China's medical device industry has entered a period of rapid development

　The "2019 China Medical Device Quality Development High-Level Forum" was recently held in Hechuan District, Chongqing. Information conveyed at the meeting shows that under the positive promotion of the "Healthy China" development strategy, China's medical device industry is currently in a period of rapid development, but it faces problems such as weak innovation capabilities and the fact that high-end products are mainly imitations and improvements.

　　Data shows that currently, the global consumption ratio of pharmaceuticals and medical devices is approximately 1:0.7, with developed countries at 1:1.02, while China is only at 1:0.2. The medical device industry in China has enormous potential for development.

　　According to Zhang Yongjian, director of the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Food and Drug Industry Development and Supervision Research Center, the annual main business income of large-scale enterprises in China's medical device industry is currently around 300 billion yuan, forming a considerable industrial scale and being the fastest-growing sub-sector in the pharmaceutical industry. In terms of distribution, the Pearl River Delta, the Yangtze River Delta, and the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region are the traditional medical device industry clusters and manufacturing development zones, accounting for over 80% of the national total. In recent years, the Chengdu-Chongqing region centered around Chongqing and the central China region centered around Wuhan have become emerging characteristic development areas for the medical device industry. Among them, Hechuan District, Chongqing, has been particularly outstanding in encouraging medical device innovation and promoting industry development. Its established medical device innovation park concentrates advantageous resources, aiming to become a high-tech medical device park radiating to Southwest China and even the whole country.

　　However, from a structural perspective, the problems in China's medical device industry are prominent: over 90% are manufacturing enterprises, with few R&D enterprises and few original technologies and products; although the number of patents has increased rapidly, the number of core patents is relatively small, and the level of product R&D is relatively low; there are many low- and mid-range products, key components rely on imports, and high-end products are still mainly imitations and improvements, with original products being few and far between.

　　The guests and enterprise representatives attending the meeting believed that medical devices are a pillar industry in China's health industry, playing an important and irreplaceable role in improving and enhancing the medical and health levels of the Chinese people. The development of medical device-related science and technology has effectively solved many problems that could not be solved by previous diagnostic and treatment methods, leading to continuous improvement in disease diagnosis and treatment and medical service levels. Zhang Yongjian emphasized that the medical device industry has high strategic significance, driving force, and growth potential, and its strategic position has received widespread attention from countries around the world, becoming an important indicator of a country's scientific and technological progress and the modernization level of its national economy. Currently, China's medical device industry urgently needs to achieve a transformation from high-speed development to high-quality development through innovation, gradually advancing towards the mid-to-high end of the industry. This requires, on the one hand, the government to create a good and predictable external environment for enterprise innovation; on the other hand, it requires enterprises, as the main body driving the progress of the medical device industry, to actively fulfill their responsibilities.

　　It is understood that in order to promote medical device innovation, China has formulated a special plan for the medical device science and technology industry, promoting a combination of government promotion and market mechanisms, systematic layout and key breakthroughs, current urgent needs and future development, innovation-driven and demand-driven, and domestic focus and international orientation, providing strong support for medical device technological innovation.

　　Lian Minling, founder of Lianli Capital, said that innovation is the lifeline of enterprise development. Innovation in medical devices is not just a purely technical issue; its core is people-oriented, and its original motivation is to solve the real needs of patients. She believes that only by strengthening innovation can medical device companies gain a foothold in the future market. At the same time, it is necessary to strengthen the connection between innovation, clinical application, and capital to accelerate the transformation of scientific research results, effectively improve disease treatment and medical service levels, and stimulate the innovation vitality of enterprises and scientific research personnel.

　　Duan Lian, deputy director of the Hechuan Industrial Park Management Committee, said that carrying out government-enterprise cooperation focuses on mutual benefit and win-win results. Currently, Hechuan District has planned a 7-square-kilometer pharmaceutical and health industry park, attracting more than 70 pharmaceutical and medical device companies such as Hillan Pharmaceutical, Jianneng Pharmaceutical, and Dechuan Medical Devices, completing a layout of 300 billion yuan in the large health industry. By 2025, it plans to introduce more than 400 pharmaceutical and health companies, creating a 100-billion-yuan pharmaceutical and health industry cluster composed of pharmaceuticals, medical devices, medical services, and related industries, becoming an important growth pole for Chongqing's biopharmaceutical industry.

　　The "2019 China Medical Device Quality Development High-Level Forum" was jointly organized by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' Food and Drug Industry Development and Supervision Research Center, the Hechuan District Government of Chongqing, and Lianli Capital, with the Shanghai Renxin Public Welfare Foundation as a co-organizer.