The ever-growing importance of the Chinese market and the increasing presence of Chinese players in the global medtech arena has not gone amiss in 2017, and the new year began with a flurry of announcements of further East-West partnerships being forged, including one by next-gen sequencing leader Illumina and by cancer therapy specialist Varian Medical Systems. Additionally, global investment firm Ally Bridge sealed a deal with LifeTech to co-invest in medtech companies looking to tackle China.

Approvals of neurostimulation and cardiology devices dominated the list of non-US medtech approvals in June. According to Medtech Insight's Approvals Tracker, there were 36 medtech approvals outside the US last total that month, including 28 CE marks in Europe, plus approvals from China, Canada, Australia/New Zealand and Brazil.

Although thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR) is now routine for lesions like dissection of the descending aorta, the Big Three aortic endovascular companies are developing devices for the more technically challenging proximal and distal portions of the thoracic aorta while physicians refine TEVAR in the descending aorta. Insiders say endovascular techniques are overcoming limitations and physicians will soon be able to treat the entire aorta, from the aortic valve to the bifurcation.

The cardiology sector, long known as one of the most innovative in medtech, has a new wave of technologies on the horizon that could help reinvigorate the sector and create new multibillion-dollar market opportunities for device manufacturers. We take a closer look at these technologies, which include vagal nerve stimulation, remote monitoring for heart failure, as well as innovation in the percutaneous coronary intervention space, all of which were all in the spotlight at the recent European Society of Cardiology Congress 2014 in Barcelona.