BETHESDA, Md. July 2 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- Chindex International, Inc. (Nasdaq: CHDX), an independent American provider of international healthcare services and Western healthcare products in the People’s Republic of China, today announced that it has received long-awaited approval from the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) of the People’s Republic of China to introduce new products, including the daVinci S Surgical System manufactured by Intuitive Surgical (Nasdaq: ISRG) and the AlexLaser manufactured by Candela Corporation (Nasdaq: CLZR). The receipt of the SFDA Certificates will allow Chindex to begin the sales process and launch official marketing programs for these products, creating a wealth of new market opportunities for the Company.
Roberta Lipson, Chindex CEO, commented from Beijing, “We are thrilled to have finally received the authorizations we have been waiting for. We have been in preparatory discussions for many months with potential hospital customers in China related to the exciting daVinci S product. We will now begin immediately to move ahead with the sales process for the prospects in our pipeline. In many cases, our customers will be required to go through a formal budgeting approval or tendering process as part of their procurement procedures. These steps could not be accomplished before the SFDA approval was in hand. We were also pleased to receive regulatory approval for the AlexLaser, the Q-switched Alexandrite laser that is used for tattoo and pigmentation removal. There is a substantial market in China for these lasers, and we are now finally able to offer a product to satisfy it. Both of these regulatory approvals were long awaited and faced the significant delays that are unfortunately very common in the medical device approval process in China today. We now look forward to the benefit that we will see from the addition of these key products to our portfolio.”
Chindex is the exclusive distributor of the daVinci S Surgical System in mainland China and Hong Kong and maintains a nationwide sales and technical service team to support daVinci system sales in all major metropolitan areas in mainland China and Hong Kong. The revolutionary robotic technology from Intuitive Surgical is designed to extend the benefits of minimally invasive surgery to a broad base of patients. Since its development and introduction in 1999 there have been more than 850 daVinci systems installed worldwide. Chindex has placed four systems in Hong Kong since introducing the system in that market in 2005. The systems are all used in various departments for urology, gynecology, general surgery, pediatric, thoracic and ENT cases. An initial reference and testing site at the People’s Liberation Army General Hospital in Beijing has been in service since January 2007. Nearly 100 robotic cardiac cases have been performed successfully since that time.
About Chindex International, Inc.
Chindex is an American healthcare company that provides healthcare services and supplies medical capital equipment, instrumentation and products to the Chinese marketplace, including Hong Kong. It provides healthcare services through the operations of its United Family Hospitals and Clinics, a network of private primary care hospitals and affiliated ambulatory clinics in China. The Company’s hospital network currently operates in the Beijing and Shanghai metropolitan areas. The Company sells medical products manufactured by various major multinational companies, including Siemens AG and Intuitive Surgical, which are the Company’s exclusive distribution partners for the sale and servicing of color doppler ultrasound systems and surgical robotic systems respectively. It also arranges financing packages for the supply of medical products to hospitals in China utilizing the export loan and loan guarantee programs of both the U.S. Export-Import Bank and the German KfW Development Bank. With twenty-seven years of experience, more than 1,300 employees, and operations in China, Hong Kong, the United States and Germany, the Company’s strategy is to expand its cross-cultural reach by providing leading edge healthcare technologies, quality products and services to Greater China’s professional communities. Further company information may be found at the Company’s websites, http://www.chindex.com and http://www.unitedfamilyhospitals.com .
For more information, please contact:
Judy Zakreski
Lawrence Pemble
Tel: +1-301-215-7777
