This year, "going overseas" is still a hot keyword in the medical device industry. Especially at present, the domestic medical device market has entered a plateau period, and local "roll kings" are increasingly aware of the importance of going overseas. A positive signal is that the recognition of Chinese medical devices in overseas markets is constantly rising. At the just-concluded CMEF Autumn Exhibition, participants could clearly feel that international friends have become more enthusiastic about the Chinese medical device exhibition. According to the organizer, the number of pre-registrations for international visitors at this year's exhibition exceeded twice that of the same period last year. On the background walls of the booths of some local exhibitors, large-scale introductions to companies and products and services are printed in English, which can be said to have spared no effort in attracting overseas attention.

The cost advantages of Chinese medical devices and the product advantages that are being continuously improved have become a boost for medical devices to go overseas. In the first half of this year, the performance of veterans and rookies in the overseas medical device industry can be checked. According to the company's financial report, in the first half of 2024, United Imaging Medical's international market revenue was 933 million yuan, an increase of about 30% year-on-year, and the international market revenue accounted for 17.5%, an increase of nearly 4 percentage points year-on-year. Mindray Medical's overseas business of life information and support grew by double digits, and its overseas business of in vitro diagnostics grew by more than 30%. The revenue of MicroPort Medical's overseas business increased by about 44.0% year-on-year (excluding the impact of exchange rates), which was faster than the overall growth rate of the group. Among them, the overseas business in the fields of cardiovascular intervention (+56.3%), aorta and peripheral vascular intervention (+65%), and neurological intervention (+36.5%) performed well.

The sales of superconducting magnetic resonance in the international market of Wandong Medical continued the good momentum since 2023, and the number of orders reached a new high. Liquid helium-free and large aperture are the key products for export. In 2024, the company began to promote the overseas listing of CT products with less than 64 layers, which is expected to become an important pillar of overseas performance growth. In terms of market, the emerging medical device market has attracted more and more attention in recent years. In addition to the European and American markets, local medical device companies have paid a lot of attention to the demand for medical devices in developing countries and countries along the Belt and Road Initiative. Data shows that in 2023, my country's exports of medical devices to the United States, Japan, Germany and the United Kingdom will all decline, but exports to the Middle East market have achieved significant growth.

On the corporate side, Wandong Medical is promoting the "6+1 (Central Asia, Russia and Ukraine, Africa, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Latin America + Europe)" sales regional layout based on the countries along the Belt and Road Initiative, and implementing a localization strategy, including the establishment of sales offices and overseas spare parts warehouses. At present, the company has established offices in Uzbekistan in Central Asia and Egypt in Africa, and is firmly promoting the localization layout. Mindray said in a recent investor event that based on continued localization construction and breakthroughs in high-end customers, it is expected that overseas markets will continue to maintain a rapid growth trend in the second half of the year and for a considerable period of time in the future, especially in developing countries and European markets. It is expected that the full-year growth rate in the European region is expected to exceed the company's overall average growth rate. It is expected that the full-year growth rate in developing countries is also expected to exceed the group's average growth rate, and the growth rate will exceed the group's average growth rate for a long time.

After experiencing the consumption of "involution", local medical device companies have turned their attention to overseas markets, and the golden age of medical device exports has arrived. Behind the gratifying progress, it is also necessary to see that there are still many difficulties in the export of medical devices. From registration and approval to commercialization, from the selection of partners to channel laying, from clinical needs to local culture, the medical device market conditions in different countries and regions are different, and medical device companies have to face many "hurdles". Taking the US market as an example, it is not easy to really open up this world's largest medical device market. At present, Mindray has carried out business in nearly 90% of IDN medical alliances in the United States. The main products sold in the United States, such as monitors, anesthesia machines, and POC ultrasound, have achieved the top three market shares, and the share is still increasing. However, Mindray also stated that the growth rate of the US market will be slower than the company's average in the future, and the proportion of US market revenue in Mindray's revenue will continue to decline.

In addition, there has always been a large threshold for the development of overseas high-end markets. For the high-end market, stable and reliable product quality is only a must. At present, the products of a few local medical device companies have opened the door to top overseas hospitals, and more companies are still crossing the river by feeling the stones. It can be said that the cost of trial and error in going overseas is inevitable. In fact, strategic decision-making errors, wrong partner selection, products that do not meet local needs, and a series of uncertain factors may all lead to failure. Medical device companies also face considerable operating risks on the road to development. On the road to exporting medical devices overseas, companies still need a lot of patience, resilience, and hard power.

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