DEVELOPMENT OF THE IN VITRO DIAGNOSTICS SUB-INDUSTRY WITHIN CHINA'S BIG HEALTH ECONOMY: EVIDENCE FROM A NATIONAL STATISTICAL SURVEY
Keywords:
Big health industry, In vitro diagnostics, Industry survey, Rank-order centroid, Volume-based procurementAbstract
In vitro diagnostics (IVD) is a core segment of China's big health economy, and it supports disease screening, chronic disease management, and infectious disease control. This paper measures the operating state of the Chinese IVD industry in 2025. Four statistical sources are merged. They are a national enterprise survey with 206 valid responses, the financial record of 59 listed IVD companies, the public registration database of the National Medical Products Administration, and a record of primary-market investment events. Four dimensions are measured, namely aggregate scale, segment structure, innovation supply, and capital allocation. The results show that the finished IVD market fell by 10.0% in 2025 to CNY 108.0 billion. Revenue of listed firms fell by 12.22% and net profit fell by 28.49%. Molecular diagnostics, point-of-care testing, and pathology remained resilient, while biochemistry and immunoassay were weak. Domestic Class III approvals rose by 12.95% and imported approvals fell by 18.60%. A rank-order centroid model converts the survey ranking of operating difficulties into cardinal weights. Reimbursement pricing carries the largest weight of 0.408, and disordered competition follows at 0.242. The paper then proposes a three-level upgrading path for regulators, firms, and the supply chain. A moderate recovery between 0 and 5% is expected in 2026.References
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