China's cardiovascular device industry is one of the clearest examples of how the country's MedTech market has changed.

Twenty years ago, many high-value cardiovascular devices used in Chinese hospitals were supplied predominantly by multinational companies.

Today, the picture is much more complex.

Chinese companies have established substantial businesses in coronary intervention, structural heart disease, aortic intervention, peripheral vascular devices and electrophysiology. Some are now expanding internationally. At the same time, multinational companies including Abbott, Medtronic and Boston Scientific remain important participants in major Chinese cardiovascular markets — including coronary intervention, where products from all three companies were selected in China's 2026 national coronary-stent procurement renewal.

The market is also being reshaped by two forces operating simultaneously:

price pressure in mature product categories, and rapid technological innovation in newer categories.

Coronary stents are the most obvious example of the first.

Pulsed-field ablation, structural heart intervention and next-generation intravascular technologies illustrate the second.

For global MedTech executives, China therefore should not be understood simply as a cardiovascular market undergoing "localization."

Different cardiovascular device categories are at very different stages of development.

China’s Cardiovascular Device Industry at a Glance

The companies above are representative examples, not a market-share ranking.

1. Coronary Intervention Is Already a Mature Chinese MedTech Market

Few product categories illustrate China's medical-device policy changes as clearly as coronary stents.

In 2020, coronary stents became the first high-value medical consumable included in China's national volume-based procurement program.

Prices of selected mainstream stents fell to below RMB1,000, ending the previous era in which coronary stents commonly cost more than RMB10,000.

But lower prices did not mean the market disappeared.

The opposite happened in terms of clinical volume.

According to China's National Healthcare Security Administration, by April 2026:

• more than 10 million centrally procured coronary stents had been used clinically;

• they accounted for more than 90% of all coronary stents used during the corresponding period;

• approximately 1.9 million coronary interventional procedures were performed nationwide in 2024, compared with about 1 million before the 2020 procurement program;

• and the number of medical institutions performing coronary stent implantation increased from more than 2,400 in 2020 to more than 3,600 by 2023.

This is an important lesson about the Chinese market:

price compression and clinical expansion can happen at the same time.

China Renewed National Coronary Stent Procurement Again in 2026

The second renewal round of national coronary-stent procurement was conducted in May 2026.

A total of 15 companies submitted 30 products, and all participating companies were selected, with 27 products receiving proposed selection status.

The annual procurement demand reported by 4,468 medical institutions reached approximately 2.73 million stents.

The selected portfolio included products from international manufacturers such as:

• Medtronic;

• Abbott;

• Boston Scientific;

as well as Chinese manufacturers including:

• MicroPort;

• Lepu Medical;

• JW Medical and others.

The procurement mechanism is therefore not simply a program designed to replace multinational companies with Chinese manufacturers.

International and domestic products can coexist within the system.

What has changed fundamentally is the economics of the category.

For coronary-stent companies, the competitive question is no longer primarily:

Can we sell a premium-priced stent into China?

It is increasingly:

Can we remain economically viable at procurement-driven prices while gaining enough volume, maintaining clinical differentiation and continuing product innovation?

Chinese Coronary Companies Are Expanding Beyond the Stent

The first generation of major Chinese cardiovascular-device companies often established themselves through coronary stents.

Their portfolios are now much broader.

MicroPort

MicroPort was founded in Shanghai in 1998 and grew from cardiovascular intervention into a diversified international medical-device group.

Its coronary portfolio now extends beyond conventional drug-eluting stents.

By September 2025, MicroPort reported that cumulative global shipments and implantations of its coronary stents had exceeded 10 million units.

The company continues to develop technologies for increasingly complex PCI.

In February 2026, an NMPA-approved system developed within the MicroPort ecosystem introduced a piezoelectric intravascular ultrasound therapy system designed to assist treatment of coronary chronic total occlusion lesions. The system entered China's Innovative Medical Device Special Review pathway before receiving market approval.

This reflects a broader shift in China's coronary industry:

competition is moving from the basic question of who can make a stent toward increasingly complex technologies for lesion preparation, imaging, crossing and procedural optimization.

Lepu Medical

Lepu Medical is another long-established Chinese cardiovascular company.

Its cardiovascular portfolio now includes coronary stents, PTCA and non-compliant balloons, coronary intravascular lithotripsy balloons, catheters, guidewires, introducer sheaths and peripheral intervention products. Its wider portfolio also includes structural-heart and cardiac-rhythm-management devices.

Lepu therefore illustrates another route taken by mature Chinese companies:

coronary intervention → broader cardiovascular platform.

APT Medical

APT Medical has developed a portfolio across interventional cardiology, electrophysiology and peripheral intervention.

Its coronary products include guidewires, microcatheters, guiding-extension catheters, balloons, aspiration catheters and access products, while its electrophysiology business includes mapping, ablation and navigation technologies.

Mindray announced a transaction to acquire control of APT Medical in 2024, and APT's cardiovascular intervention portfolio is now also presented through Mindray's global product platform.

This is strategically interesting.

Mindray built its global position primarily in areas such as patient monitoring, life support, imaging and laboratory diagnostics. Cardiovascular intervention creates a route into a very different business — high-value physician-driven interventional devices.

Structural Heart Has Created a New Generation of Chinese Cardiovascular Companies

Coronary stents represent a relatively mature Chinese device industry.

Structural heart is different.

It has produced an entirely new generation of companies focused on transcatheter valve intervention.

Three companies are particularly important to understand:

Venus Medtech, Peijia Medical and MicroPort CardioFlow.

Venus Medtech Was the First Chinese TAVR Company to Commercialize

Venus Medtech's VenusA-Valve received NMPA registration approval in April 2017.

According to the company's 2025 annual reporting, it was the first TAVR product approved for commercialization in China.

The company's portfolio has subsequently expanded significantly.

By the end of 2025, Venus reported six marketed TAVR products across domestic and overseas markets, as well as the VenusP-Valve transcatheter pulmonary valve platform. Its pipeline also extends into mitral and tricuspid valve intervention.

In 2025, Venus reported nearly 3,600 terminal implantations in the Chinese market and cumulative coverage of nearly 700 hospitals.

But its financial results also reveal a second side of China's structural-heart market.

Venus's 2025 revenue declined from RMB470.8 million to RMB306.8 million. The company attributed the decline to falling unit prices and sales volume amid an intensely competitive domestic market. TAVR revenue fell particularly sharply, while overseas revenue increased 19.2% to RMB98.3 million and reached 32% of total revenue.

That combination is revealing:

China's TAVR market is commercializing, but competition is also putting pressure on domestic pricing.

For Chinese structural-heart companies, international markets can therefore become attractive not only because they provide additional growth, but because they diversify exposure to China's domestic pricing environment.

Peijia Medical Shows How Quickly the TAVR Portfolio Is Expanding

Peijia Medical has followed another path into structural heart.

The company's first-generation TaurusOne TAVR system received NMPA approval in 2021. Its structural-heart strategy subsequently expanded into successive TAVR generations and additional valve indications.

By the end of 2025, Peijia reported a commercial TAVR portfolio including TaurusOne, TaurusElite and TaurusMax for aortic stenosis.

The portfolio covered more than 780 hospitals, and approximately 3,900 TAVR implantations were performed with Peijia products during 2025, according to the company's unaudited operating update.

An especially important development occurred in December 2025 when the NMPA approved Peijia's TaurusTrio transcatheter aortic valve system, which the company plans to commercialize for the treatment of aortic regurgitation.

This illustrates another direction in structural heart.

The market is moving beyond the original question of whether China can develop a TAVR system for severe aortic stenosis.

The competitive frontier increasingly includes:

• multiple valve generations;

• different annular anatomies;

• bicuspid valve considerations;

• aortic regurgitation;

• smaller delivery profiles;

• retrievability and repositioning;

• lifetime valve management;

• mitral intervention;

• and tricuspid intervention.

MicroPort Is Combining Structural Heart With Cardiac Rhythm Management

MicroPort CardioFlow represents another interesting strategy.

In December 2025, MicroPort completed the strategic combination of MicroPort CardioFlow and MicroPort CRM, bringing structural-heart intervention and cardiac-rhythm management into one listed platform.

MicroPort CRM brings more than 60 years of technology history through a business headquartered near Paris, with products spanning:

• pacemakers;

• implantable cardioverter-defibrillators;

• cardiac resynchronization therapy;

• and cardiac rhythm diagnostic technologies.

CardioFlow contributes TAVR and other structural-heart technologies.

The stated strategy of the combined company is to build a broader platform around heart failure management, linking structural abnormalities, rhythm disorders and other stages of the disease pathway.

This is worth watching because Chinese cardiovascular-device companies are beginning to think beyond individual product categories.

The next competitive unit may increasingly be:

a disease-management platform rather than a single device.

Electrophysiology May Be One of China’s Fastest-Changing Cardiovascular Device Categories

Electrophysiology has traditionally required a complex combination of technologies.

A modern AF ablation procedure can involve:

• electrophysiology diagnostic catheters;

• transseptal access;

• 3D electroanatomical mapping;

• ablation catheters;

• generators;

• contact-force sensing;

• intracardiac echocardiography;

• and increasingly pulsed-field ablation.

This makes the category substantially more difficult than manufacturing a standalone disposable device.

But Chinese companies are increasingly building complete platforms.

The most visible technology shift is pulsed-field ablation, or PFA.

2025 Was a Breakthrough Year for PFA Approvals in China

The speed of Chinese PFA development is notable.

During 2025, the NMPA approved multiple innovative cardiac PFA systems from Chinese manufacturers.

These included products from:

• Xuanyu Medical in February 2025;

• Shangyang Medical in April 2025;

• Yingtailiankang Medical in April 2025;

• Aikemai Medical in April 2025;

• Maiwei Medical in June 2025.

APT Medical also announced NMPA approval in January 2025 for a PFA portfolio including contact-force and circular PFA catheters, a PFA generator and an upgraded 3D mapping system.

The NMPA's 2025 medical-device registration report specifically identified cardiac PFA systems among the innovative medical devices approved during the year.

This is significant.

Chinese EP competition is not developing one company at a time.

Multiple platforms are reaching commercialization within a relatively compressed time window.

MicroPort EP Is Building Around Mapping, Energy and Imaging

MicroPort Electrophysiology is another company to watch closely.

In November 2025, its pressure-sensing PFA catheter received NMPA approval. The catheter combines pulsed-field energy with contact-force sensing, magnetic positioning and saline irrigation and integrates with the company's Columbus 3D electrophysiology mapping system.

Then, in January 2026, MicroPort EP announced NMPA approval of its intracardiac echocardiography — ICE — catheter.

The progression is strategically important.

An EP company can begin with diagnostic and ablation catheters.

But competing at the system level requires more:

mapping + navigation + energy + sensing + imaging + software + procedural workflow.

That is where several Chinese EP companies are now heading.

International competition remains substantial. Johnson & Johnson's VARIPULSE PFA platform, for example, was already being used clinically in multiple markets including China by 2025 and integrates a PFA catheter, generator and CARTO 3 mapping platform.

China's PFA market is therefore likely to become an important test of whether domestic companies can compete not only on catheter manufacturing but on complete EP ecosystems.

Cardiac Rhythm Management Is Structurally Different Again

Pacemakers, ICDs and CRT systems form another distinct cardiovascular-device market.

These products require implantable electronics, batteries, leads, algorithms and long-term reliability, giving the sector a very different technology base from coronary intervention or TAVR.

Chinese companies have entered the field, but they have done so through different routes.

MicroPort's CRM platform includes pacemakers, ICDs and CRT technologies and is now integrated with CardioFlow.

LifeTech Scientific also has a cardiac pacing and electrophysiology business. In its 2025 annual results, LifeTech described itself as the first Chinese manufacturer with a complete portfolio of domestic implantable cardiac pacemakers with internationally comparable technology and functions. The business remained small relative to its structural-heart and peripheral-vascular operations, generating approximately RMB13.5 million in 2025.

Lepu Medical also markets cardiac-rhythm-management products including pacemakers and leads.

This reinforces an important point:

"domestic substitution" does not occur at the same speed across every cardiovascular segment.

Having Chinese products available does not automatically mean the competitive structure is identical to coronary stents, aortic stent grafts or TAVR.

China Already Has Substantial Companies in Aortic and Peripheral Intervention

Aortic intervention is another field in which Chinese companies have built substantial businesses.

Two names are especially important:

Endovastec and LifeTech Scientific.

Endovastec

Endovastec focuses on aortic, peripheral vascular and tumor intervention.

Its portfolio includes thoracic and abdominal aortic stent grafts and other technologies used to treat increasingly complex aortic disease.

In 2025, Endovastec reported revenue of approximately RMB1.351 billion and net profit attributable to shareholders of RMB563 million.

The company is also internationalizing.

Its recent strategy has included overseas registrations as well as the acquisition of international aortic-device assets, strengthening its ability to pursue markets outside China.

LifeTech Scientific

LifeTech has built another broad interventional platform.

Its major businesses include structural heart disease, peripheral vascular disease, and cardiac pacing and electrophysiology.

In 2025, LifeTech reported:

The peripheral vascular business grew 12.4% year on year and was the company's largest business segment. Overseas sales accounted for approximately 28.9% of total revenue, with Europe alone contributing about 12.1%.

LifeTech says its distribution network now reaches nearly 120 countries and regions.

This is an important counterpoint to the narrative that Chinese cardiovascular-device companies remain primarily dependent on the domestic market.

Some already generate meaningful revenue internationally.

China’s Cardiovascular Market Is Not Moving Toward One Competitive Pattern

Looking across these segments, the structure is very different from category to category.

This is why the phrase "China cardiovascular device market" can be misleading when used without specifying the product category.

A coronary stent and a PFA mapping-and-ablation platform may both treat cardiovascular disease, but almost every part of their commercial logic is different.

Price Pressure Extends Beyond Products Already in National VBP

Coronary stents provide the most visible example of national volume-based procurement.

But companies should not conclude that price pressure matters only when a product formally enters national VBP.

In its July 2026 briefing, the National Healthcare Security Administration said it had continued broader price governance for high-value medical consumables.

During 2026, authorities had already promoted price reductions in product categories including:

• defibrillators;

• heart valves;

• embolic-protection devices;

• electrophysiology treatment catheters;

among other high-value consumables.

At the same time, China's national procurement program continues to expand into additional high-value consumable categories.

For cardiovascular manufacturers, this means commercial strategy increasingly needs to consider several different forms of pricing pressure:

national VBP, regional procurement, hospital purchasing, price governance and increasing competition among manufacturers.

They are related, but they are not the same policy mechanism.

Innovation Has Not Stopped Because Prices Are Falling

This is one of the most important features of the Chinese cardiovascular market.

Price pressure is real.

So is technological development.

In 2025 alone, NMPA's innovative-device approvals included multiple PFA systems and other cardiovascular technologies.

The companies discussed above are also developing:

• differentiated and next-generation TAVR platforms;

• treatments for aortic regurgitation;

• mitral and tricuspid intervention;

• advanced PFA systems;

• intracardiac imaging;

• complex PCI technologies;

• sophisticated aortic graft systems;

• and new heart-failure device platforms.

China's cardiovascular industry is therefore experiencing two changes at once:

commoditization at the mature end of the market and technological escalation at the innovative end.

That distinction matters greatly for global companies deciding where they can still defend technological and economic differentiation.

Chinese Companies Are Also Changing From Product Manufacturers Into Platform Companies

Several of China's major cardiovascular businesses started with a relatively narrow product category.

Their current strategies look very different.

MicroPort

Coronary intervention expanded into structural heart, CRM, electrophysiology, aortic intervention and other medical-device businesses.

Lepu

Coronary products expanded into peripheral intervention, structural heart, rhythm management, monitoring and other medical technologies.

APT Medical

An interventional-device company increasingly combines coronary, peripheral and EP portfolios and is now connected strategically with Mindray's broader global MedTech platform.

MicroPort CardioFlow

A structural-heart company is being combined with CRM capabilities to build a broader heart-failure technology platform.

LifeTech

The company already operates across structural heart, peripheral vascular and pacing technologies while deriving close to 30% of 2025 revenue from international markets.

The direction is increasingly clear:

Chinese cardiovascular companies are moving from selling individual devices toward controlling larger portions of the clinical technology stack.

Internationalization Is Becoming Part of the Competitive Equation

Chinese cardiovascular companies should no longer be evaluated only by their domestic position.

LifeTech generated 28.9% of its 2025 revenue outside China.

Venus Medtech reported overseas revenue growth of 19.2% in 2025, with international sales reaching 32% of total revenue despite a substantial contraction in its domestic business.

MicroPort's coronary technologies have accumulated substantial global use, while its wider group operates internationally across multiple cardiovascular categories.

APT Medical says its products have reached more than 90 countries and is actively promoting complex coronary and EP technologies at international clinical meetings.

MicroPort CardioFlow's VitaFlow platform and other structural-heart products are also being commercialized internationally.

For multinational companies, the implication is important.

A Chinese competitor that faces them in a Shanghai or Guangzhou hospital today may also appear in Southeast Asia, Latin America, the Middle East or Europe tomorrow.

Eight Chinese Cardiovascular Companies Global Executives Should Know

For readers who want a practical starting point, these eight companies represent different parts of the industry.

This is not intended as a ranking or an exhaustive list.

China has many additional cardiovascular-device companies, particularly in emerging categories such as PFA, intracardiac imaging, IVUS, functional coronary assessment, heart-failure devices and peripheral intervention.

What Global Cardiovascular Companies Should Watch

For international executives, seven questions are particularly useful.

The Bottom Line

There is no single story of China's cardiovascular-device industry.

Coronary intervention shows what happens when a mature high-value device category encounters large-scale centralized procurement: prices fall dramatically while procedure and usage volumes can continue to grow.

Structural heart shows Chinese companies moving rapidly from first-generation domestic products into increasingly sophisticated valve portfolios, while growing competition puts pressure on pricing.

Electrophysiology shows a different phenomenon again: multiple Chinese companies entering a technologically demanding market almost simultaneously as PFA reshapes global arrhythmia treatment.

Aortic and peripheral intervention demonstrate that some Chinese specialists have already developed substantial businesses and international sales.

The result is a cardiovascular market in which:

mature products are becoming more cost-sensitive, new technologies are developing rapidly, domestic companies are building broader platforms, and Chinese competitors are increasingly expanding overseas.

For global MedTech companies, the question is therefore no longer simply:

Will Chinese companies enter cardiovascular devices?

They already have.

The more useful questions in 2026 are:

Which cardiovascular segments are becoming mature? Which still reward technological differentiation? Which Chinese companies are building complete platforms? And which of those companies will become global competitors?

Those questions provide a much more accurate map of China's cardiovascular-device industry.

August 19, 2026