WSI Signs MOU with China’s Lufu to "Strengthen Competitiveness in Cardiovascular Disease Business"

WSI, which is building a new business portfolio in surgical robots and cardiovascular diseases, is partnering with Lepu Medical Technology, a leader in the cardiovascular and structural heart fields.

On the 2nd, WSI announced that it signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Lepu Medical Technology, a comprehensive medical device company, to expand its business related to cardiovascular diseases.

Lepu Medical Technology is one of the top three medical device companies in China and the first Chinese company to successfully develop and commercialize cardiovascular stents. It is located in Beijing, China, and has a National Cardiovascular Clinical Center within the company. Currently, it supplies products certified by the European CE (Conformit? Europ?enne) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to over 120 countries. Its main products include ▲medical devices for congenital and structural heart diseases ▲medical devices for cardiac and cerebrovascular interventional procedures ▲surgical medical devices ▲diagnostic radiology equipment ▲clinical pathology equipment and reagents. The company is listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, with a market capitalization of approximately KRW 5.4 trillion.

Through this MOU, WSI plans to secure domestic distribution rights for Lepu’s cardiovascular interventional medical devices currently under development and sales. They will also collaborate on the catheter OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) business and the intravascular lithotripsy (IVL) medical devices for coronary and peripheral vascular plaques that Lepu is developing. Based on this, WSI intends to focus on developing its own products.

Both companies will also cooperate on operating educational and clinical programs related to cardiovascular diseases to expand their sales channels. This collaboration with Lepu will enable WSI to accelerate its growth momentum through the cardiovascular disease business.

A WSI official stated, "By establishing strategic partnerships with leading companies in the cardiovascular field such as the UK’s KIMAL and China’s LifeTech Scientific Corp, and now Lepu, we have secured strong business competitiveness. We will actively leverage our extensive network of approximately 400 domestic hospitals and clinics and our sales expertise to grow the high-potential cardiovascular disease business into a new cash cow."

Meanwhile, cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death worldwide and ranks second in mortality in South Korea after cancer. According to the Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service, the number of patients receiving treatment for cardiovascular diseases at medical institutions increased annually from 960,000 in 2015 to 1.13 million in 2019.