Officials at Sheffield-based JRI Orthopaedics Limited are celebrating the first patient in China to receive the company’s Furlong Evolution hip replacement implant. A consultant from one of China’s leading orthopedic hospitals performed the surgery on a 59-year-old man who is now walking unaided. JRI executives believe that this is the first hip implant designed and manufactured by a wholly British-owned company to be used in China.
British Firm Implants Its First Hip Replacement in China
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Chief Operating Officer Jerry Agass said: “Our strategy has been to develop international markets rather than just focusing on our UK base.” He said that it has taken a lot of hard work to get the firm’s products registered in China and find the right distribution partner.
“We are delighted that we are now in a position to get our products into more Chinese hospitals,” he said. “I would hope within three years to have secured around £1m pounds (approximately $1,241,249.19 USD) worth of annual business and, over the next five years, to be selling a minimum of 10,000 hip implants in China. This would see China becoming our largest market outside the UK.”
JRI Orthopaedics is planning further market expansion in Asia and the Far East. It is submitting product registrations in Japan, has signed a distribution deal, and is hoping to get regulatory approvals in Japan by the end of 2017. A new distribution partner has also been secured in Australia.
JRI is wholly owned by the charity Orthopaedic Research UK and has donated £12m pounds (approximately $14,894,990.32 USD) over the last 10 years to fund research into bone and joint diseases.
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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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