Chennuo Medical's President Wei Hongyi: Exporting Original Surgical Innovation Devices to 36 Countries in 3 Years, Refusing to Launch Products Without Innovation
Dragon Kiss, Phoenix Cry, North Star, Qilin Spirit, Mystic Guard, Light Wheel……
This is not the name of a "Guochao" (China-chic) cultural and creative product, but rather the product name of a surgical medical device developed by a healthcare company.
What is the intention behind embedding such rich Chinese elements into the product names of surgical instruments? Wei Hongyi, President of Chennuo Medical, provides the answer.
“In the past, many domestic companies preferred to name their products in English and package themselves with foreign elements. But we want to make it clear that our product is entirely ‘made in China’—a domestically innovated medical device that fills us with great pride.”
Jiangsu Chennuo Medical Instrument Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Chennuo Medical”) was founded in 2015. As a high-tech enterprise, it is dedicated to the professional research and development, manufacturing, and sales of innovative medical devices and consumables, providing comprehensive health management solutions for healthcare professionals and patients. The company aims to deliver superior health services to patients and more robust solutions to physicians.
The company has been committed to promoting innovation in domestic surgical medical device products and has established four major product lines in the field of surgical medical devices,In 2021, 2022, and 2023, overall sales increased by 258%, 286%, and 170% year-on-year, respectively. The products are exported to overseas markets such as Italy, Spain, and Brazil, currently covering 36 countries with over 100 sales agents abroad.。
Mr. Wei Hongyi, President of Chennuo Medical, responsible for corporate strategic planning and overall operational management. Previously held positions at multiple Fortune 500 foreign enterprises and leading domestic medical device companies, with nearly two decades of experience in the medical device industry and holder of multiple invention patents for medical devices.
Prior to 2016, Wei Hongyi worked at a leading domestic cardiovascular enterprise, having cultivated extensive expertise in the cardiovascular industry over many years. After 2016, he transitioned into the surgical field.
In this process, he discovered that core surgical devices such as staplers and trocars do not possess the same high barriers in raw materials and core algorithms as cardiovascular devices. From the perspective of the entire supply and production chains, China has the potential to surpass overseas industry leaders.
At that time, many companies in China’s surgical stapler sector were still stuck in the “imitation phase.” “As a result, some domestic surgical stapler products were commonly referred to as ‘Johnson & Johnson-style’ or ‘Medtronic-style.’” “Although certain products on the market underwent minor ‘tweaks,’ they lacked genuine innovation, raised prices without truly addressing the pain points of physicians and patients, and essentially created ‘pseudo-demand.’” After gaining deep insights into issues such as insufficient innovation momentum in the field of surgical medical devices and the slow progress of domestic substitution, Wei Hongyi developed the idea of starting his own business.
Following this, Wei Hongyi embarked on a nationwide search across China for like-minded individuals committed to the indigenous innovation of surgical medical devices, but he encountered repeated setbacks. He met with numerous engineers, only to find that many would say during their conversations, “I have experience replicating such products before; I can replicate them again.” When Wei raised questions about the innovativeness and practicality of these “tweaked” products, the response he often received was, “You don’t understand; this is how everyone does it.”
This made Wei Hongyi deeply feel the insularity of domestic innovation, further strengthening his determination to participate in promoting the innovation of Chinese surgical instruments.
Wei Hongyi, Executive President of Chennuo Medical
“The one phrase we dislike hearing most is ‘This is how we used to do it’; we only want to know what needs to be done in the future.”. The team is well aware that relying solely on imitation cannot surpass overseas industry leaders; therefore, it is essential to establish a completely new ecosystem for domestically produced medical devices and their market. Consequently, after taking over Chennuo Medical, the team implemented a series of bold and sweeping reforms.
Prior to its acquisition, Jiangsu Chennuo Medical Instrument Co., Ltd. primarily operated as an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) and lacked independent research and development capabilities. Following the takeover by Wei Hongyi and his team in 2020, the company experienced a revitalization."By prioritizing innovative R&D as its top corporate agenda, Chennuo Medical turned losses into profits in just three and a half years."
“Previously, the biggest selling point of Chinese staplers in overseas markets was their low price, which often led to intense price wars during bidding processes.To avoid the internal strife of a “price war,” Chennuo has prioritized product differentiation from the outset.”, Wei Hongyi introduced to VCBeat that before developing products, the company first gains an in-depth understanding of doctors’ actual needs at the point-of-care end-use scenarios, and then reverse-engineers the R&D process.
Discussing Chennuo Medical’s positioning as a “Surgical Solutions Provider,” Wei Hongyi explained that unlike catheter-based minimally invasive procedures, surgical operations often leave an impression of being bloody and gruesome. Chennuo Medical is committed to becoming a partner working side-by-side with physicians, helping patients “no longer fear disease.”
Currently,The company has established a comprehensive portfolio in surgical instruments, encompassing four major segments: stapling and cutting devices, access solutions, energy platforms, and surgical accessory products., focusing on the needs and pain points of clinicians during surgical procedures, and using these as the guide for product innovation.
Access Series: “Xuanhu” Self-smoke-removing Trocar
Notably, none of Jiangsu Chennuo Medical’s four major business segments are focused on a specific product line; rather, theyProvide solutions with clinical application scenarios as the entry pointRegarding this point, Wei Hongyi explained that it was also a consideration to promote product innovation. "For example, our 'Cut-Suture Series' is not directly named the 'Stapler' series because we believe there will be more innovative methods in surgical excision and suturing. If we had named it the 'Stapler' series, our thinking would have been confined by this product."
Wei Hongyi stated,To break free from conventional thinking, I frequently draw insights from non-medical industries.He candidly admitted that he draws considerable inspiration from LEGO products. “Sixty to eighty percent of LEGO components are entirely standardized, with specialized tooling and improvements accounting for only about 15–20%, yet profit margins remain consistently high.” Wei Hongyi believes this approach offers valuable lessons for the medical device industry. “While focusing on physicians, patients, and surgical procedures, companies should also systematically organize, archive, and categorize their existing equipment and components. They should consider how to leverage available tools to develop solutions and foster an ecosystem where products mutually inspire and interconnect with one another. Only in this way can more effective brainstorming take place within a more open R&D platform.”
Guided by these innovative concepts, the Slit Series developed by the company undoubtedly represents the core manifestation of Chennuo Medical’s strategic push into domestically produced innovations.
Currently, the company’s stapler product line covers surgical fields including cardiothoracic surgery, gastrointestinal surgery, hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgery, general surgery, and urology.Driven by innovation, the company’s products have reached China, Europe, the Americas, Asia, and other countries and regions, effectively breaking through the long-standing intellectual property barriers that had allowed U.S. medical device giants to maintain a monopoly in this field.。
Among them,"Longwen" Disposable Manual Endoscopic Linear Cutter StaplerThe effective cutting and stapling length can reach up to 75 mm, enabling en bloc transection of the ascending and transverse colon in a single pass during colon cancer surgery. This avoids the need for two 60-mm or 45-mm staple cartridges, thereby reducing anastomotic bleeding and leakage, minimizing surgical risks and complications, and achieving precise “one-cut” intestinal anastomosis. Additionally, it significantly reduces consumable costs and lowers overall surgical expenses.
Disposable Endoscopic Linear Cutter Stapler “Longwen” 75 Extreme Cutting
Meanwhile, Chennuo Medical has also made strategic moves in the field of electric staplers. Its“Qiling” Intelligent Endoscopic StaplerEquipped with multiple detachable jaw tips, it allows seamless switching across various application scenarios, facilitating access to narrow spaces. The stapler provides visual and auditory feedback on battery level, pressure-holding duration, and firing status, and supports dynamic frequency adjustment. Its new electric drive system delivers higher torque, enabling adaptation to complex conditions such as thick tissues and large-angle tissue configurations. Furthermore, the “Qiling” features a unique center-of-gravity design, developed by integrating best practices from leading global power tool brands, thereby eliminating instability during cutting and clamping.
“Qiling” Intelligent Endoscopic Stapler
Given the relative scarcity of medical resources in lower-tier markets, Jiangsu Chennuo Medical Instrument Co., Ltd. has also developed an economical version of “Qiling.”“Fengming Pro” Electric Stapler, this product eliminates the screen and chip while retaining the core performance advantages of “Qiling,” with costs amounting to only 70% of those of “Qiling.” Thus, in the context of ongoing medical insurance cost containment and surgical cost control, it enables patients to access top-tier products at the lowest possible price.
“Fengming Pro” Electric Stapler and Disposable Optical-Enhanced Endoscopic Linear Cutter Stapling Component “Beichen” Illuminated Cartridge
"Beichen" Disposable Optical-Enhanced Endoscopic Linear Stapler with Illuminated CartridgeIt addresses the issue of visual blind spots encountered by thoracic surgeons during procedures, providing optical compensation while requiring no electrical connection between the battery and the device body. Compatible with both manual and powered staplers, it has successfully entered the hepatobiliary and thoracic surgery markets in Western European countries.”“At the time, when we provided the product to thoracic surgeons at some core hospitals in Germany, they assumed it had been developed by a U.S.- or German-funded company. They were very surprised upon seeing ‘Made in China,’” said Wei Hongyi. “The innovativeness of ‘Beichen’ has been recognized by many overseas experts.”。
To ensure product quality, Chennuo Medical has established an extremely "stringent" defect rejection rate.“Manufacturing a single stapler is easy, but producing tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands while ensuring consistency is no simple feat,” Wei Hongyi explained. Some competitors have a defect rejection rate of around 5%, whereas Chennuo Medical’s rate is as high as 20%. “We must strive to ensure that all defects in the product are eliminated.”。
At the same time, Chennuo has “spared no expense” on product raw materials. Wei Hongyi introduced to VCBeat that most domestic manufacturers currently use nylon injection-molded parts for staple cartridges, which are prone to deformation and may result in mismatch with the anvil base. To ensure product stability, Chennuo Medical’s staple cartridge components are made of LCP (liquid crystal polymer), whose raw material cost is more than ten times that of nylon. According to him,Compared with nylon, LCP exhibits superior flowability and ease of processing and molding, along with excellent thermal stability, heat resistance, and chemical resistance. It effectively eliminates the creep drawback common to most plastics. Its material properties remain unchanged under any environmental conditions.。
"Chennuo Medical places great emphasis on the openness of its R&D platform, highlighting collaboration with physicians.""Our products are designed for physicians, and those best positioned to provide optimal recommendations in clinical settings are also physicians. Our customers are, in effect, our best 'product managers.'",” said Wei Hongyi.
Chennuo Medical is striving to build a novel ecosystem for market collaboration, dedicated to integrating all aspects of production, academia, research, and marketing. This initiative aims to create a closed-loop system encompassing R&D, product commercialization, market promotion, academic follow-up, and procedural innovation. Over the past three years, Chennuo Medical has established three core pillars: “Medical-Engineering R&D Collaboration,” “O2O Medical Services,” and “Channel E Audio-Visual Services.”
In terms of medical-engineering R&D collaboration, Chennuo Medical engages in in-depth discussions with clinicians after the emergence of each product’s prototype, accessories, or even new inspirations.Engage physicians deeply in the product R&D process, collaborate with experts to capture the latest insights and ideas from the frontline, jointly embrace innovation, and incubate high-quality products rooted in clinical practice.。
Wei Hongyi introduced that the “surgical accessory products” business segment of Chennuo Medical is a significant embodiment of collaborative medical-engineering R&D. Typically, clinical feedback or ideas initiate the process, followed by research, testing, and mass production by Chennuo’s R&D department. This approach not only addresses clinical pain points but also establishes an incubation ground for the company’s future innovative products, thereby sustaining its robust innovation capability.
Meanwhile, in the realm of O2O medical services, Jiangsu Chennuo Medical Instrument Co., Ltd. is building an exchange platform that combines online learning with offline demonstrations, providing high-quality resources for academic exchange to physicians at small and medium-sized local hospitals. In collaboration with the Surgery Branch of the China International Exchange and Promotive Association for Medical and Health Care, the Huaxia Medical Forum, and the Chinese Journal of Gastrointestinal Surgery, the company has launched the “Long Xing Jiuzhou, Weichang Lundao” (Dragon Traverses the Nine Provinces: Discourses on Gastrointestinal Surgery) series of academic events, which has completed four seasons. Additionally, Chennuo Medical has introduced its Channel E audio-visual service to support physicians in live surgical teaching, multi-site expert consultations, and patient education, all of which are currently provided to clients free of charge.
“This is our fundamental responsibility as a medical device manufacturer. We hope to help the healthcare industry cultivate more outstanding physicians, enabling them to provide better services to patients,” said Wei Hongyi.As a provider of surgical solutions, we must not only supply the tools to address problems but also deliver comprehensive solution content, thereby helping clinicians better utilize these tools.”。
Regarding the future, Wei Hongyi stated that Chennuo Medical plans to launch two to three new products annually. How is the “newness” of Chennuo’s products defined? Wei Hongyi pointed out that, first, all products must have genuine practical applicability rather than being mere gimmicks; second,Core products must have differentiated highlights and hold at least two to three patents; otherwise, Chennuo will not proceed.“Many people believe that manufacturing tissue clips is highly profitable and have asked us why we do not enter this market. However, as we have not yet identified areas where we can outperform or innovate beyond other manufacturers, we have chosen not to devote excessive resources to this segment for now. Instead, we are focusing our efforts on products where we can deliver superior performance,” Wei Hongyi explained to VCBeat.
Having refined its current four core business segments, Chennuo Medical aims to extend its products and solutions to all surgery-related departments except neurosurgery, and to introduce three to five novel surgical approaches that surpass existing foreign alternatives. We look forward to witnessing the new miracles Chennuo Medical will create in the field of surgical solutions in the future.