China's Artificial Heart Duopoly: CH Biomedical and CoreHeart Vie for 'First IPO' Title

The artificial heart sector is witnessing a race for IPO positioning.

01

BrioHealth Solutions' IPO Enters a New Phase

BrioHealth Solutions Recently Disclosed Its STAR Market IPOResponse to the First Round of Inquiry Letter, marking that its listing process has entered a critical stage.

BrioHealth Solutions’ journey toward its initial public offering (IPO) on the STAR Market began in 2025,In December of that year, the company completed the regulatory guidance acceptance and filed its IPO prospectus; upon acceptance of the application, it formally entered the inquiry stage in January 2026.. This stage directly determines the success or failure of its IPO, as every detail in the response to the inquiry letter will directly influence the final judgment of the review center.

Based on the latest disclosed information, the Shanghai Stock Exchange focuses onClinical Needs, Phased Achievements, Core Product Performance and Technical Advantages, Commercialization ArrangementsFollow-up inquiries were made regarding 19 major categories of issues, to which BrioHealth Solutions and its intermediaries provided detailed responses one by one.

In its response to the inquiry letter, BrioHealth Solutions updated its full-year 2025 financial results. The revenue performance was notable, surging from RMB 50.0616 million in 2023 to RMB 213 million in 2025, representing a growth of over 300% in two years. However, the net profits attributable to shareholders were -RMB 306 million, -RMB 372 million, and -RMB 374 million, respectively, resulting in a cumulative loss of approximately RMB 1.052 billion during the reporting period.

BrioHealth Solutions stated that the continued losses were mainly due toLong-term focus on the research and development of implantable left ventricular assist systems, and after the product was approved for market launch, it is still in the early stage of commercialization in China. The scale of sales revenue is relatively small and has not yet been able to cover the various costs and expenses incurred in the previous and current periods.。

A researcher at a leading domestic securities firm stated that this situation is a common characteristic of innovative medical device companies in the early stages of commercialization. Losses within a controllable range will not lead to an automatic veto of their IPO. Regulators place greater emphasis on whether the company can clearly explain the rationale behind its losses and when it expects to narrow them. At this stage, a sincere attitude is more likely to garner goodwill and trust than whitewashing the situation.

02

BrioHealth Solutions vs. Core Medical

Who Can Become the “The First Artificial Heart Stock”

PeopleoftenOnly the first place will be remembered, this pattern is observed inCapital MarketsThe same holds true: the halo of being the “first stock” can bring stronger market recognition to a company.

Competing with BrioHealth SolutionsThe title of "the first stock in the artificial heart sector", isCore Medical, established at a later date,Its IPO application was accepted in November 2025, and the Shanghai Stock Exchange issued the first round of review inquiry letters in the same month; it has currently entered the stage of responding to the second round of inquiries., slightly ahead of BrioHealth Solutions in terms of progress.

Compared to Core Medical,BrioHealth Solutions entered this field at an early stageMoreEarly on, it had initially established a high-end image. However, as competitors successively entered the market, BrioHealth Solutions' domestic market share has come under pressure.

The latest response data to the inquiry letter shows that,BrioHealth Solutions’ CH-VAD market share declined from 29% in 2023 to 26.9% in 2024, while Core Medical’s Corheart 6 saw its market share surge significantly from 26.8% to 37.2% over the same period.。

Based on publicly disclosed information, Core Medical focuses more on extreme miniaturization and lightweight design, with a more comprehensive layout of indications in China. Its channel expansion has been rapid recently, demonstrating outstanding commercialization capabilities driven by rapid product volume growth.

However, it is worth noting that BrioHealth Solutions has begun to lay out its overseas market. Its domestic sales are mainly based on the CH-VAD product, while its overseas sales are mainly based on the BrioVAD product. According to the disclosure in the inquiry letter,Overseas revenue from the BrioVAD system reached RMB 97.8044 million in 2025, with its share of total revenue rising to 45.97%.。

Furthermore, its BrioVAD product is undergoing a "head-to-head" randomized controlled clinical trial against Abbott's HeartMate 3 in the United States. Although progressing at a slightly slower pace, Core Medical has also initiated clinical trials in Europe, and the two companies are expected to compete in overseas markets in the future.

The aforementioned researchers stated that overseas expansion is often directly linked to market potential, while maintaining globally leading core technologies is also a key focus of the fifth set of standards. For BrioHealth Solutions and Core Medical, demonstrating their products’ capability to enter international markets is currently a critical task. However, this does not solely determine project success; current technological capabilities and commercial progress are more crucial. After all, international giants like Abbott remain dominant, and the overseas potential of Chinese-made artificial hearts still requires validation over a longer time horizon.

03

Domestic Artificial HeartofThe Eve Before Dawn

Artificial hearts represent a disruptive technological revolution in diagnosis and treatment. However, due to objective constraints such as high R&D investment intensity, prolonged clinical trial cycles, and high clinical entry barriers, their commercial potential has not yet been fully realized in China. The lack of economies of scale further exacerbates profitability challenges for manufacturers, making them increasingly reliant on capital infusion to survive the critical pre-commercialization phase.

Furthermore, although the potential patient population is substantial, the cost of artificial heart therapy remains prohibitively high for most individuals. Moreover, hospitals in China capable of routinely performing artificial heart implantations are not yet widespread. Consequently, the domestic artificial heart market still has a considerable way to go before reaching an inflection point of rapid growth.

However, this also represents a critical opportunity for the rise of domestically produced artificial hearts. An underexplored blue-ocean market has always been the cradle that gives birth to industry giants. Particularly, as Abbott’s HeartMate 3 has temporarily withdrawn from the Chinese market due to various factors, it has left a valuable window of development for local enterprises such as BrioHealth Solutions and Core Medical.

Policy support is also advancing. The National Healthcare Security Administration has issued the "Guidelines for Project Initiation of Medical Service Price Items for Cardiovascular System Categories (Trial)," which uniformly added new“Ventricular Assist Device Implantation Fee” “Ventricular Assist Device Removal Fee” “Cardiac Implantable Device Fitting Fee”wait-for-price items, and proposed to drive down the cost of artificial heart implantation surgery.

Currently, both BrioHealth Solutions and Core Medical are at a critical juncture in their initial public offerings (IPOs) and must directly confront the profitability challenges inherent in the early stages of commercialization. The ultimate question of which company will claim the title of the "first listed artificial heart stock" and thereby secure its ticket to the capital market remains to be seen in the current strategic landscape.ofVictory and DefeatStill Full of Suspense。

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