More good news for Chindex: China OKs new products

Monday, July 7, 2008

More good news for Chindex: China OKs new products

‘Thrilled’ Bethesda medical care provider will begin sales process

| By Gazette Staff

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Chindex International Inc. of Bethesda, which provides health care services and medical equipment in China, has received more good news for its prospects, after recently posting revenue and profit increases for its last fiscal year.

The company received approval last week from China’s State Food and Drug Administration to introduce new products.

The approvals allow Chindex to launch marketing programs and begin the sales process for products such as the robotic daVinci S Surgical System and the AlexLaser pigment removal laser, which can remove tattoos.

‘’We are thrilled to have finally received the authorizations we have been waiting for,” CEO Roberta Lipson said in a statement. ‘‘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.”

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, according to company information.

The company’s robotic technology in its surgical system 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.

For the company’s fiscal 2008 ending March 31, revenues grew 23 percent to $130.1 million over fiscal 2007. Profits grew even faster, 34 percent, to $3.7 million, over the prior year.

Lipson also said, ‘‘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.”