(Yicai) May 11 -- Despite a steady stream of innovation in China’s medical device industry in recent years, the country still accounts for only about 10 percent of the global market, leaving substantial room for further development, according to the chief executive officer of Singaporean medical apparatus firm Genesis MedTech.

“Unlike biomedicine, which is largely driven by scientists, medical device innovation is mainly driven by engineers,” Warren Wang, who is also company chairman, said at a symposium on artificial intelligence-powered medical devices, precision diagnosis and treatment held on May 9. “China needs more engineers with medical knowledge to push technological upgrades in the industry, and this process will take time.”

Genesis Medtech, which focuses on minimally invasive surgery and structural heart disease devices, has recently partnered with Wuxi Venture Capital and Wuxi Binhu District in eastern Jiangsu province to launch an industrial incubation fund worth nearly CNY1 billion (USD138 million). The fund aims to invest in cardiovascular and surgical devices, while also attracting medical engineering talents to build a stronger innovation ecosystem for medical device transformation and commercialization.

Meanwhile, the rapid rise of emerging industries is helping lower supply chain costs in China’s medical apparatus sector. For example, growing demand for components driven by the embodied intelligence industry is helping address the traditionally high costs in the domestic medical device sector caused by small-batch production and fragmented supply chains in medical devices, Lucas Cheng, global market head of surgery at Genesis Medtech, told Yicai.

Chinese medical device firms are beginning to follow the path of innovative drug developers, targeting advanced products at developed markets overseas, while exporting mid-to-low-end products to emerging regions such as Southeast Asia and South America.

In Wang’s view, medical devices should never be high profit products in any market. “The key is to price products at a reasonable and appropriate level while still allowing firms to earn a fair profit so they can continue investing in research and development and innovation,” he said.

“Companies should not blindly chase hot trends. Instead, they should focus on their core products,” Wang said. “At Genesis Medtech, for example, interventional products are mainly sold in China, while high-end surgical innovations are exported to Europe and the United States.”

Genesis Medtech’s 90-degree ultra-curved laparoscopic stapler, which is the first of its kind in the world, has already entered multiple European markets since its launch in 2024. The stapler, which is designed for tissue cutting and suturing in minimally invasive surgeries, has been adopted by top-tier medical institutions including Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin and hospitals affiliated with the University of Cambridge, and its market share is rising rapidly.

Collaboration Potential

Compared with China’s pharmaceutical firms, which have completed a large number of licensing deals with multinational giants, only a small number of Chinese medical device companies have inked outbound technology licensing transactions so far.

Nevertheless, Wang believes there is still huge potential for tie-ups between Chinese medical device makers and multinational corporations. Since most Chinese medical apparatus companies currently rely on building their own overseas sales channels, which is a costly approach, this creates room for collaboration with global players.

“While local brands aim to narrow the gap with multinational corporations, there remains substantial room for collaboration,” he said. “In fact, such partnerships may even take place in the near future.”

Editors: Tang Shihua, Kim Taylor