Shanghai, China – The third China Brand Day fell on May 10, with its key component, the second edition of the Exposition on China Indigenous Brand (“the Exposition”), being held at Shanghai Exhibition Center from May 10 to 12. As a leading provider of high-end innovative therapeutic solutions in China, Shanghai MicroPort Medical (Group) Co., Ltd. (“MicroPort®”) intensively participated in a series of activities during the China Brand Day in various forms and attended the Exposition to present Firehawk® Rapamycin Target Eluting Coronary Stent System ("Firehawk®"), SoSuperior™ Medial-Stabilized Total Knee Replacement System (“SoSuperior™”) and Rega® Family Implantable Pacemakers (“Rega®”), which attracted huge attention.
In 2017, the State Council of China approved the celebration of the China Brand Day on May 10, as a national campaign to build Chinese Brands was elevated to a status as a state strategy. The second edition of China Brand Day included a series of activities under the theme of “Succession and Innovation”, with over 200 renowned companies possessing indigenous brands attending the Exposition. The Experience Zone of the Exposition was composed of four parts, namely Shanghai Brand Tree, Traditional Brands’ Time Tunnel, Shanghai Brand Theater and Shanghai-style Shopping Street. The Exposition showcased the results of the development of China’s indigenous brands, expanded their reputation and influence, and further shaped their good image.
The MicroPort® booth was located at the Shanghai Brand Tree part of the Exposition, presenting the innovative research results and advanced technologies achieved by MicroPort® in the fields of interventional cardiology, orthopedic joint reconstruction and cardiac rhythm management. As a domestic medical device leader with the integration of R&D, manufacturing and sales, MicroPort® has become a multi-national medical device group consisting of dozens of subsidiary entities, covering 10 major business clusters, including interventional cardiology and structural heart, cardiac rhythm management and electrophysiology, orthopedics, endovascular, neurovascular and neuro science, diabetes and endocrine management, urology and women’s health, general surgery, medical robotics, and artificial intelligence.
Among all the products of MicroPort®, Firehawk® is the third generation drug-eluting stent pulled off by 8 years of independent R&D work. It is the world’s first drug-eluting stent system that features strut in-groove coating and precision target drug-releasing patent technology. Almost 600 grooves are evenly cut in the strut of Firehawk®, which is made of the hair-thin and extremely hard CoCr alloy. The drug is precisely loaded into the micro grooves by applying fully automatic 3D printing to achieve micro groove-filling. Firehawk® combines the merits of bare metal stent and drug-eluting stent, which allows it to achieve the same clinical efficacy with significantly lower drug loading. In September 2018, the results of the Firehawk® TARGET AC European trial were published in the world leading medical journal the Lancet. This is the first time that clinical data from a China manufactured drug eluting stent has been published in the Lancet since its first publication nearly 200 years ago.
SoSuperior™ is the first Chinese-made Medial-Stabilized total knee replacement system that have obtained regulatory approval in China with independent intellectual property. Its design rationale stems from the unique Medial-Pivot Knee of MicroPort® Orthopedics with more than 20 years of successful clinical results and 17 years of clinical follow-up data. SoSuperior™ not only provides a wider range of joint motion and more reliable wear resistance, but also restores the kinematics of normal knees and maintains their stability in motion, which makes the post-operative kinematic features and patients’ gaits more natural and nimble.
The Rega® consist of three series and eight models of products, featuring the unique sleep apnea screening and the advanced SafeR™ physiological pacing therapy. Measuring only 8 cubic centimeters, the products are about 70% of the imported pacemakers in size and more suitable for the relatively thin Chinese patients. The service life of the products spans 10 to 12 years. The inception of Rega® ended the years-long dominance of the imported products in the Chinese pacemaker market. It also kicks off the new quest where China’s high-end medical devices, such as the pacemakers, will be manufactured in the country on an industrial scale to expedite the import substitution. In November 2018, Rega® was exhibited at a national exhibition commemorating the 40th anniversary of China’s Reform and Opening-up.
On the morning of May 11, the inauguration ceremony for Shanghai Council for Brand Development was held during the Exposition. Mr. Kunlin Xu, who is deputy mayor of Shanghai, and Pingjun Liu, who is president of China Council for Brand Development, attended the ceremony. MicroPort® was also an attendee representing the Shanghai brands at the ceremony. In an age of economic globalization, the brand building is in line with supply-side and demand-side upgrades, while the level of brand development embodies the competitiveness of the manufacturing industry and even the whole country in a critical manner. As an institution tasked with studying of Shanghai brands’ hot topics, researches on Shanghai brands and cultivation of Shanghai brands, Shanghai Council for Brand Development is set to become a new force for the building of Shanghai brands.
During the recent years, Shanghai has been building up its strategic advantages to promote the Four Brands, namely Shanghai Service, Shanghai Manufacturing, Shanghai Shopping and Shanghai Culture in the its efforts to create a city of global excellence. In 2018, a total of 53 companies obtained the first batch of Shanghai Brand certificates, which included 50 products and 36 items of service. MicroPort® became the only company in the healthcare sector to receive the certificate for Firehawk®. With a strong focus on independent innovation since its foundation dating to over 20 years ago, MicroPort® has released about 300 products to the market. The products have entered nearly 10,000 hospitals globally, covering Asia Pacific, Europe, and the Americas. Every 8 seconds a patient is being implanted with a MicroPort® manufactured device to save a life, improve the quality of a life, or create a new life. The participation of MicroPort® in a series of activities of China Brand Day fully reflected the continuing recognition MicroPort® obtained from the public. In the future, MicroPort® will continue to adhere to its brand ideology of “the Patient Always Comes First”. MicroPort® integrates the pursuit of details and the perseverance in innovation into its corporate gene, as well as takes a people-centric approach, to provide the global patients with innovative medical solutions that can prolong and transform lives amid Shanghai’s drive for global excellence.