Collective Undertaking

THE medical equipment valleyin Jiading District of Shanghai，known as Shanghai MedValley，is a powerhouse of medical innovation.As an industrial park centeredon creative medical equipment development，the valley has gathered a clusterof high-end medical device enterprisesand highly qualified professionals. Itaims to promote new quality productiveforces in the medical field， with a focuson developing devices for advanced diagnosisand highly effective treatment.It is home to seven major research institutionsand joint labs， including a medicalrobot training center and a medicalchip research institute.

New quality productive forces referto initiatives aimed at enhancing productivity，innovation， sustainability andquality in different sectors of the economythrough technological innovationincluding digital transformation.

Doctors and nurses are a major forcein medical innovation in the valley.“There are lots of unresolved problemsin the medical field， and doctors andnurses are on the frontline of assessing"patients’ needs，” Ning Guang， head ofRuijin Hospital in Shanghai， said. “Eventually，the achievements of the medicalindustry need to be tested through practice.Therefore， doctors should be givena chance to steer innovation within theindustry，” Ning noted.

Frontline Ideas

The valley’s doctor-directed medicalinnovation model has yielded positiveresults in recent years.

The non-invasive blood glucosedetector developed by Wang Weiqing，director of the Endocrine and MetabolismDepartment at Ruijin Hospital，together with a medical chip technologyenterprise， has been clinically validatedto meet the international standard forglucose detectors.

Niu Chuanxin， a researcher from theRehabilitation Department of RuijinHospital， has collaborated with enterpriseswithin the cognitive rehabilitationfield and launched more than 30products with high-level accuracy andflexibility， including a robot that helpspatients to recover control of their upperlimbs.

Chen Saijuan， a member of the ChineseAcademy of Engineering， made abreakthrough in gene-based therapyfor haemophilia， a rare disorder thatprevents blood from clotting. Previously，haemophilia patients had to have regularplasma transfusions， and the treatmentcould be hampered by shortageof plasma. Chen’s breakthrough meanspatients now require only a one-off oroccasional treatments.

The single-port laparoscopic surgicalrobot jointly developed by Beijing SurgeriiRobotics Co. Ltd. and Ruijin Hospitalenables complex surgeries througha skin incision of less than 3 cm in thepatient’s abdomen.

“Shanghai MedValley has gathered"a large group of doctors with pioneeringideas， who seek to cooperate withenterprises to achieve breakthroughs inmedical equipment development andlarge-scale production， drawing on theirclinical experiences，” Ning said.

In the past three years， the medicalstaff of Ruijin Hospital applied for morethan 1，000 patents. “We’ve been thinkingabout the role of large public hospitalsin the development of new qualityproductive forces，” Ning said. “And ouranswer is to highlight the non-profitnature of public hospitals， encouragingand cultivating public medical staffas the powerhouse of creative work topromote the development of medicalindustries.”

The biomedical industry is one ofthe top three pioneering industriesin Shanghai， alongside the integratedcircuits and artificial intelligence industries，and a key industry for developingnew quality productive forces. Theannual scale of the biopharmaceuticalindustry reached RMB 933.73 billion （US$128.68 billion） in 2023， an increase of 4.9percent， according to a press conferenceon Shanghai’s high-quality developmentheld on May 22.

“The new creative third-categorymedical equipment developed by institutionsin Shanghai accounted for 16.67percent of those in China，” Ge Dongbo，an official from Shanghai， told thepress， adding that the local governmentis stepping up efforts to enhance themechanisms that benefit creative enterprisesand institutions and facilitate theindustrialization of creative ideas.

Third-category medical equipmentis high-risk equipment that is very importantto health or sustaining life， suchas devices for transplanting artificialorgans and cardiac pacemakers， whichare under strict supervision and examinationby quality inspection agencies.

Proton Therapy

Medical innovation is vibrant notonly within Shanghai MedValley， butalso in medical centers in surroundingareas focusing on specialty treatmenttechnologies. The proton therapy centreat Ruijin Hospital， located close toMedValley， is renowned for its high-endtumour treatment technologies.

Proton therapy is a powerful tool forprecision radiotherapy in cancer treatment.It has advantages over traditionalradiotherapy technologies in terms ofaccuracy， therapeutic effects， and lessharm to patients， making it the mostadvanced medical technology in theworld to combat tumors. In the past，domestic proton treatment relied on"imported equipment， leading to highcosts and low access to proton therapyin many regions of China.

“The proton therapy equipment ishuge in size and has high manufacturing，operating and maintenance costs，”Chen Jiayi， head of the Radiotherapy Departmentof Ruijin Hospital， said. “If wesimply relied on imported equipmentinstead of mastering the core technologyfor producing the equipment byourselves， it would be difficult to reducethe costs [ for patients].”

“In the past， the cost of proton therapywas about RMB 300，000 （US $41，345）– too heavy a financial burden for manypatients. As a result， many patients whoneeded proton therapy chose to undergoX-ray therapy instead，” Chen Jiayi added.

In December 2014， a building forhousing domestic proton devices at thenorth campus of Ruijin Hospital startedconstruction.

Meanwhile， Ruijin Hospital formed ateam of physicians， technicians， physicists，researchers， and other personnelfor the project.

Ruijin Hospital worked with theShanghai Institute of Applied Physicsand Shanghai Advanced Research Institute，both under the Chinese Academyof Sciences， as well as ShanghaiAPACTRON Particle Equipment Co.to jointly develop domestically producedproton therapy systems.

On November 24， 2023， the firstdomestically produced protontherapy test device， in the 180-degreerotation beam therapy room， was putinto use. As of March this year， thenumber of patients receiving protontherapy had reached 100. So far， theproton therapy device at Ruijin Hospitalhas treated patients for morethan 20 different types of tumors andall patients have shown ideal shorttermresults.

The 360-degree proton therapy system，a more advanced device developedby Ruijin Hospital and ShanghaiAPACTRON Particle Equipment Co.Ltd.， is expected to be put into clini-cal use this year. The 360-degree rotatingframe can provide an all-around treatmentangle to strike the tumor target areaand protect surrounding normal tissueswithout moving the patient. The domesticproton therapy system currently costs amaximum of RMB 170，000 （US $23，429）per course of treatment.

According to Chen Jiayi， in additionto making significant breakthroughs inhardware， the proton therapy personnelare consistently exploring and enriching，through trial and error， their experience inproton treatment， aiming to independentlydevelop an optimized proton therapyplan.

“We have developed a meticulous setof technology and management solutionsthat can be directly packaged and appliedto any hospital in the country，” she said.

Home-Made Equipment

High-end medical equipment is animportant manifestation of China’s independenttechnological innovation"capability. In recent years， China hasdeveloped world-class high-end medicalequipment with independent intellectualproperty rights. The highendmedical equipment industry hasnot only achieved full independentresearch and development， but also reducedChina’s reliance on imports andhas even exported its products to multiplecountries and regions around theworld， winning overseas recognition.

United Imaging， a Shanghai-basedprivate enterprise founded in 2011， hasdeveloped a series of medical imagingand radiotherapy products and lifescience instruments， and can providemedical digitization and medical artificialintelligence solutions.

The world’s first 2-meter PET-CT， theworld’s first whole-body ultra-high field5.0T MRI， the world’s first 75-cm ultralargeaperture 3.0T MRI... cutting-edgemedical devices adorn the 1，500-squaremetreexhibition hall of United ImagingGroup. Since 2014， the company haslaunched 78 products with fully independentintellectual property rights inthe market.

China’s self-developed medicalequipment also brings benefits topeople around the world. United Imagingexports a series of high-end medicalimaging equipment to more than 70countries and regions， including the U.S.，Japan， Italy， New Zealand， Poland， Indiaand the Republic of Korea. It servesmore than 13，100 medical institutions，covering about one-third of the Belt andRoad countries.

According to data from the GeneralAdministration of Customs， the totalexport value of medical devices ofChina reached over RMB 484.3 billion（US $69.1 billion） in 2023， with medicalequipment exports increasing by 5.4percent year on year and 54.8 percentcompared to 2019.