"The future medical imaging equipment industry will not only provide medical institutions with high-performance medical imaging equipment, but also assist doctors in developing integrated diagnosis and treatment solutions."

a few days ago, United shadow medical (688271.SH), which made the above judgment on the industry pattern and trend, announced that it would increase its capital by 45 million yuan to Shanghai epuqiang particle equipment co., ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "epuqiang") and acquire about 4.69 percent of its equity. According to the announcement, Aipuqiang is mainly engaged in the field of proton therapy. United Imaging Medical said that proton therapy needs to be equipped with imaging equipment to complement the company's related products, which will help break the technology monopoly and expand the company's layout in the field of radiotherapy (hereinafter referred to as "radiotherapy").

It is worth noting that Epuqiang has suffered losses year after year. In the first half of last year, its operating income was 793700 yuan and its net profit was -12.1581 million yuan. The announcement shows that the evaluation agency believes that the current Eppower is still in the stage of transformation into industrialization. In 2022, Aipuqiang's "proton therapy system" was approved for listing.

On June 28, United Film Medical accepted an interview with a reporter from China Business News and stated that on the basis of fully considering factors such as industry development trends, its own business and technological development needs, the company has made a strategic type to Apqiang. Financial equity investment. The company continues to pay attention to the progress of matters related to the Epuqiang project, accelerate the integration of diagnosis and treatment industry layout. It believes that image-guided radiotherapy is the current representative direction of tumor precision radiotherapy technology, "the company's future radiotherapy product planning is mainly reflected in products, marketing channels and brand building."

Subject of additional radiotherapy

The announcement shows that from February to March this year, the Shanghai United Property Rights Exchange announced relevant information about the listing of the Aipuqiang capital increase project. In the meantime, the board of directors of United Film Medical deliberated and approved the company's proposal to participate in the auction. However, due to the transaction involving public auction, uncertainty and the company's trade secrets, the company suspended the disclosure of the matter according to relevant regulations. On June 16, United Film Medical signed a capital increase agreement with Epuqiang.

according to the announcement, before the capital increase, Shanghai Lianhe Investment Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Shanghai Lianhe"), Shanghai Klin Technology Development Co., Ltd. and Shanghai Rihuan Technology Investment Co., Ltd. held 40%, 30% and 30% of the shares of Aipuqiang respectively. After the completion of the capital increase, the structure of the board of directors of Epuqiang changed, including one member of United Film Medical.

On the other hand, Shanghai Lianhe directly holds 16.38 of the shares of United Film Medical. Shen Siyu, director of the company, is the deputy general manager of Shanghai Lianhe Department, and Liu Yujia, supervisor of the company, is the senior investment manager of Shanghai Lianhe. Therefore, the above capital increase constitutes a connected transaction.

According to the announcement, Apforce was established in June 2011, and its business scope includes the manufacture and sales of particle equipment and its components and accessories; technology development, technology transfer, technical consultation, and technical services in the field of particle equipment. Industrial and commercial information shows that before the above-mentioned capital increase, the shareholders of Epuqiang have not changed.

According to the official website of Aipuqiang, in September 2022, my country's first domestic proton therapy system was approved by the State Food and Drug Administration. The product was approved by the Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Shanghai Institute for Advanced Study of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Aipuqiang and Shanghai Jiaotong University. Joint research and development of Ruijin Hospital affiliated to the University School of Medicine. In the next step, the proton therapy system team will make efforts from two aspects, namely, to promote the clinical trials of 360-degree rotating beam treatment room and eye treatment room, and to promote the industrialization of proton therapy system.

the announcement of capital increase shows that the above products provide proton beam radiotherapy, which can reduce the dose of surrounding normal tissues, especially the dose of tissues behind the target area, while realizing high dose at the tumor site. it is suitable for the treatment of systemic solid malignant tumors and some benign diseases. the specific indications should be determined by clinicians according to the actual situation.

In the view of United Imaging Medical, proton therapy needs to be equipped with imaging equipment (CT, MR, PET), which is complementary to the company's high-end imaging equipment and X-ray radiotherapy equipment. A strong combination will help break the technology monopoly, expand the company's layout in the radiotherapy field, and accelerate the promotion of proton therapy tumor, an advanced technology in China. After careful research, the company made an investment in Epforce.

regarding the form in which the two sides will carry out business cooperation in the future, United imaging medical told reporters that in clinical use, epuqiang's domestic proton system products need to be equipped with imaging equipment (CT, MRI, MI) based on multi-modal image-guided treatment. the company's current global clinical molecular diagnostic products and MRI will complement epuqiang's proton radiotherapy equipment, breaking the monopoly of foreign capital in radiotherapy technology.

It is worth noting that the proton therapy project has the characteristics of long construction period and large project investment. United Shadow Medical said frankly, "There may be a risk that the investment cannot be withdrawn in time and effectively."

The announcement shows that as of the end of 2021, the total assets of Epuqiang are about 0.398 billion yuan, the owner's equity is about -39.56 million yuan, the operating income in 2021 is 2.6448 million yuan, the net profit is -22.7764 million yuan, and the net profit attributable to the parent is -22.7764 million yuan. As of June 30, 2022, the total assets of the subject matter are about 0.396 billion yuan, the owner's equity is about -51.6858 million yuan, the company's operating income in the first half of 2022 is 793700 yuan, the net profit is -12.1581 million yuan, and the net profit attributable to the parent is -12.1581 million yuan.

In view of the above, why did United Shadow Medical still decide to increase its capital and participate in Epuqiang instead of establishing contact with Epuqiang through regular business contacts? In this regard, United Shadow Medical said that Epuqiang will be transformed from the product development stage to the product sales stage, and it is expected that the operation will be gradually reflected in the future.

CT equipment sales growth no longer

In fact, prior to the investment in Aipuqiang, the sale of radiotherapy equipment had become one of the main businesses of United Shadow Medical.

the annual report shows that in 2022, the sales revenue of radiotherapy system (RT) of United Imaging Medical will be about 0.252 billion yuan, up 80.62 percent year on year. Sales of RT products were 25 units, up 66.67 percent year on year. It is worth noting that during the reporting period, the sales revenue and sales volume of RT products had the highest growth rate among all equipment business lines.

According to United Shadow Medical, Varian (a U.S. company) and Medical Keda (a Swedish company), as leading radiotherapy equipment companies, occupy a major share of China's RT market. In the radiotherapy equipment market, according to the 2022 domestic new market amount statistics, the company's RT product market share ranked third.

Among them, Varian has entered the field of proton therapy and is committed to providing radiotherapy, radiosurgery, proton therapy and brachytherapy equipment and related software for cancer and other diseases.

statistics show that the total market size of China's imaging equipment and radiotherapy equipment is expected to reach 114.8 billion billion yuan in 2030, and the global market size of medical imaging equipment and radiotherapy equipment is expected to reach 75.6 billion billion us dollars.

regarding proton therapy, according to the prospectus of us-China jiahe medical technology development group co., ltd., the market size of China's proton therapy market has increased from 0.188 billion yuan in 2016 to 0.282 billion yuan in 2021 and is expected to reach about 6 billion yuan in 2025. However, "few proton therapy facilities have been established in China. In 2021, only two proton therapy centers will be operational in China, compared with 41 in the United States in the same year."

Although the market prospect has a certain imagination space, in the view of United Film Medical, the current situation of my country's radiotherapy industry is still facing major problems such as insufficient development of resources, uneven distribution, and lack of talents. Returning to the business structure itself, although RT products performed well last year, their contribution to the company's revenue was much smaller than that of CT equipment.

According to the disclosure of United Imaging Medical, according to the statistics of the amount of new domestic market in 2022, the company is the largest CT equipment manufacturer in the Chinese market, leading international manufacturers, and ranking first in market share. The company ranks first in the market share of CT below 40 rows, second in the market share of CT 41-63 rows, first in the market share of CT 64-80 rows, and third in the market share of high-end and ultra-high-end CT with 128 rows and above.

the annual report shows that in 2022, the CT equipment revenue of United Imaging Medical will be about 3.772 billion yuan, accounting for about 40.81 of the company's operating revenue, while RT products will account for only 2.7. United Shadow Medical's prospectus shows that in 2019-2021, the company's CT series of product revenue increased from 34.67 percent to 47.87 percent, with a compound revenue growth rate of 83.39 percent. In particular, the product's revenue growth rate will reach 152.78 per cent in 2020 and fall to 33.05 per cent in 2021.

as of 2022, United imaging medical's CT equipment revenue growth rate was the lowest among all equipment business lines, at 10.26 percent, and its sales volume decreased by 2.48 percent year-on-year. it was also the only product with a decline in sales during the reporting period. However, United Imaging Medical believes that "the company's CT product line will still maintain a good growth trend in 2022."

Is the slowdown in the growth rate of CT business one of the considerations for the company to expand the layout of the radiotherapy field? In this regard, United Imaging Medical told reporters that the company has been laying out the radiotherapy field since 2013, and the business has been an important part of the company's "diagnosis and treatment integration" strategy, and the company can give full play to the advantages of imaging diagnostic equipment and carry out multi-modal integration with radiotherapy equipment.

As for the plan of CT business this year, United Imaging Medical said that the company will further strengthen the research and development of core components and key technologies of products, and at the same time focus on the innovation and R & D upgrading of next-generation products, break through a series of industry technical problems, and comprehensively strengthen the company's core competitiveness in R & D, technology, quality, marketing, service, supply chain and other aspects, scientific decision-making, reasonable and orderly promote the implementation of the company's strategic planning and business layout, continuously optimize and improve the global supply chain management system and marketing system, lay a solid foundation for the stable and healthy growth of various financial indicators and social indicators, and provide strong support for the construction of medical service system worldwide.