First time exhibitors have a healthy outlook

For many first-timer at the China International Import Expo, especially those in the Medical Equipment and Healthcare Products Hall, the event is a pleasant surprise that guarantees future participation.

AbbVie, one of the world’s top 10 pharmaceutical companies for innovative medicine, is among the businesses  attending the expo for the first time.

The company completed an acquisition in May, so is debuting its new corporate value proposition in China - “Innovation, Leadership and Partnership.”

Tony Au, general manager of AbbVie, said  the company looks forward to embracing the “Chinese Opportunity” and accelerating the introduction of more innovative blockbusters to the Chinese market via its debut at the CIIE.

“We aim to launch more than 15 new products and 48 indications in China in the next five years, and strive to turn AbbVie China into the largest market outside the headquarters in the US,” Au said at the expo.

AbbVie has a 500-square-meter exhibition space at the 7.1 Hall and is showcasing its strong innovation capabilities via a super laboratory that enables visitors to interact with its innovative inventions. On Friday, it signed a strategic agreement with Hainan Province's Boao Lecheng International Medical Tourism Pilot Zone at the lab, marking an important step forward in its sharing of the CIIE benefits with local partners.

GNC, another company at the hall of medical equipment and healthcare products, also considers its participation in the CIIE a milestone for its 10-year history in China.

The world’s leading nutrition company is showcasing it latest products at the import expo, hoping the event can help it secure a firm seat on the wagon of “Healthy China 2030” strategy.

In 2019, the market value of China’s health industry grew to 8.13 trillion yuan (US$1.24 trillion), while the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly raised people’s awareness of the sector.

In the past year, GNC has unveiled more than 20 nutritional products in China, with sales increasing more than 150 percent from a year earlier. With its debut at the CIIE, the company said it is more confident of a bright future in China.

Ti Gong

Edwards Lifesciences, the world's leading innovator in medical solutions for structural heart disease and critical care, also took to the CIIE for the first time this year.

It's estimated that there are 15 million undiagnosed patients of valvular heart disease in China, and currently only 1 to 2 percent of all patients of the disease have received timely intervention treatment.

In June, the third generation of the company's flagship transcatheter aortic valve product "Sapien," called "Sapien 3," got the green light for the Chinese market from the country's food and drug administration. This is one of the trascatheter aortic valve products with the largest amount of clinical evidence and the widest use in the world.

Some parts of the "Sapien 3," which was developed in Israel, were from China, according to the company.

Michael Mussallem, the global CEO of the company, said the openness and great potential of the Chinese market is more than important for the company.

"Through the CIIE, we will continue to introduce the latest technological innovations in the field to China, with a key focus on the health of patients with heart diseases as well as the elderly population," he said.

Chen Huizhi / SHINE