The Way of Integration and Specialization: Breaking Free from Involution in the Panvascular Medical Device Industry and Its Co-evolutionary Trajectory

Recently, I have been exchanging ideas with many industry friends on the topic of the internal competition and countermeasures in the泛vascular medical device industry. In the process, everyone shares numerous industry stories. I will share with you what I have recently seen and heard, offering a glimpse into the situation. Please feel free to offer your critiques and corrections for any shortcomings.

Major events in the innovation and development of medical devices occur every year, with an especially high frequency in recent years. In May 2025 in Shanghai, INT Medical acquired 51.7% of Hangzhou Weiqiang Medical's equity for 324 million yuan. Behind this transaction lies INT Medical’s bold move against the tide during a challenging period—though this is merely one ripple in the wave of "strategic alliances and consolidations" sweeping through the泛血管 (pan-vascular) medical device industry. From Stryker’s $4.9 billion acquisition of Inari Medical to Mindray Medical’s 6.65 billion yuan takeover of惠泰医疗 (Huitai Medical), and further to健适医疗 (Jian Shi Medical) selling JC Medical and Edwards Lifesciences, this industry—born from the modern medical technology revolution—is undergoing a dramatic restructuring following the historical rhythm of "unity after division, and division after unity," as depicted in *Romance of the Three Kingdoms*. Coincidentally, the 2025 Nobel Prize in Economics, awarded for the theory of "Technology Diffusion and Innovation Blockages in Global Value Chains," provides a modern annotation spanning millennia for this geographically and technologically intertwined industrial transformation.

The story of pan-vascular medical devices begins with the exploration of minimally invasive treatments for vascular diseases — it is not a single product but rather a "cluster of devices" covering three major fields: cardiovascular, cerebrovascular, and peripheral vascular. From guide wires to vascular interventional robots, these tools together form the "armory" for tackling pan-vascular diseases. In the first half of 2025, among the 45 innovative medical devices approved by the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA), nearly half came from this field, marking an 87.5% year-on-year increase. Meanwhile, the market size of China’s peripheral vascular equipment is set to exceed approximately 15 billion yuan in the same year, rapidly advancing towards the target of 30 billion yuan by 2030.

From China to the world, the reshaping of the global industrial landscape has seen multinational giants employing the art of "vertical and horizontal alliances" as a model strategy, using coalition power to strengthen technological barriers. In early 2025, two cross-border deals shocked the industry: in January,Medtronic and Contego MedicalReach an exclusive distribution agreement in the United States, locking in the core technology of carotid artery stents; February,Stryker Acquires Inari Medical for $4.9 Billion, bringing the ClotTriever system for venous thromboembolism (VTE) treatment under its wing.

And in September,Siemens Healthineers and StrykerThe strategic cooperation between Siemens Healthineers and Stryker is particularly ingenious — their collaboration in the field of robotic systems for neurovascular interventional surgery represents a perfect example of complementary strengths, akin to the historical "Harmony of the General and the Chancellor." This partnership fuses Siemens' century-long expertise in robotics and image-guided therapy with Stryker's profound experience in neurovascular intervention technologies. Together, they are developing advanced robotic systems capable of performing surgeries for conditions such as stroke and cerebral aneurysms. “This is not merely about piecing together technologies; it’s about creating a new ecosystem that integrates imaging guidance, robotics, and interventional devices. The ‘alliance’ isn’t just about adding resources but achieving synergy.” This collaboration spans the entire chain, including the design of robotic systems, integration of access devices, and optimization of navigation imaging, with the ultimate goal of enhancing precision in the interventional treatment of complex cerebrovascular diseases.

Boston Scientific to Acquire Bolt Medical for Up to $664 Million in Early 2025, acquiring core patents for the latter's peripheral vascular and digestive system interventional devices. "We are not buying products, but rather a five-year technological moat." The research and development cycle in the pan-vascular field lasts 5 to 8 years, with investments often reaching hundreds of millions. Instead of reinventing the wheel, it is better to quickly fill the gap through a "united front" strategy, which also sets the stage for strategic choices by domestic companies in the future.

Teleflex Acquires BIOTRONIK's Vascular Intervention Business:On March 1, 2025, Teleflex announced the acquisition of BIOTRONIK's vascular intervention business. The transaction is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2025. This acquisition will enable Teleflex to obtain BIOTRONIK's technologies and product portfolio in the vascular intervention field, further expanding its market share in the pan-vascular sector.

As international giants "form alliances" in the global market, Chinese enterprises are undergoing a transformation "from division to integration," demonstrating strategic wisdom in business warfare by dissecting niche markets with the precision of "a butcher carving an ox" and consolidating resources through strategies akin to "uniting different parties."

Mindray Acquires INT Medical:Mindray's Story: A Representative CaseMindray, a company known for its in vitro diagnostic equipment, has long left a "blank space" in the high-value cardiovascular consumables sector. On January 28, 2024, Mindray announced the acquisition of control over HT Medical, holding a combined 24.61% stake through Shenmai Control and Zhuhai Tongsheng, making it the actual controlling shareholder. This acquisition reflects Mindray's strong confidence in the development potential of the cardiovascular sector, significantly expanding its addressable market space. HT Medical is a leading player in China’s cardiovascular interventional market, boasting advanced technological reserves, R&D capabilities in consumable raw materials, a robust supply chain system, and cutting-edge production processes. Its electrophysiology electrode catheters and radiofrequency ablation electrode catheters were the first domestically produced products approved in China, showcasing significant technological and brand advantages. This acquisition marks Mindray's official entry into the cardiovascular market, greatly enhancing the company’s long-term addressable market potential and ensuring sustained rapid growth in its medium to long-term performance.

INT Medical Acquires Hangzhou Weiqiang Medical:INT Medical’s "Path of Division and Integration" is strategic. The predecessor, Kangdelai Medical Devices, went public in 2019 and began its "strategic split" layout, with 22 subsidiaries each focusing on the R&D, production, and sales of innovative products in fields such as cardiology, peripheral, neurology, orthopedics, urology, ENT, and non-invasive treatment using high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU). It has successively received numerous honors including being named a national specialized and new "little giant" enterprise, a national intellectual property advantage enterprise, a Shanghai enterprise technology center, and a Shanghai patent demonstration enterprise. With a strategy akin to "Tian Ji's horse racing," it focuses on specialization within niche markets, steadily excelling in areas of expertise. In May 2025, INT Medical acquired Weiqiang Medical. Shanghai INT Medical Instruments Co., Ltd. partnered with a special M&A fund under Shanghai Science and Technology Venture Capital Co., Ltd. to officially sign an equity acquisition agreement with relevant shareholders of Hangzhou Weiqiang Medical Technology Co., Ltd. According to the agreement, INT Medical will pay approximately 324 million RMB to acquire a 51.70% controlling stake in Weiqiang Medical, while the Shanghai Sci-Tech Investment Fund will acquire the remaining 30.13% equity. Weiqiang Medical specializes in the R&D, manufacturing, sales, and technical support of peripheral vascular interventional medical devices, with core product lines including aortic stent graft systems, peripheral vascular intervention devices, and venous intervention devices. This acquisition will further enhance INT Medical’s product portfolio in the vascular intervention field and strengthen its competitiveness in the high-end medical device market. Subsequently, INT Medical also collaborated with Denervate and堃博生物to form a complementary synergy of "high-end products + mature supply chain channels," making a counter-current leap amid the industry downturn.

Grape Medical Acquires Nantong Huakang and Collaborates with South Korean Company:Genius Medical Completes Acquisition of Nantong Huakang, a Domestic Suture Company, and Announces Partnership with Korean Company Sejong Medical to Become the Exclusive Distributor of Sejong's Trocar Products in China. Previously, Genius successfully integrated "Ruiqi Surgical," a leading domestic minimally invasive surgical device company whose main products include staplers and energy devices (ultrasonic scalpels). This series of acquisitions and partnerships marks Genius Medical’s strategic layout in the field of minimally invasive surgery.

Genius Medical collaborates with Korea's LivsMed:Emerging medical technology company Genius Medical announced an exclusive business agency partnership with South Korean company LivsMed: Genius will introduce LivsMed's innovative products to China and Singapore, bringing "new tools" to minimally invasive surgeries in both countries. Founded in 2011, LivsMed is a medical company specializing in the research, development, and production of endoscopic instruments. Its innovatively developed "Fully Articulated Hand-Controlled Endoscopic Robotic Arm" won the 2019 Red Dot Design Award.

Gynex Medical and Shockwave Medical Form Joint Venture:Genius Medical and Nasdaq-listed Shockwave Medical announced that the two parties are about to establish a joint venture controlled by Genius, to introduce the "Intravascular Lithotripsy" calcification treatment technology (IVL) into China. On the basis of establishing the joint venture, Genius will set up a production line in China for the transformation and manufacturing of Shockwave’s products. Meanwhile, Genius will also act as the exclusive distributor of Shockwave in China, distributing Shockwave's full range of products domestically.

Globus Medical Sells JC Medical and Enters Strategic Collaboration with Edwards Lifesciences:Genuis Medical sold its overseas subsidiary JC Medical, Inc. to Edwards Lifesciences, including the intellectual property and commercial rights of its J-Valve System, and received strategic investment from Edwards Lifesciences.

The selection of these three companies reflects the "game of integration and division" in China's泛vascular industry, which is the survival wisdom of Chinese companies in the "catch-up" phase: either they make up for technical shortcomings through "integration," or they avoid the trap of homogenization through "division."

The "Innovation Blockage" theory proposed by David Atkinson and Gita Gopinath, winners of the 2025 Nobel Prize in Economics, in their prize-winning paper, precisely explains the root cause of internal competition in the泛血管industry. Its logic resonates with the ancient teaching from *Discourses on Salt and Iron*: "Monopolies create blockages, and the people cannot benefit." They argue:When technology spillover is hindered and innovation incentives are distorted, the industry falls into "low-level repetitive competition."

Technically speaking,Innovative companies form "technological barriers" through technological development and patent layout, while follower companies, due to high technological barriers, struggle to carry out original research and can only follow existing technological routes."Imitate and Improve"Causing the homogenization rate of products such as coronary stents and guidewires to exceed 80%. This is exactly what Atkinson referred to."Technology Imitation Trap": Companies would rather invest funds to replicate existing products than take on the high risks of original R&D, ultimately falling into a vicious cycle of "if you lower your price, I'll lower mine too."

From the market perspective,"The market segmentation effect" further intensifies internal competition. Some companies consolidate the high-end market through mergers and acquisitions, while others can only "fight" in the mid-to-low-end market. Although the volume-based procurement policy has reduced the burden on patients, it has also squeezed the R&D space for companies — 2025 data shows that the average R&D investment ratio of domestic泛血管 companies in China dropped from 15% in 2022 to less than 10%, with some small and medium-sized enterprises even halting innovation projects. Gopinath pointed out in the analysis:"When profit margins are squeezed, companies will prioritize short-term survival over long-term innovation, just as ancient craftsmen, due to 'meager profits,' eventually led to the loss of their skills."

When the industry is deeply trapped in involution, the 2025 Nobel Prize theory not only identifies the problem but also provides a solution — Atkinson's "public technology pool" and Gopinath's "cross-border technology collaboration."

Mindray's Acquisition of INT MedicalThrough the acquisition of control, the company has been able to quickly establish a presence in niche segments of the cardiovascular field, expand its addressable market space, and cultivate new business growth points. After the acquisition was completed, the teams from both sides collaboratively finalized the strategic planning for INT Medical, which was subsequently approved by INT Medical’s board resolution, clarifying the strategic direction of INT Medical's business. While maintaining INT Medical’s independence, Mindray leverages its accumulated expertise across various functions to assist INT Medical in continuously improving operational efficiency and standardizing management practices, providing empowerment in multiple areas such as R&D, marketing, supply chain, human resources, full compliance, and IT. In the first half of 2025, one year after Mindray took over, INT Medical achieved a revenue growth of 21.26% and a profit increase of 23.46%.

"Industry-University-Research Collaboration" in Medical Companies"It is a typical case. Collaborating with hospitals and universities to build joint laboratories integrates clinical needs, fundamental research from universities, and enterprise R&D into a closed loop of 'R&D - Validation - Implementation.' Such cooperation breaks the 'technological silo,' which is at the core of the 'public technology pool': maximizing innovation efficiency through resource sharing."

Globus Medical and Shockwave Medical's collaboration exemplifies "cross-border technology cooperation." In 2025, the two parties established a joint venture controlled by Globus Medical, which not only introduced the "Intravascular Lithotripsy" (IVL) calcification treatment technology to China but also set up a production line domestically, achieving "localized technology + localized production."JC Medical Collaborates with Edwards Lifesciences in ChinaProducts with high technical content and market value are introduced to the world.

"Collaboration" at the policy level is equally crucial.Shanghai Sci-Tech Innovation Group Establishes Special M&A Fund"Chen Yao Xin Chen," the first project was a collaboration with INT Medical to acquire 81% of Weiqiang Medical's equity, providing financial support for corporate mergers and acquisitions through the "capital + industry" model; the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) expedited the approval process for innovative medical devices, reducing the review cycle for some innovative products to six months. These measures resemble ancient policies that "appointed officials to encourage agriculture and constructed water conservancy projects," easing the burden and loosening restrictions for corporate innovation.

AndSiemens Healthineers and Strykercooperation has become a model for global technology collaboration. The joint development in the field of neurovascular interventional robotics not only integrates Siemens Healthineers' imaging guidance advantages with Stryker's consumables technology. This“Transnational Technology Community”, is breaking geographical and corporate boundaries, providing a new paradigm for industry innovation. At the same time, Siemens Healthineers' cooperation with Chinese enterprises,The collaboration with hardware and software companies such as MicroLight and PulseFlow Tech also reflects this strategy.

In the future, as China's vascular products are sold worldwide and Siemens Healthineers and Stryker's surgical robots achieve breakthroughs, a "new ecosystem" in the pan-vascular industry will gradually become clear. It will no longer be a binary choice of "either integration or separation," but a dynamic balance of "coexistence of integration and separation": companies will "integrate" in core technologies by addressing weaknesses through mergers, acquisitions, and collaborations; and "separate" in niche areas by achieving differentiation through specialization.

I suddenly had a dream that I could build together.“Pan-Vascular Innovation Special Zone”Exploring the Future of the Pan-Vascular Industry, Establishing'Innovation Ladder',EstablishOrganized Innovation EcosystemBasic research is led by universities, application development is dominated by enterprises, and clinical transformation is participated in by hospitals. Each link performs its own duties while collaborating with each other. Promote the "technology and professional collaborative sharing mechanism," establish a "shared patent pool" through retrieval, and achieve symbiotic win-win cooperation.

Upon waking from the dream, the story of the pan-vascular medical device industry transcends the "devices" themselves. It epitomizes the diffusion of technology within the global value chain, bears witness to Chinese enterprises evolving from "chasing" to "running alongside," and exemplifies the vivid practice of "win-win cooperation" amidst the challenges of involution. The strategy of unity and division has never been an end, but a means; "unite to build momentum, divide to overcome adversaries." Every instance of unity or division by a company is aimed at advancing further on the innovation track.

And this story about technology, capital, and humanity is just beginning.