Following Johnson & Johnson's withdrawal from the drug bracket business, another medical device giant is also adjusting its cardiac stenting business. According to foreign media reports on July 23, Abbott planned to cut about 200 employees at the Temecula plant in California, USA, which mainly manufactures heart stents and other products. According to reports, Abbott has announced that it will conduct large-scale layoffs in the region. In February of this year, the factory had laid off 450 employees. Coupled with previous rounds of layoffs, the number of employees in the factory will decrease from 4,000 at the peak period to 2,000. . Analysts believe that one of the reasons for Abbott’s layoffs is that the company wants to weaken its cardiac stenting business and shift its key resources to other peripheral blood vessel products.

The global market is becoming saturated

According to report, after Johnson & Johnson stopped the drug-eluting stent business in 2011, the global market for cardiac stents was mainly divided by multinational companies such as Boston Scientific, Abbott, Medtronic, and Braun. While exiting the drug eluting stent market, Johnson & Johnson purchased Synthes for US$21.3 billion, shifting its focus to the field of orthopaedic trauma devices. Xiao Chung, deputy general manager of Shanghai Minimally Invasive Medical Group Co., Ltd., a deputy general manager of Minimally Invasive Medical Technology Co., Ltd., told reporters: “At the time, Johnson & Johnson was slow in the development of new products, and its market share gradually declined. Johnson's withdrawal was a strategic adjustment.”

In response to Abbott’s recent large-scale layoffs of Temecula's manufacturing of heart stents and other products, Li Zhonghua believes that Abbott’s layoffs are not directly caused by the decline in performance. He explained: "Abbott's market share in the field of cardiac stents is relatively high, about 30%, the product market is relatively mature and has limited growth; while Abbott's new generation of bio-absorbable heart stents have been certified by the European CE mark. , but not yet approved by the FDA, clinical trials in the United States are still ongoing, high R & D costs and limited market space for improvement make Abbott choose to layoffs to reduce costs."

An industry source told reporters that the global heart stent market has become saturated, and that degradable cardiac stents are not necessarily clinically necessary. Abbott’s market prospects are not clear even if it is FDA certified; in the short term, Abbott acquires two companies. Medical device companies also need cash support. According to reports, Abbott recently acquired two companies for up to US$710 million, further expanding the company’s medical device business, expanding the product portfolio of vascular stents and treatment options in the ophthalmic field. The acquired IDEV Technologies is the developer of innovative stent technology, and OpitiMedica Corporation maintains a leading position in ophthalmic laser technology. Industry insiders, these two acquisitions will further promote and promote Abbott’s position in the cardiovascular and ophthalmic medical products market.

The second quarterly report that Abbott just released showed that its medical device business sales were basically flat, and the drug holder business dropped 0.5% year-on-year. The above-mentioned personage inside course of study thinks, the financial report expresses or confirms the necessity that Abbott seeks the new growth point of the medical apparatus business.

According to Tang Guoping, senior investment director of Venture Capital Healthcare in Dachen, “The two giants have adjusted their cardiac stenting business. It is now expected that with the micro-invasive and other companies, R&D strength and market share in the cardiac stent industry will increase. With increasingly fierce competition and falling prices leading to a decline in profits, there is limited room for growth. Multinational corporations are inevitably choosing to adjust resources.

The domestic battle is raging

In stark contrast to the weakening of the cardiac stenting business by overseas companies, domestic companies appear to have a strong interest in heart stents.

On the evening of July 26, Kelly announced that it has suspended the license for more than a month. The company plans to acquire 29.73% of the equity of Easysun Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd. for RMB 140 million, and obtain a re-registered medical device at Yisheng Technology. After the registration certificate, acquire the remaining equity.

It is reported that Yisheng Technology has been engaged in the research and development, production and sales of interventional medical devices. At present, Yisheng Technology has possessed the independent production technology and production capacity of the entire drug-eluting coronary stent system, and its independently developed third-generation “chromium alloy stent platform + biodegradable carrier/carrier-free” drug stent - “ "Ai Li-Tivoli drug-eluting coronary stent system" has been widely used in domestic coronary intervention.

Kelitah believes that as a leading manufacturer of orthopedic interventional surgical instruments, through the acquisition of Yisheng Technology, the company has extended its business to the cardiovascular interventional device field, achieving horizontal integration within the interventional treatment device industry. The high-end interventional devices have the characteristics of large market demand and high added value, and the market has good prospects for development.

The acquisition was sought after by the secondary market, and Kelly made a daily limit after trading resumed on July 29. The reporter interviewed several people in the industry and found that in fact the industry did not favor Kelly's acquisition.

According to data provided by one person in the industry, about 30% of the domestic cardiac stent market came from imported products last year, and 70% of the market was occupied by local companies. In the domestic market share, Minimally Invasive Medicine occupies 30% and Lepu Medical 28 %, the remaining share was shared by enterprises such as Geely Medical and Liaoning Biological. The market share of Yisheng Technology is relatively low. "Easy's rise in the drug stent market is not large," the source pointed out.

In fact, mature companies in the domestic cardiac stenting business are similar to multinational companies and are also seeking for diversified development. For example, Weigao and Minimize made collective adjustments and gradually invested resources in orthopedics, electrophysiology, and central nervous system. In June this year, Wicre Medical also purchased US-based Wright Medical Medical Corp. for US$290 million. Hip and knee business.

“In the field of cardiac stents, the domestic market will show similar trends with the global market, but it will lag behind for 5 to 10 years. From a current point of view, it can maintain certain growth in recent years, but there is limited room for growth.” People who invest in the medical device industry say that.