A view of the National Exhibition and Convention Center, the main venue for the second China International Import Expo (CIIE), in Shanghai on Tuesday. The 2nd CIIE is scheduled to take place from November 5-10. More than 3,000 companies from about 150 countries and regions have signed up, surpassing the numbers of the first expo.

 
The number of medical giants from the Fortune Global 500 list and leading medical corporations that will attend the second China International Import Expo (CIIE) will double compared to last year, with many already booking booths for the next CIIE, a representative of the CIIE's medical exhibition area said. 

The medical exhibition hall was the first among all CIIE exhibition areas to be fully booked, with its last space secured about two months after the first iteration of the expo. 

Some international medical enterprises that missed the opportunity to participate in the first CIIE are eager to make their debuts this year. US pharmaceutical giant MSD has booked an exhibition space of about 800 square meters, the largest among all CIIE medical attendees this year, said Wu Jun, the medical exhibition area representative, on Monday. 

Overseas medical companies are flocking to the second expo following the success of the first. They saw that the CIIE was effective in facilitating the marketization of their products in the Chinese market. 

Just one month after US medical science giant Medtronic displayed its eye-catching Micra, the world's smallest pacemaker, at last year's CIIE, the product was implanted in a domestic patient at Hainan Boao Super Hospital in Boao, South China's Hainan Province. This was the product's first market application in China.  

The CIIE has helped promote the product and has given the public, patients and doctors a greater understanding of it, a Medtronic PR representative told the Global Times on Tuesday. 

Overseas medical companies also attach importance to public-display opportunities like the CIIE, at a time when the Chinese government is opening up its market for drug and medical-appliance imports. In 2018, China scrapped its import tariffs for anti-cancer drugs and encouraged the imports of innovative drugs. It also announced in September that it would speed up the import approval process for drugs and medical appliances in pilot areas. 

This year, many attendees are hoping to bring new and high-tech products to the second expo. Examples include the world's smallest insulin injection needle brought by Japan-based Terumo Corporation, and a surgery robot brought by Medtronic, Wu said. 

Overall, 200 new medical products and technologies will be displayed at the second CIIE, double the amount exhibited last year. 

Global Times