gap between high-end products is still relatively large. In terms of sequencing instrument platform software, with the support of the Ministry of Science and Technology, only some companies and universities are currently involved in research. After the company was funded last year, this year it produced a sequencer that specifically targets gene mutation detection, but it cannot compete with foreign manufacturers.

According to statistics, in the first quarter of this year, China imported a total of more than 3 billion U.S. dollars worth of medical devices from 81 countries and regions, a year-on-year increase of 15.41%. Among them, Europe is the largest import market for medical devices in China, with an import volume of 1.171 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 16.42% year-on-year; North America is the second largest market with an import volume of 1.003 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 16.52% year-on-year; Asia ranks third, and imports It was 820 million US dollars, an increase of 14.38% over the same period last year.

Of these imported products, medical equipment used US$2.17 billion. Among the products with imported medical equipment worth more than US$5,000, high-value-added products mainly include color ultrasonic diagnostic equipment, X-ray tomographs, endoscopes, complete sets of magnetic resonance imaging equipment, X-ray tubes, vascular stents, and artificial instruments. Joints and so on. Obviously, the lack of high-end medical device products in China does not occupy the forefront of the international market and does not have the market discourse.

According to expert analysis, although “copy” can quickly produce products that meet safety and effectiveness, and can save development time and costs, Chinese manufacturers still have gaps between “copy” products and genuine products due to lack of manufacturing technology. The high-end market is competitive.

At the same time, large orthopedic equipment companies in China are being merged and acquired by large American companies in recent years. These companies are not only trying to seize the Chinese market, but also set up R&D bases in China through mergers and acquisitions, so that most patients can receive medical treatment.

To this end, the orthopaedic expert suggested that a country-level biopharmaceutical R&D center could be set up in China where industrial transformation is taking place to assist the industry in translating clinical innovation ideas and academic research achievements into market-based products. In this way, it is possible to avoid the time-consuming and cost-consuming exploration of independent innovation R&D process in the industry in a short period of time, so that the industry can win time, obtain innovation ability, and compete with international large manufacturers.