ARTICLE SUMMARY:
While US-China relations remain volatile, the Chinese medtech market, although evolving both in terms of advancing product development and shifting investment patterns, is seeing lower barriers to entry emerging for western companies, particularly those with innovative technologies. Two China medtech experts, Ari Silverman and Olivier d’Arros, talk about the changes taking place in the Chinese market and how they expect it to progress in the face of continuing geopolitical tensions.
The current volatility in US-China relations on a number of fronts—political, military, and economic—might cause industry executives to view the Chinese medtech market as being tarred with that same brush, thereby discouraging them from entering China despite the obvious potential market size. A closer look, however, may cause medtech executives to take a second look. That is not to say there are no obstacles to western product companies looking to commercialize in China; rather, that while the situation on a variety of other fronts appears to be worsening or remaining unstable, in medtech it is actually improving in several important areas.
Notably, the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA), China’s FDA, has adopted a series of regulatory changes over the past few years designed to make it easier for non-Chinese companies to get their products approved in China, while also addressing long-sought changes in clinical trials and the use of the accompanying data. Further, there continue to be improvements in protecting intellectual property (IP) rights, a longstanding issue of concern for medtech and all innovative technology companies. Although issues remain when it comes to protecting IP and the preferences extended by the government to local entities making it practically essential for western companies to work with a Chinese partner rather than trying to go it alone, the medtech climate has clearly improved over the last several years, particularly when compared with other industries.
Make no mistake, however; these advances did not arise from the good will of the Chinese government looking to open its market to international companies to promote economic freedom. Rather, it is purely a product of self-interest.
