Kossel Medical and Medtronic Forge Strategic Partnership to Optimize Complex Coronary Intervention Solutions in China

(Source: Shanghai Observer)

Kossel Medtech (Suzhou) Co., Ltd. and Medtronic (Shanghai) Management Co., Ltd. officially reached an in-depth strategic cooperation yesterday, marking a solid step for both parties in optimizing China's complex coronary intervention solutions. In the future, the two sides will combine their core strengths to jointly promote the popularization and promotion of the innovative product, Seledora Coronary Cutting Balloon Dilatation Catheter, in China.

Adequate pre-treatment is a precondition for the successful treatment of complex coronary artery lesions. When non-compliant balloons fail to adequately dilate the lesion, blindly applying high pressure increases the risk of vascular dissection and perforation. In such cases, scoring balloons can serve as an advanced strategy. The updated "Chinese Expert Consensus on Diagnosis and Treatment of Coronary Artery Calcified Lesions (2021 Edition)," released in 2021, explicitly recommends the use of scoring balloons for pre-treatment of mild to moderate calcified lesions, further pre-treatment after rotational atherectomy, and the crawling technique within calcified lesions.

The product of the cooperation between Medtronic and Kossel is an innovative cutting balloon that received NMPA approval for marketing on March 14, 2025 — the Seledora Coronary Cutting Balloon Dilatation Catheter. With the accumulation of more evidence-based medical data in the future, the Seledora Coronary Cutting Balloon will undoubtedly play a strong role in optimizing comprehensive solutions for complex coronary interventions.

At the signing ceremony, Gu Yushao, Global Senior Vice President of Medtronic and President of Greater China, stated that over the past few decades, China's healthcare system has undergone profound changes—from meeting basic needs to addressing chronic and complex diseases, and from solving the issue of "availability" to pursuing "quality, stability, and sustainability." During this period, healthcare demands have continued to upgrade, clinical technologies have rapidly advanced, and the healthcare system has increasingly emphasized long-term value rather than single-point innovation. These developments have made China one of the most challenging and valuable environments for healthcare innovation globally. Medtronic believes that in the rapidly evolving healthcare landscape, China should not "replicate global experiences" but instead reinterpret the innovation pathway with a local focus, becoming a key player in co-defining solutions. The goal is to bring in technologies and ensure they truly integrate into Chinese clinical practice, building a complete and sustainable healthcare solution system with Chinese characteristics.

Kossel Medtech Founder and CEO Hu Qing stated that in clinical practice, coronary interventionists encounter a large number of complex and challenging cases. These cases have long lacked appropriate, stable, and scalable solutions, which is the driving force behind the company's continuous research and development. As innovation continues to advance, we are increasingly discovering that truly valuable innovation cannot merely stop at "being proven feasible." It also needs to be used more standardly, understood more broadly, and ultimately validated over the long term in the real world. This means that innovation cannot just be a single breakthrough but must be integrated into a more mature and stable system. To this end, "collaborative creation" has become an inevitable choice for Kossel as it moves into the next phase.

Jia Tao, Vice President of Medtronic's Coronary and Renal Denervation Business Operations in China, stated that with the expansion of the patient population and the increasing complexity of lesions, the combined use of multiple devices and precision treatment are becoming a clinical routine in coronary intervention diagnosis and treatment. This indicates that China’s coronary field has entered a new phase that demands higher overall capabilities. A single technology can no longer meet the diverse needs of coronary diagnosis and treatment. The development of the coronary field requires more complementary technical pathways, solutions closer to real clinical scenarios, and a more stable and sustainable application system. Against this industry backdrop, the importance of local innovation becomes even more prominent. To this end, Medtronic has initiated an innovative collaboration with Kossel, a local company closer to clinical settings, integrating different strengths to create a positive interaction between global experience and Chinese practice.

Kossel Medtech's Executive President, Pan Xingzhen, revealed that the development of the Seledora Coronary Artery Cutting Balloon Dilation Catheter was not achieved overnight. From design verification and engineering optimization to repeated testing and iteration, the R&D team focused on a strict quality system and product consistency, stable and predictable production and supply assurance, as well as ongoing technical support capabilities for clinical use scenarios. Extensive foundational and solid work was done on product performance, stability, and controllability.

For the industry ecosystem, this collaboration sets a business cooperation model that is "patient-centered and clinically value-oriented," abandoning the purely market-competition mode to form a new paradigm of complementary strengths and collaborative mutual support. This stimulates more innovative vitality within enterprises and ultimately drives the development of China's complex coronary intervention sector towards higher quality and greater sustainability.

Original Title: "Kossel Medtech and Medtronic Deepen Strategic Cooperation, Focus on Optimizing Comprehensive Solutions for Complex Coronary Interventions in China"

Column Editor: Rong Bing

Source: Author: Tang Weijie, Wen Hui Bao