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East-West Medtech Benchmark (EWMB) — Lite, Q4 2026
Where is medtech's centre of gravity moving? EWMB Lite is a weighted index of selected public medtech indicators (devices, diagnostics and digital health), not a share of the entire medtech economy. Each indicator compares the defined East with the defined West; 50 is parity within that comparison.
Machine-readable JSON · as of 2026Q3 · published 2026-11-06
Sibling: East-West Biotech Benchmark (EWBB) · therapeutics · benchmark.json.
Headline
The East's selected-indicator score has roughly doubled since 2010, but medtech remains well below parity.
Quarterly scores use four trial and FDA indicators; annual scores use a broader, year-varying mix, so the two are not directly comparable. See Annual scores.
Wording update, 6 November 2026: page copy now describes EWMB Lite as a selected-indicator index and states each indicator's coverage and period. No scores changed.
Medtech sits well below biotech on these indices. Biotech Lite's Broad East reading is 40.5 for Q3 2026 (provisional). Both indices are built the same way, East/(East+West) with 50 = parity, but from different indicators and weights, so the gap is directional rather than like-for-like. In medtech the East's highest reading is research-paper volume; FDA 510(k) decisions and FDA novel devices are mostly from West-based applicants.
The trend, Q1 2010 to Q3 2026
Weighted index, trailing four quarters; 50 = parity. Fixed weights: industry device and diagnostic trial presence 36.4%, FDA 510(k) decisions 27.3%, single-region trial starts 18.2%, FDA novel devices 18.2%.
On the quarterly index the Broad East roughly doubled from 10.7 in Q1 2010 to 21.8 in Q3 2026 but remains well below parity. China only rose from 2.2 to 11.6; East ex-China peaked near 16 in 2024 and has since eased to 13.4. Each line is measured against the same West with its own denominator, so the three lines are not additive.
Nine public-data signals
Broad East share, %, latest available period for each measure. Only the four measures marked as scored feed the quarterly headline index; the rest are context (some enter annual scores in years with data). NMPA innovative-device figures are not included.
These signals have different coverage and dates. Research-paper volume is above parity, and registered manufacturing sites and S&E PhDs are near it; trial presence, FDA 510(k) decisions and FDA novel devices are mostly West-based. Paper counts are volume, not quality; registered sites are not output.
Annual scores
Each full-year score is a weighted mean of the calendar-year indicators available that year (weights: trial presence 20, single-region trial starts 10, FDA 510(k) 15, FDA novel devices 10, PCT medical-technology applications 10, research papers 10, device exports 10, S&E PhDs 5), re-scaled to the indicators present. The mix changes by year: 2025 uses five indicators (the four quarterly ones plus research papers). Annual scores are therefore not the quarterly formula, and year-to-year moves partly reflect which indicators are available. Registered manufacturing sites are not scored. 50 = parity.
| Year | Broad East | China only | East ex-China |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 27.8 | 14.9 | 19.7 |
| 2024 | 28.3 | 14.3 | 20.4 |
| 2023 | 28.7 | 14.3 | 20.7 |
| 2022 | 28.9 | 15.2 | 20.3 |
| 2021 | 30.5 | 16.6 | 20.7 |
| 2020 | 26.2 | 12.2 | 19.2 |
| 2019 | 24.9 | 11.2 | 18.6 |
| 2018 | 24.8 | 10.6 | 18.8 |
| 2017 | 24.9 | 10.3 | 19.0 |
| 2016 | 24.0 | 9.3 | 18.6 |
| 2015 | 22.9 | 8.9 | 17.6 |
| 2014 | 20.6 | 7.8 | 15.9 |
| 2013 | 19.8 | 6.9 | 15.9 |
| 2012 | 18.6 | 5.5 | 15.7 |
| 2011 | 19.8 | 6.7 | 16.0 |
| 2010 | 17.8 | 5.5 | 14.3 |
What counts / East and West
- East
- Asia, Australasia and the Middle East, including China, Japan, Korea, India, ASEAN, Australia, New Zealand and Israel
- China only
- Mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau, measured against the West
- East ex-China
- The rest of the East, measured against the West
- West
- United States, Canada and Europe (excluding Russia and Belarus)
- Medtech
- Medical devices, diagnostics, and digital health and care-delivery technology. Drugs and biologics are covered by the biotech benchmark.
Regions are analytical groupings, not a global partition: Russia, Belarus, the Caucasus, Africa, Latin America and most Pacific islands are excluded. Turkey and Israel are in East; Cyprus is in West. China includes mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau (Hong Kong and Macau re-exports are excluded from the trade signal).
Notes
- All measures are proxies: trial counts use reported site locations, not sponsor origin; FDA measures use applicant country on US filings, not company origin or global market share; registered sites are not output, capacity or quality.
- ClinicalTrials.gov understates China: ChiCTR and most NMPA-only studies are not included. Trial filters: industry lead sponsor, interventional, device or diagnostic-test intervention, start date in the window. Start dates and registrations can be revised, so recent quarters may change; exact query strings are not yet archived on this page.
- FDA novel-device counts are very small (6 East vs 74 West in the latest window), so that signal can swing sharply year to year.
- Research papers are OpenAlex volume in biomedical engineering and health informatics, not quality-weighted.
- UN Comtrade device exports include intra-EU trade, which inflates the West.
- Science and engineering PhDs cover all fields in seven countries and are not medtech-specific.
- China NMPA innovative-device approvals are not in any score, including Broad East, because that pathway is not comparable with FDA novel devices.
- China only and East ex-China are each calculated against the West with their own denominator, indicator by indicator, before weighting. They do not sum to Broad East.
- EWMB Lite is a descriptive editorial index built by the show from public data, not a peer-reviewed or third-party-audited benchmark, and not an investment or quality ranking.
Sources
Built from public regulatory, clinical-trial, research, patent and trade databases. Scores are aggregated regional shares; each signal lists its coverage limits.
- ClinicalTrials.gov API (v2)
- openFDA device 510(k) (includes De Novo)
- openFDA device PMA
- openFDA device registrations and listings
- OECD Patents in selected technologies (PCT, medical technology)
- OECD SDMX dataflow DSD_PATENTS@DF_PATENTS_OECDSPECIFIC
- OpenAlex works API
- UN Comtrade
- NCSES S&E doctoral degrees by selected country (CSV)
- NCSES Science and Engineering Indicators 2026, table TAL-19
Personal views, not investment advice. Aggregated public-source shares.