(Yicai) Dec. 20 -- The latest round of China's centralized bulk high-value medical devices procurement program pushed down the price of cochlear implants by an average of 75 percent to around CNY50,000 (USD6,880) per unit.

There was a demand for 11000 units in the cochlear implants category, with Austria's MED-EL, US' Advanced Bionics, Australia's Cochlear, as well as China's Lishengte Medical Technology and Nurotron Biotechnology winning the bidding, according to data from the National Healthcare Security Administration released yesterday.

The results for cochlear implant procurement are expected to take effect around March 3, the NHSA noted. These devices are mainly used by children, as the incidence rate of congenital hearing loss among newborns is around 1 to 3 per 1,000.

The price drop will help more hearing-impaired children and elderly people with severe hearing loss gain access to treatments, said Yang Dong, deputy director of Tianjin Medical University General Hospital's otolaryngology department.

Peripheral vascular stents, mainly used to treat vascular diseases caused by diabetes and hyperlipidemia, were also included in the fifth round of the centralized bulk drug procurement program, covering stent products in various vascular areas and seeing a demand for 258,000 units. Some 18 companies won the tenders, including US' Cantel Medical, Abbott Laboratories, and Boston Scientific, Ireland's Covidien, and Germany's B. Braun, as well as China's Microport Medical Group and Peijia Medical.

The NHSA plans to implement the results for peripheral vascular stents by May next year.

The latest procurement round included mainstream brands commonly used in clinical practice, ensuring stability in their use, analysts noted. The three-year procurement cycle helps the selected companies form long-term and stable market expectations, they added.

In addition, the NHSA plans to facilitate unified settlement between medical institutions and selected suppliers through its national healthcare information platform, aiming to improve payment recovery rates for purchasing medical equipment.

Editor: Martin Kadiev