Rising vet care gives medical device makers leg-up

With rising demand for animal medical services, domestic medical device manufacturers are ramping up efforts to develop and produce medical devices for people's pets.

A 2022 White Paper on China's Pet Medical Industry, jointly issued by the National Veterinary Drug Industry Technical Innovation Alliance, China Veterinary Drug Association, Chinese Veterinary Medical Association, East and West Small Animal Veterinary Confer, and Shanghai-based pet medical platform iChong, showed that in 2022, the country's veterinary market totaled 67.5 billion yuan ($9.36 billion) in value, taking up 22.5 percent of the total pet consumption industry. The ratio has been on the rise during the past few years.

Specifically, the white paper noted that the number of human-use medical equipment manufacturers that had wafted into the veterinary industry increased year-by-year. In addition, smart diagnostic and high-end equipment for animals has been on the rise.

In June, the Development and Reform Commission of Shenzhen Municipality issued a public announcement on a key project selected for the high-end veterinary medical equipment manufacturing base in Shenzhen, Guangdong province. The company responsible for the selected project, with an estimated annual production value of 12 billion yuan, is Shenzhen Mindray Animal Medical Technology Co Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Mindray Group, a domestic medical equipment manufacturer.

The subsidiary, founded in 2020, aims at taking advantage of Mindray's technical reserves in medical imaging, patient monitoring and life support, and in-vitro diagnostics to extend its presence in the animal healthcare sector.

So far, the company has launched a series of animal-use products, covering medical imaging systems, anesthesia machines, infusion systems, surgical lights, animal monitoring systems, endoscopes and hematology analyzers. It has also developed various treatment solutions for different species of animals.

"The veterinary industry is rapidly aligning with human medicine. While developing new products, we conform our proven technologies in human medicine to suit applications in the veterinary field," said Chen Xing, general manager of Mindray Animal Medical.

In Mindray's 2022 annual report, it said: "Veterinary medical service is one of our seeded business units. Specifically, based on the three major technologies — medical imaging, patient monitoring and life support, and IVD — we plan to establish a technological research platform, boost research and development, further improve product quality, enhance doctors' work efficiency, and optimize workflow in veterinary services."

In 2022, Mindray Animal Medical announced the establishment of the MindVet Academy, an academic exchange platform offering both online and offline training sessions to veterinarians at home and abroad.

Other domestic companies have also taken action. Medical imaging and radiotherapy equipment maker Shanghai United Imaging Healthcare Co developed an ultrahigh-field animal magnetic resonance imaging system, which can present accurate, high-definition images of living animal tissue and generate analysis.

Beijing-based Lepu Medical Technology Ltd established a veterinary business unit, offering a series of products ranging from surgical equipment, vital sign monitoring equipment, IVD and imaging systems to interventional equipment.

According to corporate information provider Qichacha, by August, there were over 435,000 enterprises registered with veterinary-related businesses in China. Among them, some 150,000 were founded within the past year, and 97,500 were founded within the past half-year, demonstrating a rising trend.

"As pet medical devices have become a critical link for veterinary services, the growth rate of China's animal-use medical device market has outpaced that of human use," said Yao Jing, an expert in medical devices at VBData.cn, a Chongqing-based healthcare service platform.

"For years, veterinary institutions mainly made diagnoses based on experience. Hindered by the fact that animals are unable to express themselves, the misdiagnosis rate has been high. With the help of medical devices, veterinarians are able to make diagnoses more precisely. Complete medical equipment not only enhances veterinary institutions' service quality and reputation, but it also raises their revenue," he said.

Currently, pet hospitals are mainly equipped with X-ray and ultrasonic equipment. The installation rate of computerized tomography equipment and MRI equipment is low. There is huge development space for animal medical device manufacturers, he added.