Cardinal Health seeks more opportunities in Chinese market

Cardinal Health Inc, the United States-based healthcare services and products provider, hopes to establish cooperative relationships with more innovative local businesses and better promote China's Healthy China 2030 Plan, as the country is expected to become its largest market in the world sooner or later, said its senior executives.

As outlined in the government's the Healthy China 2030 Plan, medical technology innovations must be enhanced through the development of innovation abilities such as proprietary drugs, new preparations and high-end medical devices. The quality standards for drugs and medical devices shall be in line with international standards by 2030, said Roy Noda, president for Asia-Pacific of Cardinal Health.

In the meantime, he said China will further allocate high-quality medical resources, change from treatment centered to health centered, adhere to the concept of "prevention in the first place and integrating prevention with control", and provide systematic and continuous integration of prevention, treatment and rehabilitation.

"We will jointly develop products that will be made in China and will be available to patients in other parts of the world," Noda said.

As a newcomer to the China International Import Expo this year held in Shanghai from Nov 5 to 10, Cardinal Health showcased a range of its newest vascular intervention and patient recovery innovations to both domestic and global visitors, while it also unveiled a new research partnership with BrosMed Medical Device Co Ltd aimed at developing the next generation of percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) balloon products.

"Local businesses usually act as agents to sell foreign products, which is a norm in China," said Lian Jia, general manager of the healthcare division at Cardinal Health China, adding the company will act as the agent for the sale of domestically developed innovations and invest in joint research efforts with a Chinese company.

Following the divestiture of its China distribution business in 2018, Cardinal Health China completed the integration of the patient recovery business from another player in 2019, diversifying and increasing the depth of its medical products portfolio.

These moves have enhanced Cardinal Health's ability to supply China's healthcare providers with a wider range of products and solutions that span the entire continuum of care, she said.