(Yicai Global) Oct. 17 -- More Chinese medical apparatus firms are entering the country’s cardiac valve market, which is dominated by imports, as non-invasive heart valve repair operations take off.

Some 8,000 transcatheter aortic valve replacement operations, where a new valve is inserted without removing the old one, are likely to be performed in China this year, Yicai Global has learned. This is a big jump from previous years as Shanghai and other areas begin to include the cost, which can be up to CNY300,000 (USD41,000), in the national medical insurance program.

There are only a few products available on the market worldwide that can repair a leaking valve, said Pan Zhiwen, a professor at the department of cardiology in Zhongshan Hospital affiliated to Fudan University. And there are more patients with leaking valves than narrowing valves. Therefore, there is huge potential for medical devices that treat valvular regurgitation, and most of this is for the mitral and tricuspid valves, he added.

The MitraClip, a mitral valve regurgitation repair device developed by the US’ Abbott, and the Sapien, a replacement aortic heart valve made by the US’ Edwards Lifesciences, are the only two valve repair devices available in China at the moment.

However, there are a number of up and coming Chinese products that have reached the clinical trial stage. Jenscare Scientific has two transcatheter tricuspid valve replacements, the LuX-Valve and the LuX-ValvePlus, undergoing tests. And NewMed Medical Technology also has several transcatheter repair products at the human trial phase.

There is still plenty of room in the market for structural heart disease, which refers to problems of the heart due to wear and tear, for startups to gain a foothold, said Yu Qifeng, chief executive of Shanghai- based NewMed. Real innovators are needed, he added.

Investors are willing to pour money into developers of medical apparatus for structural heart disease despite the difficulties and challenges. Ningbo, southeastern Fujian province-based Jenscare recently landed on Hong Kong Stock Exchange and NewMed has revived its plan to go public in Hong Kong this year after failing in 2021.

China’s market for tricuspid valve repairs is estimated to be worth CNY850 million (USD118.1 million) by 2025, US research agency Frost & Sullivan said in a report. And there will be over 200,000 such operations being performed in China by 2030.

Editors: Shi Yi, Kim Taylor