Defibrillator Import Prices May Drop Over 70% as China’s Second Bulk-Buying Round Starts
Qian Tongxin
DATE:  Nov 30 2020
/ SOURCE:  Yicai
Defibrillator Import Prices May Drop Over 70% as China’s Second Bulk-Buying Round Starts Defibrillator Import Prices May Drop Over 70% as China’s Second Bulk-Buying Round Starts

(Yicai Global) Nov. 30 -- Implantable cardioverter defibrillators, which are not made in China and must be imported, are one of 10,000 medical devices included in the second round of the country's centralized procurement program. Prices could drop by as much as 70 percent, an industry insider told Yicai Global.

The government’s bulk-buy program, which aims to slash the cost of medicines through economy of scale buying, was extended to medical apparatus only this year. In the first round, the price of coronary stents was slashed by more than 90 percent to CNY700 (USD106) apiece from CNY13,000.

China relies entirely on imported ICDs. They are the preferred treatment for patients at risk of sudden cardiac death by ventricular arrhythmia, or abnormal beating of the heart, and can greatly reduce their mortality. However, the medical devices do not come cheap and usually cost between CNY60,000 (USD9,103) and CNY80,000. Some can even cost as much as CNY150,000.

“ICDs can save a person’s life, but they are quite expensive, so we only have under a 100 patients a year who can afford them,” the director of a department of cardiology at a large hospital told Yicai Global.

The centralized procurement program will reduce the price by at least 70 percent, allowing it to be used more extensively in Chinese hospitals, the director said.

US medical device makers Boston Scientific, Medtronic and St. Jude Medical as well as Germany’s Biotronik are the biggest suppliers of ICDs to China.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Kim Taylor

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Keywords:   Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator,Bulk-Buying Program,Price Slash,Medical Equipment,Healthcare Reform