According to the data from the CFDA, the medical device market in 2017 maintained the high growth trend in recent years. The average annual compound growth rate of China’s medical technology and medical device industry in 2011-2016 reached 20.7%, far higher than the global average annual compound growth rate of about 3%. In 2016, China’s medical device market valued about CNY 370 billion. It is estimated that the market will value about CNY 600 billion in 2019. Among them, imaging equipment, in-vitro diagnostics and high-value medical supplies occupy the top three parts of the medical device market, accounting for 19%, 16% and 13% respectively of the total market size.
Policies, markets and new technologies are still the three major factors that affect the development of China’s medical device industry. The full implementation of hierarchical medical system brings more opportunities to domestic medical equipment. The implementation of the two-vote system will further promote the intra-industry transformation of mergers and acquisitions, the continuous upgrading of industrial structure, the development of customized medical devices and high value-added products and further intensify the competition in medical device market in 2018. The development of new materials and technologies such as early screening technology, artificial intelligence, 3D printing, medical robots and graphene have revolutionized the medical market.
From the perspective of per capita medical expenses, the current per capita cost in China is only 6 US dollars, while the average per capita cost in developed countries is more than 100 US dollars. So China’s medical technology and equipment market have tremendous room for growth. In addition, China has entered the age of population aging since 2015, and the population ratio of people over 65 years old has been increasing year by year. With the improvement of people’s living standard and the society’s emphasis on medical health, the total number of medical treatment in China has increased by 35% in recent five years. Therefore, no matter from the perspectives of diagnosis and treatment methodologies, or from the consumer level, China’s medical device market will continue to maintain explosive growth.
With the expansion of medical plastic market, high-performance plastics will further replace metals; the hemodialysis market has a market space of CNY 150 billion; and 3D printing has begun to enter the market. The medical industry has four major development trends: 1. merger & acquisition integration and platformization; 2. extension from device products to service; 3. product innovation and breakthroughs; 4. internet-enabled medical devices.
