Lu Chengjie: Empowering More Heart Failure Patients to Reclaim Healthy and Joyful Lives

Xinhua News Agency, Boao, December 3 (Liu Ying) -- On December 3, the 2023 Health Future Forum hosted by Xinhua News Agency was held in Boao, Hainan. With the theme of "Healthy China, Innovation Empowerment," the forum brought together more than a hundred guests, including government leaders, renowned experts and scholars, and well-known entrepreneurs, to explore innovations and practices in the health field and contribute to the advancement of the health industry and the construction of Healthy China.

The rapid and continuous technological innovations provide inexhaustible momentum for the development and transformation of healthcare. How can we leverage technological, conceptual, and model innovations to improve people's health and thereby contribute to the construction of Healthy China?

During the themed dialogue session, Lu Chengjie, President of China Region at BrioHealth Solutions, shared his understanding and practice of innovation from three dimensions: technology, concept, and model.

Lu Chengjie stated that the ventricular assist device (also known as VAD, or "artificial heart") is highly complex, integrating a large number of cutting-edge technologies from the fields of mechanics, electronics, software control, fluid dynamics, and biomedical engineering, as well as advanced international experience in medical device development management and manufacturing. It is also one of the symbols representing a country’s high-end medical device technological level. As a pioneer in artificial heart research in China, after more than a decade of development, BrioHealth Solutions' independently developed fully magnetically levitated artificial heart was the first to be approved for marketing in China. It has complete independent intellectual property rights and reaches internationally leading levels in key performance indicators such as blood compatibility, implant invasiveness, infection prevention, and reliability.

Chengjie Lu, President of China Region, BrioHealth Solutions

"Unlike traditional medical devices, artificial hearts are not just a simple treatment but require health management throughout the entire life cycle. Especially as it enters the application field, it brings about innovation in models," said Lu Chengjie.

据统计，全球约有2600万心衰患者，中国心力衰竭患者人数也超千万，且发病率仍在逐年增加，人工心脏已逐渐成为治疗终末期心衰的重要手段。但人工心脏也因其高昂的价格，让很多患者“望而却步”。

"One of our patients has survived for more than six years with an artificial heart and can work, exercise, and live like a normal person. Without it, they could lose their life at any moment," said Lu Chengjie. He added that currently, people's aspirations for a better life are stronger than ever, and their needs are increasingly diverse. The lives of patients with chronic heart failure are very painful. Hopefully, as the technology of artificial hearts continues to improve and becomes widely applied on a large scale, costs will be reduced, and the accessibility of artificial hearts will increase. This way, more heart failure patients and their families can "regain" a healthy and joyful life.

The 2023 China Entrepreneurs Boao Forum, lasting for four days, was jointly hosted by Xinhua News Agency, the People's Government of Hainan Province, and the China Council for Brand Development, and organized by the Xinhua News Agency Brand Office, Xinhuanet Co., Ltd., and the Hainan Provincial Committee of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade. As an important part of the China Entrepreneurs Boao Forum series of events, the Health Future Forum has been successfully held for five sessions since its establishment in 2018, drawing extensive attention from all sectors of society and becoming a significant brand event in the health industry.