China continues to ramp up efforts to digitize its health care system, as it moves closer toward a 2025 deadline that is part of a nationwide plan. Several of the country’s largest tech conglomerates now have digital health operations that are beginning to show profits and are expected to grow significantly over the next decade.
Wuhan Endoangel Medical Technology Co. Ltd.’s artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted real-time quality control and auxiliary diagnosis system for lower gastrointestinal endoscopy has been approved by China’s NMPA.
Grand Pharmaceutical Group Ltd. obtained China’s NMPA approval for an intravascular dual-mode imaging system for coronary artery imaging, tapping into a potentially huge but very undeveloped market for imaging in percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI).
The venture capital market in South Korea is frozen shut, said presenters during the recent BIO Korea 2023 conference in Seoul, but Korea’s Medical Device Development Fund will help support domestic R&D efforts to the tune of ₩987 billion (US$738 million) over five years.
Anhui Happiness Workshop Medical Equipment Co. Ltd.'s single use ureteroscope was approved by China’s NMPA, becoming the first domestically developed electronic soft ureteroscope to monitor intrarenal pressure during procedures.
Acotec Scientific Holdings Ltd. received Chinese marketing approval for its microcatheter Vericor-14 to assist in percutaneous coronary interventions and percutaneous peripheral interventions, taking a step forward in a competitive market that is poised to grow eightfold by the end of the decade.
China’s NMPA gave the nod to Roche Diagnostics (Shanghai) Ltd.’s anti-preferentially expressed antigen in melanoma (PRAME) (EPR 20330) that could help to speed up melanoma diagnosis and improve survival rates.
Meio Medical Inc.’s Titian, a surgical robot for navigation in cardiac electrophysiology, has been included in a Green Pathway for approval of medical devices in China, meaning it could get to market faster. Inclusion in the Green Pathway gives the medical device priority for reviewing and shortens the average registration time. Currently, Meio Medical is running a trial of Titian in multiple hospitals in China.
Beijing Surgerii Technology Co. Ltd. completed a series C3 round to support the development of its robotic system for single-port laparoscopic surgery.