(Yicai Global) Nov. 6 -- The 3rd China International Import Expo has set aside a special public health and epidemic prevention section in its medical equipment and medical care product area against the backdrop of the global Covid-19 outbreak. Many companies, including UK-Swedish pharma firm AstraZeneca, US medical devices and healthcare company Abbott Laboratories, US Irish-domiciled medical device maker Medtronic, Paris-based Sanofi and New York-headquartered Pfizer, are showcasing their new pandemic prevention products and technologies.

The Covid-19 mRNA vaccine Chinese drug maker Fosun Pharmaceutical Group and Germany’s BioNTech jointly developed made its first appearance at the CIIE when the company’s founders Ugur Sahin, Christoph Huber and Ozlem Tureci met with Chinese peers via video and talked about the latest progress of the shot’s research and development.

Sanofi showed off a smart unmanned vaccination cabin in a mobile ‘outlet.’ It adopts AI technology and uses low-temperature storage, full trackability and automatic sterilization. It also has a remote feed to doctors as a backup.

Abbott Laboratories developed rapid test technology for Covid-19 and put it on the market. It helps medics quickly obtain reliable results for swifter quarantine and treatment. For instance, Abbott’s Panbio COVID-19 Ag -- a quick testing reagent for antigens -- returns results in 15 minutes without any extra instruments needed.

Fosun Pharma unveiled its negative pressure isolation ambulance equipped with the entire gamut of devices for emergency treatment, including ventilators, defibrillators, ultraviolet disinfection lamps and central oxygen apparatuses. It helped out in Wuhan by transporting patients when the central Chinese city was ground zero for the global pestilence, the staffer said.

Medtronic displayed its next-generation extracorporeal membrane oxygenation system -- known colloquially as an ‘iron lung’ -- that features an integrated monitoring function. This machine can precisely and timely monitor pressure, oxygen saturation, temperature and many other key gauges without a linkage with external monitoring equipment, thus allowing doctors to learn patients’ conditions directly.

Merck & Co., which does business as Merck Sharp & Dohme outside North America, Eli Lilly and Company, AstraZeneca, Hoffmann-La Roche and several other firms have inked letters of intent with the China International Import Expo Bureau to participate in the next three CIIEs.

Editor: Ben Armour