Brandname home-care medical device by APEX Medical Corporation successfully accesses international channels

From OEM to brandname

Founded in 1990, APEX Medical Corporation, which focuses on the three major areas of wound management, respiratory therapy and medical equipment, successfully transformed from an R&D manufacturer to a brandname marketer recently. By managing the brandname APEX as development core, the company has successfully penetrated healthcare institutions such as ICU, home-care and lease markets through the serial products of Intelligent Support Surface System.

In view of the global population aging trend, APEX started from Durable Medical Equipment and Electronic Medical Products and now has brandname products accounting for 70% of its sales. It has established eight subsidiaries, one office and 142 distributors in 48 countries, and is aiming at becoming the best brandname provider of Support Surfaces and Nebulizer, based on successful business extensions in over 60 countries.

In response to different medical regulations and health insurance plans of various countries, APEX has established a differentiated management model for the local markets. For instance, a first-in-market"one-day in-house" after-sale maintenance service for air-beds has been established in Taiwan; while the acquisition of a local leasing company Westmeria has enabled the APEX brandname to penetrate the air-bed leasing market and the National Health Service of England. Moreover, overseas service offices have been set up for gathering customer opinions, and the local business experience has served as a mirror for business development of new markets in other areas.

Humanity-Based, Technology-Led

The president of APEX, Dr. Yung-Chuan Lee (Daniel) said:"Humanity concern is the starting point of our products, at the same time, both the needs of users and caretakers are taken into consideration for designing safe and comfortable products."

Combining electric engineering, electronics, semiconductor, photoelectronics and precision mechanics, plastics, chemical engineering, textile industries, case management and business marketing expertise, a most complete biomedical R&D team in Taiwan, which masters key technologies in physiological signal monitoring, micro-signal processing, and real-time algorithm, component development and clinical test has been formed. Medical device is characterized by low quantity but high variety, and requires heavy investment of time, capital and manpower. APEX invests 2~5% of its revenues and human resource every year in the expansion of R&D facilities and the introduction of new technologies for product improvement and technology innovation. Further, patent mapping strategies have helped APEX firmly established its regional positions based on 143 items of granted patents and 66 items of pending patents.

APEX is the first R&D manufacturer in Asia that makes key components of High Flower Blower. It has also been actively engaged in clinical collaborations on medical device following regulations of USA, Japan and Germany etc. Other than focusing effort on the Intelligent Support Surface System, APEX has successfully developed the Negative Pressure Wound Therapy (NPWT), which is the only clinically certified product of its kind in Asia. It accelerates the healing of diabetic foot wounds, bed sores, acute or traumatic wounds and chronic, difficult to heal wounds, and further effectively prevents infections. NPWT offers the advantages of home-care suitability, care-taking manpower reduction, and significant saving on hospital-stay costs, as well as increased patient autonomy and better quality of life.

The use of Antimicrobial Silver+ and 2-directional material Stretch Cover in APEX Intelligent Support Surface System helps reduce risks of wound infections and hospital cross infections. The core technology of intelligent pressure adjustment accurately controls pressure lowering modes, and with the double-barrel design for prevention of bottom-touching, the care-taking burdens are effectively reduced. Moreover, as patient dignity is emphasized and medical cost is lowered, both medical resource and benefit are optimized.

As a result of fiscal deficits and government debts, the EU is under the pressures of reducing medical expenditure and cutting healthcare manpower. To help ease the situation, APEX provides a total of ten products in Intelligent Support Surface System of reduced-pressure healthcare air-beds with high quality after-sale services. This line of product and service has gained high market receptions, and APEX will keep focusing on the special market and aiming at becoming a world leader in the medical device industry.