Today, we’re going to discuss a very serious medical topic. When the shadowless lamp in the operating room suddenly lights up, Johnson & Johnson is dismantling the production line of cardiovascular stents overnight, Medtronic’s insulin pump molds are being transported to Vietnam in boxes, and Abbott’s diagnostic reagent workshop doors are heavily sealed.
Each turn of these multinational giants tears open a bloody wound on our medical map.
In the current medical field, a series of phenomena are attracting widespread attention and deep reflection. When the shadowless lamp in the operating room lights up, behind it is a series of actions by multinational medical giants. These actions have had a huge impact on China’s medical industry, and all of this can be found in the data for strong support.
Judging from the data on foreign capital withdrawal, the situation is not optimistic. Data shows that as much as 42.7 billion yuan in funds have been withdrawn, involving as many as 137 types of life-saving medical devices, while 8.6 billion yuan of newly added projects are all replaceable hemostatic gauze and infusion tubes. Giants like Johnson & Johnson have zero production capacity of their coronary stents in their Shanghai factory, which means that China is facing major challenges in the production and supply of cardiovascular stents in this key area. Cardiovascular disease is one of the main diseases threatening human health. According to the “China Cardiovascular Disease Report”, the number of patients with cardiovascular disease in China has reached 330 million. With such a huge patient population, the demand for cardiovascular stents is huge. Johnson & Johnson’s withdrawal took away 15 years of accumulated bio-coating technology, which caused China to lose important accumulation and inheritance in related technology research and development. The difficulty of subsequent research and development has greatly increased, which may lead to patients facing higher costs and more limited choices during treatment.
Medtronic’s insulin pump molds are being transported to Vietnam, and the changes in the related production lines have far-reaching effects. According to the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), China has the largest number of diabetes patients in the world, with more than 140 million patients. Insulin pumps play an important role in controlling blood sugar for diabetes patients. Medtronic occupies a certain market share in the insulin pump field. Its withdrawal not only affects the supply and after-sales of existing products, but also takes away the iteration code of the eighth-generation insulin pump, delaying China’s pace in the technological update and replacement of insulin pumps, and casting a shadow over the treatment prospects of many diabetes patients.
Looking at the data on foreign investment, the actual use of foreign capital in the medical instrument and equipment manufacturing industry increased by 98.7% in 2024, which seems to be a positive signal, but in fact hides a crisis. While the ventilator production line is closed, local alternatives have exposed clinical data fraud; when imported anti-cancer drugs are cut off, the key data of generic drugs are surprisingly similar. Taking anti-cancer drugs as an example, China has a large number of new cancer patients every year. According to data released by the National Cancer Center, there were 4.57 million new cancer cases in China in 2020. In the case of a shortage of imported anti-cancer drugs, generic drugs should have become an important supplement, but the similarity of data seriously affects the quality of generic drugs and patient trust. Behind this may be the disorderly competition driven by capital interests, leading China to fall into a dilemma in the supply and research and development of anti-cancer drugs.
Judging from the data that high-end medical projects have been uprooted, a total of 37 high-end medical projects have been uprooted within three months, including the cessation of production of core components of dialysis machines, the permanent closure of anti-cancer drug raw material bases, and the relocation of the entire CT machine production line. Dialysis machines are crucial for patients with kidney failure. China has a large number of patients with chronic kidney disease, estimated to be about 130 million. The cessation of production of core components of dialysis machines makes the production and maintenance of dialysis machines face difficulties, and the treatment of patients is difficult to guarantee.
When the production line of foreign ventilators stops operating, when the data of generic drugs shows a strange similarity, this is no longer business news, this is the forced power outage of the life support system that is happening, medical safety never has backup options, and every alarm of the heartbeat monitor at this moment is a fatal tremor of the vital signs of the entire nation.
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