Companies

St Jude sets up technology center

By Liu Jie (China Daily)
Updated: 2011-03-23 09:53

A worker assembles a Medtronic Inc device. Medical equipment sales makes up 14 percent of China's medical care market, compared with 42 percent globally. [Photo / Bloomberg]

BEIJING - Announcing on Tuesday the opening of a technology center involving an investment of $2.5 million in Beijing, St Jude Medical Inc, one of the world's largest medical device manufacturers, plans to accelerate its growth in China.

According to Sang Yi, vice-president and general manager of St Jude Medical Asia Pacific, the company, which specializes in cardiac implants such as pacemakers and defibrillators, is expected to develop faster in China in the coming five years than it has in the last decade. It achieved double-digit year-on-year growth over the past few years in the emerging market.

Minnesota-based St Jude generated $5.1 billion in revenue last year globally, compared with $1.6 billion in 2003.

"Our (international) revenue grew almost four times over the last eight years," said Yi. Cheng Fan, the company's China president, said the company saw 12 times revenue growth in China during that period.

St Jude's growth will accelerate through the introduction of its advanced technology and products, continuous investment in its people and the training of physicians and customers. The new technology center will play a large role in providing professional training, not only for employees, but also doctors and patients.

The center is designed to give physicians throughout China and the Asia-Pacific region practical experience to improve the quality of their treatment and patients' outcomes.

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The training includes lectures, one-on-one mentoring and hands-on experience using virtual-reality technology to better acquaint physicians with the company's products in cardiology, cardiac surgery and arrhythmia management.

With the virtual reality training, physicians can simulate different procedures and develop clinical skills in a controlled, risk-free environment. By mirroring what they would encounter, the technology allows them to become familiar with St Jude's products.

"We plan to train more than 800 physicians in 2011. Once fully operational, the center will be able to train more than 2,000 every year," said Yi.

Yi said St Jude will hire more than 1,000 people in Asia-Pacific region - many of them from China - over the next five years.

Medical equipment sales in the nation exceeded 100 billion yuan ($15.25 billion) last year, with a combined annual growth rate of 21 percent over last decade, according to the China Association for Medical Devices Industry.

So far, medical equipment makes up 14 percent of China's medical care market, compared with 42 percent globally. A Shanghai Securities report said foreign companies control around 30 percent of China's medical device market and nearly 70 percent of high-end medical equipment is imported.

In the cardiac device sector, the high-end market is dominated by St Jude and its Minneapolis competitor, Medtronic Inc.

"The two companies' dominance in China will not easily change," said Xu Bing, an analyst at Shanghai Securities. "Both have great market room to develop, given that the technology is still new and underdeveloped in China."