Madesun Medical's Precision Contact Laser Surgical Systems Make Global Debut with Exports to the U.S. and India

On December 10, 2023, the inaugural export ceremony for high-end medical equipment from Jiangxi Medex Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Medex”) was grandly held in Xinfeng County, Ganzhou City, Jiangxi Province. A total of six units of Medex’s self-developed high-end medical equipment, primarily featuring the third-generation contact semiconductor laser therapy system LaserPro 980, were exported, with four units shipped to the United States and two to India.

Zhu Weiguo, First-Level Inspector of the Jiangxi Provincial Health Commission; Yang Xiaomei, Party Secretary and Director of the Ganzhou Municipal Bureau of Commerce; Wen Yansong, Chairman of the Xinfeng County Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC); Yang Yan, Member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Xinfeng County Committee, Deputy County Mayor, and Secretary of the Party Working Committee of the High-Tech Zone; Lin Rong, Deputy County Mayor of the Xinfeng County People's Government; principal heads of competent authorities and financial institutions; and Huang Renzhu, Founder of Medex.and other leaders attended.

Zhu Weiguo, First-Level Inspector of the Jiangxi Provincial Health CommissionIt was stated that in recent years, the Xinfeng County Party Committee and County Government have attached great importance to the development of the biopharmaceutical industry, positioning it as a key pillar for county-level economic growth. The industry has shown vigorous momentum, accumulating strong impetus for establishing Xinfeng County as a new highland for the development of the biopharmaceutical and big health industries. The export of high-end medical equipment by Jiangxi Medex Technology Co., Ltd. is a vivid microcosm of Xinfeng County’s efforts to strengthen project support, highlight innovation-driven development, and leverage Medex’s innovative empowerment to win over international markets.

Zhu Weiguo, First-Level Inspector of the Health Commission of Jiangxi Province

Yang Yan, Member of the Standing Committee of the Xinfeng County Party Committee, Deputy County Mayor, and Secretary of the Party Working Committee of the High-Tech ZoneIt was stated that Jiangxi Medex Technology Co., Ltd. has written an inspiring story of Xinfeng enterprises’ courage to venture and excellence in innovation through pragmatic and innovative efforts. This export ceremony marks a promising start to multi-faceted, practical cooperation between the company and overseas clients. The Xinfeng County Committee of the Communist Party of China and the County People’s Government will adhere to providing round-the-clock, end-to-end, and comprehensive services, implementing top-level coordination, execution, and promotion, fully supporting Jiangxi Medex in increasing R&D investment and expanding market reach, thereby ensuring robust support for the enterprise.

Yang Yan, Member of the Standing Committee of the Xinfeng County Party Committee, Deputy County Mayor, and Secretary of the Party Working Committee of the High-Tech Zone

Huang Renzhu, Founder of MedexIt was stated that, building upon the full acquisition of PhotoMedex, Inc.’s surgical semiconductor laser product line and all related intellectual property and patented technologies in 2016, the company carried out localized adaptation and innovation, thereby filling the gap in China’s field of contact laser therapy. This first export of Medex’s high-end medical equipment marks the company’s initial step into the international market and the beginning of its journey to build an internationally renowned brand. As a promoter of “sculpture-like” precision surgery, Medex will leverage this opportunity to benefit more countries and provide advanced laser treatment solutions for surgeons and patients worldwide.

Huang Renzhu, Founder of Medex

Pappu Sarkar, Head of International Business at MedexIt was stated that this export ceremony is not only a symbol of Medex’s achievements but also the beginning of a new era for the company. Medex has always firmly believed that innovation is the driving force behind corporate development, and has consistently upheld the philosophy of “earning doctors’ trust through precise treatment technologies and ensuring patients’ peace of mind with safe treatment tools.” What we are exporting is not just high-end medical equipment, but also the company’s core values.

Pappu Sarkar, Head of International Business at Medex

Medical lasers are increasingly accepted by physicians and patients due to their unique advantages, such as minimal invasiveness, reduced bleeding, and faster recovery. They are gradually replacing traditional treatment methods for certain conditions and capturing a growing market share. Taking surgical procedures as an example, medical lasers offer advantages over traditional scalpels and saws, including minimal tissue trauma, greater precision, superior hemostasis, and reduced postoperative pain.

According to data from the U.S. research firm Fortune Business Insights, the global market size for medical lasers was approximately USD 4.15 billion (around RMB 26.5 billion) in 2021, with a projected compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16.8% over the next eight years. Within the field of laser medicine, minimally invasive surgeries account for the largest market share at approximately 57.7%, followed by laser aesthetics at around 34.8%. Dental lasers and other surgical applications collectively constitute less than 10% of the market.

Current laser therapies primarily utilize non-contact lasers. Non-contact lasers function by directing a laser beam onto tissue from a certain distance to repair or treat pathological tissues. Due to the lack of direct contact with the tissue, it is difficult to precisely control the irradiation site, angle, distance, and duration. The cutting precision of non-contact lasers ranges from 1.0 to 4.4 mm, and thermal damage to surrounding tissues increases significantly with depth.^[1]Moreover, when laser radiation is applied to tissue, it generates strong backward diffuse scattering, which can easily reflect into non-target areas, causing accidental exposure and injury.

During surgery, the vaporization of tissue and blood generates significant heat, which can easily damage the fiber optic tip, leading to energy loss and compromised laser output. Additionally, this process produces substantial smoke, obscuring the surgical field and increasing surgical risks. Furthermore, single-wavelength lasers often struggle to achieve effective coagulation and hemostasis while maintaining optimal cutting and vaporization performance. Consequently, the application of lasers in surgical procedures remains limited to select cases.

As surgical medicine trends toward minimally invasive and precise approaches, there is an urgent clinical need for safe, efficient laser solutions capable of “meticulous precision.”

Contact lasers effectively address this need. By directly contacting the patient’s skin, contact lasers shorten the distance between the target tissue and the laser source, thereby enhancing precision and significantly reducing laser reflection and energy loss at the skin surface. Compared with non-contact lasers that operate at a distance, contact lasers deliver direct and focused energy, offering advantages such as high precision, superior comfort, high power density, clear visualization, enhanced safety, and high stability. They enable simultaneous cutting and hemostasis with excellent hemostatic efficacy.

In 2016, after acquiring the entire product line, intellectual property rights, and patented technologies of PhotoMedex’s surgical semiconductor laser series in the United States through a wholly-owned acquisition, Medex did not rest on its laurels. Instead, “standing on the shoulders of giants,” it focused on the continuous clinical demands in China, leveraged its vast patient base and manufacturing advantages, and localized and innovated international advanced technologies. This initiative launched the domestication process for contact-type semiconductor laser systems, ultimately leading to the independent development of the third-generation contact-type semiconductor laser treatment system, LaserPro 980.

LaserPro980 Third-Generation Contact Semiconductor Laser Therapy System

The third-generation contact semiconductor laser treatment system, LaserPro 980, enables real-time, adjustable output of wavelength and laser power. It effectively integrates the laser with a sapphire tip to convert light energy into thermal energy, combining cutting, ablation, coagulation, and vaporization functions in one device for rapid and efficient vaporization and ablation of diseased tissue. By leveraging its proprietary WCE (Wavelength Conversion Effect) technology and an optimized tip design, the system achieves real-time, adjustable laser power output. This creates a thermal gradient with temperature gradually decreasing from the tip to the shank, allowing simultaneous cutting and hemostasis without the need for instrument exchange during surgery.

By adjusting the power density, irradiation time, blade tip geometry, and the mode of contact between the blade tip and tissue, the operator can modulate tissue temperature to control the shape and extent of incision. The cutting precision reaches 0.1–0.2 mm, with thermal damage to surrounding tissues limited to within 0.5 mm, thereby effectively protecting adjacent blood vessels and critical neural structures.

Since the contact laser scalpel operates through thermal energy, it avoids the mechanical compression and traction injuries to neural tissue commonly caused by conventional surgical instruments. Its tip is made of non-metallic sapphire material, ensuring that no electrical current passes through the patient’s body during use. This prevents irritation or damage to surrounding blood vessels and nerves, eliminates electronic interference with intraoperative electrophysiological monitoring, and enables efficient operation in both wet and dry environments. It is suitable not only for neurosurgery and other procedures requiring precise manipulation but also for applications in respiratory medicine, gastroenterology, urology, otolaryngology, gynecology, orthopedics, general surgery, and medical aesthetics.

Pappu Sarkar, Head of International Business at Medex, told VCBeat that the third-generation contact semiconductor laser treatment system, LaserPro 980, has undergone five innovations compared to previous products in the same series.

First, an independent cooling system,Free from the previous limitation of using only CO₂ cooling, it supports three cooling methods—CO₂, air, and water—without the need to replace filter assemblies, making daily operation and maintenance more convenient.

Second, we independently developed a fiber-optic system with an outer diameter as small as 0.4 mm, enabling compatibility with endoscopes to facilitate a wider range of surgical procedures.

Third, through close collaboration with clinical experts, we have developed multi-angle surgical tips suitable for more complex procedures. The company currently offers dozens of tip models, which can handle extensive, broad-area operations as well as enable precise, scalpel-like maneuvering in confined spaces.For example, conical tips can be used for precise tissue cutting, backward-facing tips can cut lesions with curved angles, and bullet-shaped tips can be used for coagulation and hemostasis.

Fourth, after the blade tip is removed, the system can also be used as a non-contact laser, offering broad clinical applications.

Fifth, thanks to semiconductor lasers, which not only boast the highest energy conversion efficiency,It is also compatible with continuous and pulsed output modes, offering greater convenience.

The Student Surpasses the Master. Although contact laser therapy technology originated in the United States, it has yielded even more remarkable achievements in China’s fertile ground for innovation.

Medex Returns to Overseas Markets with High-End Medical Equipment Led by Its Third-Generation Contact Semiconductor Laser Therapy System: What Are the Competitive Advantages? Founder Huang Renzhu Cites Four Key Areas.

First, Medex boasts a global team that has achieved deep integration of industry, academia, research, and clinical practice.The company boasts a global team and has established collaborations with universities and hospitals both in China and abroad, creating an integrated ecosystem spanning industry, academia, research, and clinical practice. This approach not only sustains continuous R&D vitality but also closely aligns with clinical needs, bridging the “last mile” to clinical application through technology transfer. Building on the mature market adoption of its third-generation products, the company’s R&D team has integrated new technologies—such as artificial intelligence, voice interaction, intelligent recognition, and remote collaboration—into its fourth-generation products, which have already completed development and are expected to launch in the first quarter of 2024.

Second, it has been extensively validated in clinical applications within China and has received high praise from numerous experts.Medex’s third-generation contact semiconductor laser treatment system obtained the only Class III medical device registration certificate in China in September 2021 that covers nine major clinical departments. It has been clinically applied in numerous top-tier tertiary hospitals across China, including Beijing Tiantan Hospital, PLA General Hospital (301 Hospital), China-Japan Friendship Hospital, Tsinghua Changgung Hospital, Shanghai Changhai Hospital, Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital, Shanghai East Hospital, Nanfang Hospital of Guangzhou, The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, and West China Hospital, receiving consistent acclaim from clinical experts.

Professor Zhang Junting, acclaimed as “Asia’s No. 1 Surgeon,” once evaluated Medex Technology’s contact laser scalpel as follows: “The surgery I perform most frequently with the contact laser scalpel is resection of gangliocytomas in the brainstem, which have a relatively low incidence. Gangliocytomas located in the medulla oblongata are firm in texture, and suction devices yield limited efficacy. Alternatives such as radiofrequency knives, electromagnetic knives, and ultrasonic aspirators are unsuitable due to their propensity for causing substantial tissue damage. In contrast, the contact laser scalpel enables resection to an optimal extent while minimizing underlying tissue injury. Although the laser scalpel is merely a tool, it plays a significant role in accelerating the resection of hard or calcified lesions and ensuring uninterrupted intraoperative electrophysiological neuromonitoring throughout the procedure.”^[2]

Furthermore, contact laser therapy technology originated in the United States, where the market for contact laser therapy systems is mature with high penetration rates. Leveraging the sales channel network established through previous acquisitions, Medex can penetrate overseas markets more rapidly.

Furthermore, Medex has signed sales agency agreements in countries such as the United States and India, established collaborations with benchmark medical institutions including Children’s National Hospital and the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary, and reached cooperation intentions with multiple overseas hospitals.

Since its establishment in 2016, Medex has been committed to becoming a promoter of “sculpting-style” precision surgery and creating comprehensive surgical solutions based on its contact laser systems. In addition to the third-generation contact semiconductor laser treatment system currently being launched overseas, the company has also developed and reserved a portfolio of high-end medical devices, including semiconductor laser treatment systems, powered surgical systems, dual-wavelength laser surgical systems, multifunctional integrated surgical systems, and surgical robots, providing high-quality solutions for contact-based precision surgical treatments.

Against the backdrop of global population aging, disease pathogenesis is becoming increasingly diverse and complex, making contact laser therapy systems a promising prospect for the future.

References:

[1]Jallo GI，Korhbauer KF，Eestein FJ. Contact lase microsugery[J]. Childs Nerv Syst，2022

[2] Neurosurgery Frontier “Zhang Junting’s Commentary: Advantages of Contact Laser Scalpels in Neurosurgical Surgery – Presented by the Neurosurgery Team of Nanfang Hospital”