The medical devices market in China is expected to continue to expand due to the growing aging population, technological improvements, and the development of clinic and hospital services in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Against this backdrop, the market value of key medical devices in China will surpass $42 billion in 2022, accounting for 8.3% of the global medical devices market, forecasts GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

Tina Deng, MSc, Principal Medical Devices Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “The pandemic has boosted the sales of medical devices related to COVID-19 prevention and management. Medical devices such as testing reagents, medical masks, medical protective gowns, ventilators, and infrared thermometers not only saw an increase in sales due to strong domestic demand, but also continued to expand their production and supply for customers overseas.”

Several COVID-19 testing companies have now raised enough funds to invest in the research and development of new in vitro diagnostic product lines. Additionally, the pandemic has accelerated the development of the medical infrastructure in tier-1 hospitals and clinics. Multiple government departments have issued guidelines to purchase advanced configurations of large medical equipment in 2021. Domestic devices are usually preferred over imported medical devices in the national or regional procurement.

Deng concludes: “Product innovation has become very important to achieve long-term success for device companies after the COVID-19 pandemic. New medical technologies continue to emerge. The development of digital healthcare has been accelerated in China during the pandemic.

“The application of new technologies, including artificial intelligence and big data, has shown signs of commercialization. Point-of-care testing, precision medicine, and wearable devices in the field of diagnosis and treatment have been used in clinical practice. These new technologies are important to the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis of diseases, and will profoundly affect the development direction of the medical devices industry in China.”