Improved innovation, manufacturing savvy help domestic producers make inroads overseas

Thanks to much-improved research and development capabilities, Chinese companies able to quickly develop a myriad of nucleic acid, antigen and antibody test kits after the outbreak of COVID-19 have seen a spike in orders for the products in recent months.

As the global COVID-19 pandemic drags well into a third year, demand for related test products keeps growing both at home and abroad, especially with the fast spread of the highly transmissible Omicron strain.

Chinese manufacturers' increased production is making great contributions to global anti-pandemic efforts. Their endeavors to meet huge test kit demand worldwide over the years have also driven them to climb up the industrial value chain, analysts said.

"China's in vitro diagnostic device (IVD) producers have been producing various test kits in large volumes to help not only China but also other countries deal with the disease properly, due to their solid manufacturing capacity. Their efficiency in organizing development and production of urgently needed test products is very impressive," said Shi Lichen, founder of medical consultancy Beijing Dingchen Consultancy.

"Boosted by both the huge domestic market and a supportive regulatory environment, they have become even better prepared for innovation-driven growth to design and produce high-quality and original products and take a bigger share in high-end markets," Shi said.

IVD is a knowledge-intensive area that features interdisciplinary research and development, manufacturing and laboratory applications involving biology, physics, chemistry, optoelectronics and genetics, and it is very difficult to develop high-end products, he added.

According to the General Administration of Customs, the export value of China-made COVID-19 test kits reached 18 billion yuan ($2.83 billion) in February, with a month-on-month growth of 9.4 percent.

In January, the export value was 16.48 billion yuan, growing 33 percent from December.

As of March 8, more than 700 enterprises in China had received the Conformite Europeenne (CE) mark, while more than 30 enterprises had earned market entry approval from the US Food and Drug Administration, according to a report by Guotai Junan Securities.

Guangzhou Wondfo Biotech Co Ltd said it had provided numerous test kits to around 100 countries and regions worldwide, including those in Europe, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East.

The successive launch of a series of test products in domestic and foreign markets and the substantial sales figures have been driving the rapid growth of the company, Wondfo said.