JRI Orthopaedics03.29.17
Sheffield healthcare company JRI Orthopaedics is celebrating after the first patient in China received its Furlong Evolution hip replacement implant. The 59-year-old man, in the north-east city of Haerbin, is now walking around with the JRI implant after the operation performed this month by a consultant from one of China’s leading orthopedic hospitals. It is believed to be the first hip implant, designed, and manufactured by a wholly British-owned company, to be used in China.
The milestone marks the culmination of a four-year strategic drive by the multi-award winning JRI Orthopaedics to secure a strong foothold in the Chinese market.
“Our strategy has been to develop international markets rather than just focusing on our UK base,” said chief operating officer Jerry Agass. “An awful lot of hard work has gone into getting our products registered in China, finding the right distribution partner and then cementing a strong relationship with them to ensure we can realize the potential of this very significant market.”
“We are delighted that we are now in a position to tender to get our products into more Chinese hospitals. I would hope within three years to have secured around £1m worth of annual business and, over the next five years, to be selling a minimum of 10,000 hip implants in China,” he added. “This would see China becoming our largest market outside the UK.”
JRI Orthopaedics secured regulatory approval to sell its high quality cemented, uncemented, and revision hip product portfolio in China last November and signed an exclusive distribution deal with Beijing-based AK Medical—China’s largest domestic orthopedic producer. It is also sub-manufacturing AK Medical implants at its state-of-the-art Chapeltown plant for sale in China in a three-year deal worth £2m alone in 2017.
“There is definitely an appetite for high-quality, innovative British brands in China and this major milestone is a recognition of our proven, world class, precision manufacturing capabilities and products,” explained Agass. “Over the last 18 months, we have been putting strategic measures in place to ensure that we, as a company, are in the best possible position to meet the major challenges of a hugely competitive domestic market and take advantage of the major opportunities in new overseas markets like China.”
JRI Orthopaedics is planning further market expansion in Asia and the Far East. It is also submitting product registrations in Japan and, after signing a distribution deal, is hoping to get regulatory approvals there by the end of 2017. In a boost to JRI’s brand and business in the Pacific Rim markets, a new distribution partner has also been secured in Australia.
The milestone marks the culmination of a four-year strategic drive by the multi-award winning JRI Orthopaedics to secure a strong foothold in the Chinese market.
“Our strategy has been to develop international markets rather than just focusing on our UK base,” said chief operating officer Jerry Agass. “An awful lot of hard work has gone into getting our products registered in China, finding the right distribution partner and then cementing a strong relationship with them to ensure we can realize the potential of this very significant market.”
“We are delighted that we are now in a position to tender to get our products into more Chinese hospitals. I would hope within three years to have secured around £1m worth of annual business and, over the next five years, to be selling a minimum of 10,000 hip implants in China,” he added. “This would see China becoming our largest market outside the UK.”
JRI Orthopaedics secured regulatory approval to sell its high quality cemented, uncemented, and revision hip product portfolio in China last November and signed an exclusive distribution deal with Beijing-based AK Medical—China’s largest domestic orthopedic producer. It is also sub-manufacturing AK Medical implants at its state-of-the-art Chapeltown plant for sale in China in a three-year deal worth £2m alone in 2017.
“There is definitely an appetite for high-quality, innovative British brands in China and this major milestone is a recognition of our proven, world class, precision manufacturing capabilities and products,” explained Agass. “Over the last 18 months, we have been putting strategic measures in place to ensure that we, as a company, are in the best possible position to meet the major challenges of a hugely competitive domestic market and take advantage of the major opportunities in new overseas markets like China.”
JRI Orthopaedics is planning further market expansion in Asia and the Far East. It is also submitting product registrations in Japan and, after signing a distribution deal, is hoping to get regulatory approvals there by the end of 2017. In a boost to JRI’s brand and business in the Pacific Rim markets, a new distribution partner has also been secured in Australia.