Proactively addressing explicit and implicit barriers: the medical device industry urgently needs to explore new development paths

      As a high-growth sunrise industry, China's pharmaceutical and healthcare industry has overcome numerous difficulties and bottlenecks in recent years, demonstrating irreplaceable resilience and vitality. Among them,"After years of cultivation and experience, China's medical device industry is growing from small to large, and from weak to strong, with its internationalization development capabilities and cooperation levels increasing day by day." Meng Dongping, vice president of the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Medicines and Health Products, said that against the backdrop of the Chinese government's active advocacy of new concepts of international cooperation, more and more domestic Chinese enterprises are striving to achieve innovative transformation with the help of policies, seeking breakthroughs in change, and significantly improving their overall strength from R&D innovation to production, manufacturing, and resource integration.

　　Meng Dongpingmade the above statement on August 30th in Shanghai while attending the 3rd China Medical Device International Cooperation Summit and the 12th China International Medical Consumables Conference hosted by Fushida. She also pointed out that the Sino-US trade friction has served as a warning. Chinese medical and health enterprises will still face many challenges and pressures in seeking international development, and must be fully prepared to face various explicit and implicit barriers, and comprehensively respond to challenges with a more open and inclusive mindset and scientifically standardized capabilities. Industry enterprises need to rationally and calmly embrace opportunities while acknowledging their shortcomings, working hard to strengthen their internal capabilities, and focusing on improving overall competitiveness. Faced with new situations and problems in international development, Chinese medical and health industry enterprises urgently need to explore new ideas and models for development.

　　According to the introduction, this summit was jointly organized by the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Medicines and Health Products, Sinopharm Group Co., Ltd., and China Medical Device Co., Ltd., focusing on"high-quality development," planning the international cooperation development plan for the industry under the new situation from multiple dimensions such as policy, market, industry, technology, and capital.

　　In recent years, the development of China's medical device industry has been remarkable, and the industry's connection with the international market has become increasingly close.In 2018, China's exports of medical devices continued their steady growth, reaching US$23.63 billion, an increase of 8.88% year-on-year. In this regard, Yu Qingming, part-time vice president of the Medical Insurance Chamber of Commerce, secretary of the Party Committee of Sinopharm Group, and chairman of Sinopharm Medical Devices, used the three keywords "innovation turning point," "new internationalization," and "trade friction" to describe the characteristics of the international development of China's medical device industry in recent years. "Innovation turning point" refers to the fact that Chinese medical device companies have successively launched a series of independently innovative medical devices that are "made in China and new to the world." Many product categories have made the transition from "following" to "running side-by-side." "New internationalization" refers to the fact that in recent years, industry enterprises have taken advantage of trade challenges, explored opportunities in emerging markets, and actively carried out cooperation with countries along the "Belt and Road." "Trade friction" refers to the increase in trade friction and the trend towards the expansion of trade protectionism, which has exacerbated market volatility. Faced with the new development situation, Yu Qingming said that Sinopharm Medical Devices is willing to work with domestic and foreign counterparts to actively build a new cooperative relationship centered on mutual benefit and win-win results, with a spirit of professionalism, integrity, innovation, and win-win cooperation, and jointly promote the development of medical and health undertakings in various countries around the world.

　　Regulatory affairs and industrial development are promoting each other. At the"New Policies and Market Opportunities in the Medical Device Industry" themed conference, Cai Fangcai, director of the Supervision and Evaluation Department of the National Development and International Cooperation Administration, introduced the relevant situation of China's foreign aid in the field of medical and health, focusing on the matters that medical and health enterprises need to pay attention to when participating in foreign aid projects. Wang Shucai, deputy director of the Medical Device Supervision Department of the State Drug Administration, introduced China's medical device regulatory requirements and policy direction. Wang Shucai said that medical device products are related to the safety and health of the people, and the state should attach great importance to the supervision of drugs and medical devices, and stated that the State Drug Administration will further improve the legal and regulatory system, release policy dividends, and fully promote the high-quality development of China's medical device industry. Li Yang, vice president of Sinopharm Group, secretary of the Party Committee and general manager of Sinopharm Medical Devices, said that in recent years, the state has intensively issued relevant policies and regulations on medical devices, guiding industry enterprises to focus on safety and quality and standardized and refined development, and promoting the circulation and use of medical consumables, the construction of medical device market channels, and the innovation of medical service models. Li Yang, by introducing the role of the Sinopharm Medical Devices FLI+ model in assisting medical reform and improving medical supply chain management, guided industry enterprises to adapt to the situation, establish an enterprise operation system with reliable quality, fast circulation, reasonable Price, and standardized use, and achieve high-quality development.

　　The rapid development of information technology has provided new opportunities for scientific and technological innovation cooperation between Chinese and foreign enterprises, and has promoted the development of high-end medical device manufacturing and intelligent diagnostic industries. Dr. Zhang Xiao, global vice president and president of Greater China of Varian Medical Systems, said that the supply and demand gap in radiotherapy in China is further expanding, with significant gaps in linear accelerators and professionals. Artificial intelligence + big data + robots + industrial Internet of Things will empower the overall solution for tumor radiotherapy. Xia Fenghua, co-president of United Imaging Intelligence, said that at present, the emergence and maturity of new technologies, new materials, and new disciplines have given Chinese enterprises the opportunity to be on the same starting line as international giants. The next ten years will be a window period for Chinese enterprises to fully participate in international competition and achieve surpassing. If Chinese enterprises want to achieve surpassing and leadership, they must seize the opportunities of the times, adhere to innovation, and continue to exert efforts.

　　Under the new situation, it has become a necessary choice for medical consumables enterprises to achieve high-quality development through innovation and international upgrading. The China International Medical Consumables Conference, held concurrently,has been held for 11 consecutive sessions, developing from an industry exchange within the dressing industry into an international platform integrating "production, learning, research, medicine, trade, supervision, investment and financing, media, and exhibition." This conference awarded the "Top Ten Exporters of Medical Dressings and Medical Polymers in China 2018" and, for the first time, awarded the "2018 China Medical Device Overseas Brand Communication Award." (Reporter Tang Li)