Companies from unrelated industries are moving into the medical device market one after another. Drawing on technology built up in existing businesses such as massage chairs, rental services and cosmetics, they are widening their reach by securing patents, launching new brands and taking equity stakes. As competition intensifies, incumbent medical device makers are also moving faster to craft responses, including expanding overseas sales networks.
Patent applications for medical devices that combine information and communications technology with biometric measurement rose 24.4% to 2,834 last year from 2,279 in 2024, according to the Korean Intellectual Property Office on the 22nd. Over the same period, filings related to signal processing for biometric diagnosis climbed 38.8% to 2,559 from 1,843.
Analysts tie the increase closely to the growing number of companies entering the medical device market. Bodyfriend is a prime example, expanding its business by grafting robotics and therapeutic functions onto massage chairs. The company filed 949 medical device patent applications between 2015 and 2024, ranking fifth among all applicants. In therapeutic support devices in particular, it filed 803 applications, the most in the country. Coway, a leader in the rental industry, also entered the market in January this year with the launch of Therasol, a brand of home medical devices.
In the beauty industry, APR is expanding beyond home beauty devices into hospital-use energy-based aesthetic medical devices (EBD) and skin boosters. The company has completed domestic regulatory approval for its EBD products and is pushing to launch them within the year. Amorepacific invested 80 billion won (about $56 million) in a fund set up to acquire Viol Medical and has begun cooperating on joint medical device development and marketing.
Incumbent medical device makers are responding by widening overseas sales networks and signing global partnerships. Classys (214150.KS) is expanding direct sales through its local unit in Brazil and strengthening supplies of equipment and consumables by tapping hospital networks in Japan. It is also pursuing the U.S. and European markets and an entry into China.
Some are also seeking to broaden overseas channels through tie-ups with global medical device companies. Finemedix (387570.KQ), which supplies gastrointestinal endoscopy solutions, signed an original development manufacturing (ODM) contract with Creo Medical, a British medical device specialist, covering two types of endoscopic procedure instruments.
"We plan to supply products to the U.S. and Latin American markets using Creo Medical's global sales network," an official at Finemedix said. "It will cut the time and cost needed to secure local distribution channels and let the company concentrate its capabilities solely on expanding product sales."