The General Office of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the General Office of the National Health Commission, and the Department of Comprehensive Planning and Finance of the National Medical Products Administration have issued a notice regarding the application work for the 2025 high-end medical equipment promotion and application projects. The notice states that to thoroughly implement the Healthy China and Manufacturing Power strategies, accelerate the innovative development of high-end medical equipment, and conduct large-scale applications of new technologies, new products, and new scenarios, the relevant matters for the 2025 high-end medical equipment promotion and application project applications are notified as follows: Focusing on key products and typical scenarios of high-end medical equipment, a batch of projects with leading national levels in technological innovation and clinical application, which have strong leading and driving effects on medical-industrial collaborative innovation, pilot verification, clinical research, iterative upgrading, and promotion applications, will be selected. This year focuses on promoting and applying 5 categories of key products and 4 categories of typical scenarios.

China Merchants Securities International released a research report stating that in the first half of 2025, the overall revenue of the mainland medical device industry fell 3.8% year-on-year, with net profit attributable to shareholders down 12.8% year-on-year and non-recurring net profit down 14.5% year-on-year. In the second quarter alone, revenue fell 5.5% year-on-year, net profit attributable to shareholders dropped 20.3% year-on-year, and non-recurring net profit decreased 25% year-on-year. Using 129 medical device companies listed on Hong Kong Stock Exchange and A-shares as samples, analysis found that approximately 53% of companies achieved year-on-year revenue growth in the first half, with 16% showing growth rates exceeding 20% and 37% showing growth rates between 0-20%. The firm believes that after experiencing the dual policy disruptions of the pandemic and domestic volume-based procurement, the overall device industry's revenue and profit levels are expected to bottom out and rebound. The firm expects that from the second half of 2025 to 2026, the mainland medical device industry will enter a new development stage. Driven by the dual engines of marginal improvement in domestic policy environment and external market expansion, the sector's overall recovery trend is clear. The firm recommends focusing on two main themes: domestic substitution and overseas expansion, with short-term attention on low-valuation targets with clear performance improvements and long-term allocation to innovation-driven high-growth sectors.

Medical device-related industry chain Hong Kong stocks:

MEDBOT-B (02252): Puyin International pointed out that Toumai installed 16 units overseas in the first half of the year with 30+ new orders. The current overseas order revenue recognition cycle is generally 1-2 months, and the institution expects the company's annual installation units could reach 45 units (compared to the company's initial guidance of 40 units). In the first half, the company's overseas revenue proportion exceeded domestic, contributing 58% of total revenue (compared to 40% for full year 2024). The domestic market will continue to face challenges from configuration certificate quotas, intensified competition, and pricing pressure on surgical robots in the medium term. The institution believes that the company's business growth over the next 3-5 years may be more driven by overseas markets.

Airdoc-B (02251): Airdoc was established in Beijing in 2015 and is an artificial intelligence medical device company with advanced technology platforms. The company is actively expanding R&D, with products in hypertensive arteriosclerosis, vascular occlusion, and age-related macular degeneration about to be launched. Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) represents a significant development trend with increasing integration into healthcare, enhancing medical volume and value. The company continues to invest in AGI-related technology R&D, employing 114 R&D personnel with R&D expenses of 112 million yuan in 2023. The company is actively formulating strategies to introduce AGI in auxiliary diagnosis, disease detection, and personalized medical recommendations, efficiently connecting doctors and patients without time and space limitations.

HEARTCARE-B (06609): Achieved profitability turnaround in the interim period this year, realizing net profit of 50.94 million yuan, entering a stage of scaled profitability. Meanwhile, intravascular interventional brain-computer interface will begin clinical trials by the end of next year. HEARTCARE-B has three major neuro-interventional medical device product lines: ischemic stroke, hemorrhagic stroke (cerebral hemorrhage), and access. All three areas achieved notable results in the first half of this year, leading to first-time profitability. In February this year, HEARTCARE-B's domestically-produced first coated flow diverter stent was launched, making it the only domestic company with a complete aneurysm treatment solution including "coils + adjunctive stents + flow diverter stents." The flow diverter stent will also become an important growth driver for its hemorrhagic business.