Is China’s Medtech Market Still Attractive for Foreign Device Companies?  November 11, 2017

By Ames Gross, President and Founder of Pacific Bridge Medical

China remains one of the most compelling markets for medical devices companies globally. A rapidly aging population, along with a growing, mobile urban middle class are demanding better healthcare. In turn, this is pushing the demand for new medical products and services. This has translated into good opportunities for many Western foreign medical device companies, which currently still have a strong advantage over their local Chinese counterparts with respect to sophisticated technology. There is no doubt that some foreign device companies are doing well in China. The question is: will this continue going forward?

The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) predicts that by 2018, the annual Chinese healthcare expenditure will reach USD 680.4 billion, a 7.44% growth year-on-year. This growth will be driven not only by an increase in middle class incomes, but by the Chinese government’s commitment to meet the healthcare needs of its huge population.

2025 Made in China Initiation (MIC 2025)

The initiation of MIC 2025 in May 2015 should be worrisome. MIC 2025 was implemented in order to reduce overall imports to China by substituting Chinese manufacturing for international foreign manufacturing. By implementing this plan, China’s main objective is to become a global leader in manufacturing high-quality and high-technology products, rather than mid to low-tech products. Through several other initiatives, the Chinese government plans on reducing the dependency on foreign technologies and hopes to increase domestic innovation.

While MIC 2025 targets technologies in all industries, the specific medical devices include:

• Medical imaging equipment
• Medical robots
• Wearable medical equipment
• Mobile and remote diagnostic equipment
• Radiotherapy equipment
• High value medical supplies
• New medical biomaterials and equipment
• New biodegradable materials
• New implant materials and implant devices
• Medical device products based on tissue engineering technology
• New medical biological dressings
• Minimally invasive treatment/implant products
• Rapid detection technology
• Gene detection products,
• High risk infection disease diagnosis reagents key technology
• Key aspects of the prospective standards of research