JRI Orthopaedics, Ltd, a British healthcare company, has signed an exclusive manufacturing deal with AK Medical, China’s largest domestic orthopedic producer and distributor. As a result of the deal, JRI expects to ship to China a minimum of 10, 000 Chinese designed hip implants over the next five years.
Where Does China Outsource its Manufacturing? Britain!
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Keith Jackson, JRI Orthopaedics chief executive, said, ” China has a population of 1.3 billion but currently only 250 million people have access to a hip replacement. The potential is huge and we see this as a significant market for the company.”
Jackson observed that there is a “really good appetite” for high quality British brands in China. He believes that his company has defied convention by arranging to manufacture Chinese designed products for the Chinese market in Sheffield, England. Last year JRI secured a major sub-manufacturing contract with AK Medical which means that Chinese designed hip implants are being manufactured in JRI’s Sheffield plant for sale in China.
Sheffield, incidentally, is also the British headquarters for B. Braun—one of the premier medical instrument makers in the world.
JRI Orthopaedics has negotiated another order with the Chinese firm that will increase the number of AK Medical implants manufactured in Sheffield next year by 50%.A major step for JRI Orthopaedics will be securing regulatory approval from the Chinese Food and Drug Administration to sell their own products to Chinese surgeons.
JRI Orthopaedics employs 115 people. The company is planning market expansion in Asia and the Far East and is submitting product registrations in Japan. It has signed a distribution deal for Japan and hopes to soon get regulatory approvals there.
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This is a fascinating development. In my practice we've seen similar outcomes with the revised protocol. The key differentiator seems to be patient selection criteria. Has anyone else noticed the correlation with BMI thresholds?
Great point. I'd push back slightly on the conclusion, the sample size in the cited study is too small to draw population-level inferences. That said, the directional signal is compelling and worth a larger RCT.
We implemented a similar approach last year. Early results are promising but we're still gathering 12-month follow-up data. Happy to share our protocol if anyone is interested.
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