From OEM to Own Brand: How REJOIN Achieved Domestic Substitution in Sports Medicine Implants Over 14 Years

Sports medicine is increasingly becoming a lucrative business.

According to VCBeat analysis data, in 2021, the global sports medicine market size had reached 7 billion US dollars; moreover, Chen Shi Yi, Chairman of the Sports Medicine Branch of the Chinese Medical Association and Director of the Institute of Sports Medicine at Fudan University, stated that as early as 2020, the market size for implant consumables in sports trauma within China’s sports medicine sector had already exceeded 5 billion yuan in output value.

However, in this market which had already exceeded 5 billion in 2020, overseas companies such as Smith & Nephew and Johnson & Johnson occupy the majority share. According to VCBeat analysis data, due to the long development time of imported products, China's sports medicine market is currently in a state of being monopolized by imports, with domestic manufacturers holding only 7% of the market share. This has spurred many Chinese companies to catch up, and with the support of various complementary policies, a clear trend of domestic substitution has emerged in some niche sectors.

Taking interference screws as an example, domestically produced products that match imported products in terms of performance and quality have already emerged in the market, including those from Rejoin Medical.

Unlike the OEM business at its founding in 2010, Hangzhou Rejoin Medical Group Co., Ltd. now covers implants, instruments, and active devices, and has established a research and development platform for medical-grade implant materials. From the nearly 14-year development journey of this company, VCBeat has also glimpsed the growth trajectory of China's sports medicine enterprises.

Rejoin Medical Platelet-Rich Plasma Preparation System

"Our R&D expenditure accounts for a high percentage every year," said the founder of Rejoin Medical.

The result of investing heavily is that Rejoin Medical Group now boasts a rich product pipeline — in the field of sports medicine implants and devices, the group offers a full range of eight major product categories. These include solutions for shoulder joints, knee joint cruciate ligament tears, meniscus tears/defects, hip joints, hand and wrist joints, elbow joints, as well as soft tissue solutions for foot and ankle joints, forming a relatively comprehensive sports medicine product portfolio. According to the company, Hangzhou Rejoin Medical Group Co., Ltd. has obtained nearly 20 Class III and Class II registration certificates so far, with almost all products also receiving CE certification.

In terms of active devices, Rejoin Medical has also established three major platforms: a visual imaging technology platform, a radiofrequency plasma capability platform, and a surgical power platform. Based on these, the company has developed an imaging system, a radiofrequency plasma ablation system, a powered shaving system, and an irrigation infusion system.

When talking about the reason for such a layout, the founder explained in the interview: "Good collaboration between implants, instruments, and active devices can bring better product experiences to doctors and patients. Specifically, it can make doctors' operations easier and patients' recovery faster."

At the same time, from tools, implants to equipment, from Class II devices to Class III devices, and then to active devices, progressing from easy to difficult, a rich product pipeline has invisibly deepened the moat of Hangzhou Rejoin Medical Group Co., Ltd.

However, it needs to be pointed out that if the benign collaboration between product systems constitutes the first moat of Hangzhou Rejoin Medical Group Co., Ltd., then the forward-looking R&D layout can be called the second "invisible moat" of Rejoin Medical.

According to the founder, one of Rejoin Medical's product strategies is to "always aim for the next blue ocean market, rather than competing fiercely in established red ocean markets."

For example, although Rejoin Medical's active device platform was launched in 2023, the company had already started laying the groundwork for active products as early as 2015. This product development logic is reflected in almost every product pipeline of Hangzhou Rejoin Medical Group Co., Ltd.

And such forward-thinking is also reflected in a significant shift in Rejoin Medical's positioning.

Let's turn back the clock to 2010, when Rejoin Medical's product portfolio was not as rich and diverse as it is today. Instead, it mainly provided OEM services for foreign enterprises such as Zimmer.

When talking about the reasons behind this, the founder of Rejoin Medical Group expressed endless emotions: "At that time, most domestic companies were competing fiercely in the mid-to-low-end market, while the mid-to-high-end market was mostly dominated by a few multinational giants. Although we were reluctant to accept this reality, the key technologies were all in the hands of multinational corporations. Therefore, we had no choice but to start with OEM and then gradually learn relevant experiences from them."

Therefore, in the early stages of the company, the main business of Rejoin Medical was to provide OEM services for orthopedic multinational giants. However, it was precisely this "unavoidable" experience that allowed Rejoin Medical to accumulate a wealth of experience in manufacturing processes, thereby creating what the founder refers to as the company's third moat—stable and reliable product quality.

It is reported that Rejoin Medical not only complies with the complete quality systems and product registrations of multiple certifications such as FDA, NMPA, and CE, but has also successfully passed the audits and surprise inspections of NMPA, FDA, and others multiple times. Moreover, since the main purpose of providing OEM services to overseas enterprises is to accumulate relevant experience, this means that from the very beginning, what Hangzhou Rejoin Medical Group Co., Ltd. wanted to do most was not OEM.

Sure enough, four years after its establishment, Rejoin Medical announced a transformation—from an OEM manufacturer to a high-tech enterprise engaged in the research and development, production, and sales of sports medicine and minimally invasive orthopedic medical devices. This shift led to the rich product pipeline mentioned earlier.

This transformation is yet another concrete manifestation of Rejoin Medical Group's forward-thinking mindset. In recent years, as the trends of domestic substitution and independent innovation have emerged, alongside the growing clarity and intensity of the concept of "mastering core technologies and achieving self-sufficiency," an increasing number of companies have embarked on the path of transformation from contract manufacturing to creating their own brands. Hangzhou Rejoin Medical Group Co., Ltd. was one of the earlier enterprises to undergo this transition.

Not only that, but in this transformation, Rejoin Medical Group also underwent a major important change.

This transformation involves looking towards the global market and embarking on an international journey. This also echoes across time with the increasingly strong trend of China's medical industry expanding overseas in recent years.

It is reported that, as of now, Rejoin Medical's sales and service network has covered more than 400 regions and over 80 countries across Europe, the Americas, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa. The company has also established training centers in five major global regions, with sub-training institutions set up in key countries within each region.

Not only that, according to previous revelations by the founder of Rejoin Medical, the core products of Rejoin Medical have now obtained CE registration and established cooperative relationships with key international academic organizations. In the future, international sales will account for 50% of Rejoin Medical’s total sales. Internationalization has become an indispensable part of Rejoin Medical's current and future development.

But this does not mean that Rejoin Medical Group "neglects" the domestic market. On the contrary, in the eyes of its founder, the domestic market also plays a pivotal role in the development of Rejoin Medical Group. Moreover, Rejoin Medical Group believes that it needs to build a platform for communication between doctors from China and abroad, helping Chinese doctors go global and engage in dialogue with world-class experts.

In response, Rejoin Medical not only established the Rejoin Academy in China to train doctors while strengthening communication with them, aiding in the upgrading and iteration of existing products and the development of new ones, but also plans to use China as a base to provide customized, global academic exchange platforms for sports medicine doctors from China and internationally. Additionally, it will bring together lecturers and students from home and abroad to build the Rejoin Academic Platform, organize domestic and international visiting scholar programs, and arrange academic roadshows by well-known experts from China and overseas as part of its communication activities.

"As a company implementing an internationalization strategy, we always have a strong sense of mission to help Chinese sports medicine go global. This is something we are very determined to do and will not stop because of difficulties," the founder said.