Shanghai, China, 29 August 2022 — MicroPort CardioFlow Medtech Corporation ("CardioFlow Medtech") today announced the interim results of the Company and its subsidiaries for the six months ended 30 June, 2022 ("Reporting Period").
During the reporting period, CardioFlow Medtech recorded revenue of RMB 124.8 million, representing an increase of 44.8% compared to the corresponding period last year. The gross profit margin also improved steadily by 8.6 percentage points to 63.7% on a year-on-year basis.
CardioFlow Medtech's sales revenue continues to grow primarily as a result of the increased market recognition and sales volume of two commercialized products, the VitaFlow® transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) and delivery system ("VitaFlow®") and the new generation VitaFlow Liberty™ transcatheter aortic valve and retrievable delivery system ("VitaFlow Liberty™"). And the growth of the gross profit margin was mainly attributable to our continuous efforts to reduce the cost of procuring raw materials through the global supply chain and our achievements in cost-saving through economies of scale.
Strengthening the business coverage of the TAVI market in China
During the reporting period, the COVID-19 epidemic was still volatile, affecting patient visits and physician teaching to varying degrees across the country. Since patients suitable for TAVI products can choose the timing of their operations in most cases, the growth in the implantation of TAVI products has been limited to a certain extent in areas where the epidemic situation has been severe. However, with CardioFlow Medtech’s extensive presence and deep penetration in different regions across China and our close collaboration with MicroPort Scientific Corporation (“MicroPort® Group"), we still achieved steady growth in implantation numbers and sales volumes.
The Company continued to promote the screening of grass-roots patients, and promoted the further popularization and penetration of innovative transcatheter treatment solutions in the field of structural heart disease through medical education and marketing activities, aiming to help more TAVI patients to be diagnosed and treated. As of today, there are more than 390 hospitals in China using VitaFlow® and VitaFlow Liberty™, most of which are Class IIIA hospitals located at tier-one and tier-two cities. We have captured a leading market share in more than 230 of these hospitals.
The Company further strengthened the synergy effect with MicroPort® Group, and made full use of its extensive channel network and clinical resources in the field of “Big Heart” to jointly carry out patient screening work, in order to provide patients with medical planning consulting services, pre-operative and post-operative health management consulting services, green channel services for medical treatment, and affordability solution services. This effectively broke the geographical restrictions and filled the vast blank market of primary medical care, in an effort to accelerate high-quality market penetration.
Promoting the globalization development strategy
By the end of the reporting period, more than 20 hospitals in Argentina had used our TAVI products – VitaFlow® and VitaFlow Liberty™ – for surgery, achieving an overseas revenue of RMB 1.8 million. The application for CE registration of VitaFlow Liberty™ reached its target and progressed further, while its registration in emerging markets such as India, Brazil, South Korea and Mexico continued to advance steadily. In addition, VitaFlow Liberty™ and Angelguide® were successfully registered in Colombia in August 2022. In terms of overseas market activities, during the reporting period we participated in well-known international academic conferences such as EuroPCR (the official annual meeting of the European Association of Percutaneous Cardiovascular Interventions), Frankfurt CSI (congenital, structural and valvar heart disease interventions conference) and the annual meeting of the Brazilian Association for Cardiovascular Intervention, international senior experts in the field of interventional therapy for valvular heart disease; we shared the latest clinical data of our TAVI products, as well as related device features and surgical skills; and conducted discussion in combination of representative cases, which further increased the influence and reputation of the CardioFlow brand in the international academic community.
During the reporting period, VitaFlow Liberty™ won the 2022 German Red Dot Award: Product Design and the 2021-2022 Italian Silver A’ Design Award for its innovative design concepts and outstanding product performance, further reinforcing the international recognition of CardioFlow Medtech's brand and innovative product design. In the future, CardioFlow Medtech will continue to make full use of the global recognition of the “MicroPort®” brand and its existing international sales network to further implement its internationalization strategy, expand global business coverage, and benefit patients around the world.
Deepening R&D and production in structural heart diseases
In terms of R&D of new products, in July 2022 CardioFlow Medtech's self-developed transcatheter mitral valve replacement (TMVR) product completed the first-in-human application with encouraging results at the 30-day follow-up, marking the world's first dry-tissue TMVR system successfully entering the clinical stage, and setting another important milestone for the improvement of the total solutions to treat structural heart diseases. During the reporting period, the 5-year follow-up results of the pre-launch clinical trial of VitaFlow® were released. The results showed that, compared with other TAVI products currently commercialized in China, VitaFlow® performed better in terms of all-cause mortality rate and postoperative complications (including moderate/severe PVL, severe stroke and vascular complications). Meanwhile, we are also advancing the development of several next-generation self-developed TAVI products. Among these is our third generation self-expanding TAVI product, which received positive feedback from key opinion leaders for its global original design and is expected to be approved in 2024.
In addition, the TMVR product AltaValve™ and the transcatheter mitral valve repair product Amend™, developed in collaboration with the Company’s business partners, have been progressing with ongoing early feasibility study overseas, demonstrating superior mitral regurgitation relief effects.
In terms of production and operations, in order to expand capacity to meet increasing sales volume and product demand, CardioFlow Medtech’s new production plant, with a total area of over 13,000 m2, went into service in the first half of 2022, providing an annual production capacity of 25,000 sets of products. Under the spreading global supply chain crisis, CardioFlow Medtech actively promotes intelligent and lean production, improves procurement strategy and accelerates the strategic layout of supply chain localization, optimizes product cost structure in the long term, improves quality and efficiency, and constantly increases its gross profit margin.
CardioFlow Medtech has been practicing its mission “to provide trustworthy and universal access to state-of-the-art total solutions to treat structural heart diseases”, and remains deeply involved in the field of structural heart diseases, with higher standards and better practices. The Company continues to be committed to innovation and world-leading R&D of structural heart diseases treatment technology, creating a technological innovation system that integrates production, education and research, provides high-quality products and services for the global market, and constitutes the most powerful driving force for the Company’s sustainable development.
Mr Guoming Chen, the Executive Director and President of CardioFlow Medtech, said, “in the first half of 2022, CardioFlow Medtech forged ahead and achieved sustained and robust revenue growth and gross profit margin improvement, despite the challenges of the pandemic and increasingly fierce market competition. We will continue to rely on the extraordinary product advantages, the unremitting development of the Total Solutions team and the abundant resources of MicroPort® Group, to further expand the domestic market share, and accelerate the pace of overseas development, to achieve the long-term sustainable development of CardioFlow Medtech. We will continue to use our years of R&D experience and technological foundation to provide high-quality and innovative products for physicians and patients around the world.”
About CardioFlow Medtech
Founded in Shanghai in 2015, MicroPort CardioFlow Medtech Corporation (“CardioFlow Medtech”, stock code: 02160.HK), a subsidiary of MicroPort Scientific Corporation ("MicroPort®", stock code: 00853.HK), is a leading medical device company in China focusing on research, development and commercialization of innovative transcatheter and surgical solutions for valvular heart disease. The Company’s self-developed second-generation Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation (TAVI) product VitaFlow Liberty™ is the world’s only commercialized motorized retrievable system. In addition to the TAVI products, the Company has also established a strategic R&D pipeline covering Transcatheter Mitral Valve (TMV) therapies, Transcatheter Tricuspid Valve (TTV) therapies, surgical valve products and surgical accessories via independent development and collaboration with global partners. At CardioFlow Medtech, we strive to provide integrated therapeutic solutions for patients with heart valve disease, dedicated to providing high-quality therapeutic solutions to patients and physicians across the globe.
More information is available at www.cardioflowmedtech.com.