Health & Beauty

According to incomplete statistics from the Artery Orange database, in June 2021, 74 financing events (excluding IPOs, private placements, etc.) occurred in the global medical device field. The total amount of disclosed financing exceeded US$2.463 billion, and the total amount of financing increased by approximately 34% from the previous month.

Jiang Tianjiao, Dean of Arterial Network Eggshell Research Institute, introduced to a reporter from the Securities Daily that since the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia, the entire medical device industry has been accelerating, and the fastest growing is the IVD (in vitro diagnostic) industry.

The three major segments of IVD are sought after by the primary market

According to data from the Artery Orange database, in June, 20 financing events were completed in the IVD field, with a total financing of 591 million US dollars, of which 16 financing came from domestic enterprises, indicating that capital is optimistic about the development of the domestic IVD industry. There were 4 financing events in the field of medical robots, all of which were European and American medical device companies. The total transaction volume disclosed was US$910 million, making it the most profitable segment of the medical device industry in June.

Jiang Tianjiao believes that the investment and financing fever of IVD also needs to be further subdivided. For example, the growth rate of the IVD biochemical field is relatively slow, because it mainly involves the detection of common diseases. Another sub-area is immunodiagnosis. Among them, chemiluminescence is the most concerned by the market. Some leading companies in this field have an annual growth rate of about 20%.

The most prominent segment is molecular diagnostics, especially involving nucleic acid and gene sequencing, which mainly benefited from the surge in demand for the epidemic. Finally, POCT (point-of-care testing) has gained market space thanks to the development of the primary medical system.

"At present, chemiluminescence, molecular diagnostics and POCT in immunology are subdivisions that have received more market attention and are in the process of relatively high growth." Jiang Tianjiao said that this also faces some challenges, such as the impact of the epidemic on molecules. Whether the need for diagnosis is long-term. As the global impact of the epidemic continues, there are no obvious signs of a decline in demand. Some listed IVD molecular diagnosis and treatment companies have doubled their performance in 2020 by ten times.

Yang Li, a researcher of the Zhongcheng Medical Devices Research Institute, said in an interview with a reporter from the Securities Daily that according to the statistics of the Zhongcheng Medical Devices big data platform, this year's medical device sector investment and financing in addition to the more concerned IVD, cardiovascular device fields, medical The investment enthusiasm of robots and AI-assisted medical circuits is also higher than in the past. For example, Jingfeng Medical, a research and development manufacturer of surgical robots, has received nearly 600 million yuan in financing.

Yang Li believes: “From the performance of listed companies in the medical device sector in the first half of the year, molecular diagnostics has performed more prominently. This is the fastest growing field since the epidemic. There are certain gaps, such as next-generation sequencing technology (NGS), gene chips, etc. The medical robot industry is still in the market introduction stage, and most domestic related companies are in the clinical trial stage and have not yet achieved commercialization."

The secondary market further boosts investment and financing enthusiasm

According to data from Eastern Fortune Choice, as of July 11, there have been 11 IPOs in the medical device sector of the China Securities Industry Classification this year, of which 5 are in the IVD field and 3 are in the field of implanted medical devices.

"Before and after 2014, there were only a dozen IVD listed companies, and by 2021, the scale of IVD listed companies has exceeded 50. The technical strength of the IVD companies listed this year is more obvious than the stock listed companies in the past. Upgrade." Jiang Tianjiao said that the secondary market is the main exit channel for primary market investment, so the acceleration of the frequency of listing of medical device companies in the secondary market will also drive the growth of investment and financing in the primary market.

Tan Fuwen, director of investment research of the Nanning business department of Shanxi Securities, told the "Securities Daily" reporter that the current medical device sector IPO is mainly based on the science and technology innovation board. The purpose of the establishment of the science and technology board is to support technological innovation industries. Tan Fuwen introduced: "The launch of the science and technology innovation board has brought more opportunities for the high-tech innovation of science and innovation enterprises, and it has also brought convenience for the rapid fundraising, rapid promotion of the transformation of scientific research results, and accelerated the development of science and innovation enterprises. Driven by the creation board and the ChiNext, investment and financing in a number of technology industries such as medical equipment and semiconductors have become more active, which has promoted my country's technological innovation."