Taiwan Medical Device Industry Makes Its First Foray into Mainland China
Taiwan's medical device industry makes its debut in China under the new Zheng He land-by-land program.
In order to continue expanding exports to Mainland China, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) and the Taiwan Medical & Biotech Device Industry Association (TMBDA) jointly organized the “2009 Medical Device Marketing Mission to Mainland China”, which was held in Shanghai, Xiamen, and Shenzhen in Mainland China from April 12th to 19th, with more than 260 media representatives, local medical device distributors, dealers, and importers attending to facilitate exchanges.
The marketing mission is part of the “Land Project” in the New Zheng-He Plan and marks first time for Taiwan's medical device industry has formed a group to enter the mainland market. Twenty-five companies participated in the mission, including Taiwan's renowned veteran pharmaceutical companies Cheng Kuang Pharmaceuticals and King Ming, Hwa Hsin Medical Materials, Hong Lin Instruments, Puyi, Shengwang, Harmonix, Hsin Fung Chemical, Pou Kin Technology, Kang Ding, Ruilmei, Hong Bun, Hong Matei, Sihong, Yasuho, Baojian, Fortune, Rui Jia, Listed Biotech, Kaihao, and Kaohsing. The product range covers hospital equipment and consumables, home care and biotechnology.
Taiwan's medical device industry has been present in the mainland market for many years, with companies producing medical consumables, electric scooters, blood pressure monitors and other industries having set up factories in China. However, in the past, manufacturers mostly operated independently and lacked a deep understanding of Chinese laws in China, making it difficult to find appropriate counterparts to overcome obstacles when exporting their products to China. In addition to organizing the media conference and trade negotiation, the Association arranged a visit to the Food and Drug Administration to address the delegation's questions about the Chinese medical device laws The Association also invited the associations of the medical device industry in various regions to discuss challenges facing medical devices in China and share their experience with importing medical devices. Additionally, the delegation also visited local and Taiwan-funded hospitals, such as Shanghai Renji Hospital, Chenxin Hospital and Xiamen Changgeng Hospital.