Here is some background:
1. Ventripoint and Yutian have been working together for a number of years to address the Chinese market.
2. The bulk of the effort has been done by Yutian, who have designed new machines they call QAS™, based upon Ventripoint’s technologies using mostly Chinese components.
3. They are approved in China for RV only and have built a manufacturing plant in Ma’anshan, as well as a development and research lab in Shanghai,
4. The NR reports they have 8 QAS machines operational in 8 key hospitals in 3 three different provinces totalling 168M people.
5. China has the worst heart disease in the world due to the prevalence of risk factors (diabetes, obesity, excessive alcohol consumption, air pollution and smoking).
6. China has 34,000 hospitals and the proportion of cardiac admissions (23%) is nearly twice the US rate at 14%.
7. Recent publications predict the number of people with heart disease will double in China by 2030 and this will add USD$7.8 trillion to the cost as their focus is on acute care.
8. A second recent study observed they need better non-invasive screening tools for earlier detection and monitoring of heart disease. This of course is where the QAS is aimed.
9. We continue to support Yutian with engineering and regulatory assistance so they can upgrade to 4 chamber analysis and our proprietary tracking technology and other upgrades already on the VMS+3.0.
10. They say they have built a pan-China distribution network and will start selling the QAS devices shortly.
11. The unmet medical need in China is obvious and enormous, but I have learned that things in China take a lot longer than you expect.
As usual, I think you for your support and interest as we continue our mission to improve cardiac care worldwide and especially for children.