Over the past few years, China’s neurointerventional market has been moving rapidly from an early stage of domestic substitution into a new cycle of product portfolio expansion.
Compared with coronary intervention, neurointervention started later, but its technical barriers are significantly higher. Intracranial vessels are smaller, more fragile, more tortuous, and more anatomically complex. This places much higher requirements on catheter trackability, support, flexibility, kink resistance, and dimensional stability.
For this reason, neurointervention has long been regarded as one of the more technically demanding and fast-growing segments within vascular intervention.
1. China’s Neurointerventional Market Remains in a High-Growth Stage
From a market perspective, China’s neurointerventional sector is still growing rapidly.
On one hand, the continued development of stroke centers is improving the penetration rate of interventional treatment for acute ischemic stroke, intracranial aneurysms, intracranial stenosis, and other cerebrovascular diseases.
On the other hand, domestic companies are continuously expanding their product portfolios across thrombectomy stents, intracranial stents, coils, flow diverters, microcatheters, balloon catheters, and other product categories. As a result, neurointervention is shifting from single-product introduction to multi-product portfolio expansion.
According to CIC data cited in the prospectus of MicroPort NeuroScientific, China’s neurointerventional market is expected to grow from RMB 5.8 billion in 2020 to RMB 17.5 billion in 2026, representing a CAGR of approximately 20%. The number of neurointerventional procedures is expected to increase from 161,000 in 2020 to 741,000 in 2026, with a CAGR of 29%.
This shows that the growth of the neurointerventional market is not driven by pricing alone. Instead, it is supported by the combined effects of rising clinical penetration, increasing procedure volume, broader domestic product pipelines, and expanding hospital coverage.
For upstream catheter suppliers, this trend means that neurointervention is becoming an important growth area in the field of high-end vascular interventional catheters.
2. Neurointervention Is Moving from Single-Product Growth to Platform-Based Competition
Based on the public 2025 financial results of leading domestic companies, neurointerventional businesses continue to show resilience despite differentiated growth performance.
Some companies achieved relatively fast growth through the combined expansion of hemorrhagic stroke, ischemic stroke, and access products. Others maintained stable growth under the pressure of volume-based procurement and price reduction.
Overall, competition in neurointervention is no longer limited to individual products. It is gradually shifting toward platform-based competition built around treatment devices, access systems, delivery control, and global expansion.
MicroPort NeuroScientific reported 2025 revenue of RMB 790 million, up 3.8% year-on-year. By product category, hemorrhagic stroke products generated approximately RMB 475 million, up 8.1%; cerebral atherosclerotic stenosis products generated approximately RMB 265 million, down 2.4%; and acute ischemic stroke products generated approximately RMB 46.6 million, down 2.9%. Overall, its growth highlights were mainly reflected in continued overseas business expansion, with overseas revenue reaching RMB 105 million, up 39.4%, as well as revenue growth and market share gains in its coil product series within the hemorrhagic stroke segment.
ZYLOX Tonbridge reported 2025 revenue of RMB 1.057 billion, up 35.1% year-on-year. Its neurovascular interventional device business generated RMB 676 million, up 28.0%. According to its public annual report, the growth of its neurovascular business was mainly driven by the promotion and rapid penetration of newly approved products such as the Qilin flow diverter, revenue growth from mature products including the SilverSnake intracranial intermediate catheter series, Phoenix intracranial aneurysm embolization coils, and neurovascular guidewires, as well as increased penetration across hospitals at different levels. Overall, the company is strengthening its platform layout in aneurysm treatment and neurointerventional access through a product portfolio covering flow diverters, coils, intermediate catheters, and guidewires.
HeartCare Medical reported 2025 revenue of RMB 408 million, up 46.9% year-on-year. According to public performance disclosures, the company’s revenue growth was associated with growth across three major segments: ischemic stroke, hemorrhagic stroke, and interventional access. Revenue from ischemic stroke products increased by 31.8% year-on-year, while revenue from hemorrhagic stroke products increased by 223.2%. In the interventional access segment, its vascular closure device has entered more than 1,800 hospitals, with annual revenue from this single product exceeding RMB 100 million. Overall, HeartCare’s public results reflect the transition of neurointerventional companies from early growth driven by access products to a platform stage where treatment devices and access products develop in parallel.
SINOMED reported 2025 operating revenue of RMB 525 million, up 14.53% year-on-year. Its neurointerventional business revenue increased by 5.30% year-on-year. According to the public annual report, the growth of its neurointerventional business was mainly driven by increased sales volume of intracranial stents, contributions from access products, acute ischemic stroke treatment products, and newly added coated dense-mesh stents. However, intracranial balloons, access products, and some treatment products were also affected by price reductions, resulting in relatively steady overall growth.
The competition in neurointervention is shifting from single-product volume growth to competition in product portfolio and platform capability. This creates three higher requirements for the upstream supply chain:
First, suppliers need to move from simply being able to make sample tubes to providing systematic capabilities in materials, structure, and process design for different clinical scenarios.
Second, the expansion of product portfolios creates greater demand for catheter and delivery system components.
Third, under volume-based procurement and larger production volumes, downstream companies are paying more attention to batch consistency, dimensional accuracy, lubricity, concentricity, and long-term delivery capability.
Ultimately, upstream suppliers need to evolve from single-point processing providers into integrated partners with capabilities in materials, structure, process development, and stable mass production.
3. Future Direction: From Domestic Substitution to High-End Innovation and System-Level Competition
In the future, neurointervention will move beyond domestic substitution toward high-end innovation and system-level competition.
On one hand, treatment scenarios will extend from relatively mature large-vessel lesions to more distal, smaller, and more tortuous complex vessels. This will push microcatheters, intermediate catheters, and distal access catheters toward smaller outer diameters, thinner walls, better trackability, and stronger kink resistance.
On the other hand, competition will no longer be limited to a single stent, coil, or thrombectomy device. Instead, it will become a competition of the overall system capability: access system, treatment device, and delivery control.
For physicians, a device must not only reach the target site. It also needs to support stable delivery, precise deployment, and controllable operational response within complex vascular pathways.
Therefore, future neurointerventional products will place greater emphasis on precise deployment, stable delivery, low-friction inner lumens, proximal-to-distal stiffness transition, batch consistency, and scalable manufacturing repeatability.
This is especially important for flow diverters, intracranial stents, coil delivery systems, thrombectomy systems, and neurointerventional balloon products. In these applications, the performance of the catheter system directly affects the delivery, deployment, and operational stability of the final therapeutic device.
At the same time, domestic neurointerventional companies will continue moving from single-product growth to multi-product platform layouts, while also advancing overseas registration and global supply chain development.
This means that downstream customers will raise their expectations for upstream suppliers. The question is no longer simply whether a supplier can make a sample. It is whether the supplier can support stable mass production, regulatory verification, and long-term reliable delivery.
For upstream catheter manufacturers, customers no longer need only one qualified sample tube. They need an integrated catheter solution covering material selection, structural design, precision processing, and manufacturing stability.
4. The Core of Neurointervention: Not Only the Treatment Device, but Whether It Can Be Delivered to the Target Site
In neurointerventional procedures, what truly determines treatment success is often not only the stent, coil, thrombectomy device, or other therapeutic implant itself. It is the entire access and delivery system behind it.
Whether treating intracranial aneurysms, performing thrombectomy for acute ischemic stroke, or treating intracranial stenosis with angioplasty and stenting, the therapeutic device must reach the target vessel through a pathway consisting of guidewires, microcatheters, intermediate catheters, distal access catheters, and delivery systems.
As a result, the clinical performance of neurointerventional products is largely determined by four fundamental questions:
Can it get in? The catheter must maintain good trackability and passability in small, tortuous, and highly branched intracranial vessels.
Can it deliver stably? Before the release of stents, coils, thrombectomy devices, or other therapeutic products, the delivery system must provide stable support and precise positional control.
Can it be controlled? In distal small vessels, catheter flexibility, kink resistance, and push response directly affect the physician’s handling experience and deployment accuracy.
Can it remain stable in mass production? Neurointerventional products have extremely high requirements for dimensions, wall thickness, concentricity, lumen stability, material batch consistency, and post-processing accuracy. Even minor variations may affect assembly, delivery, and clinical usability.
Therefore, the upgrading of the neurointerventional industry is also driving the upgrading of upstream catheter materials and precision manufacturing capabilities.
5. ECO’s Catheter and Material Solutions for Neurointerventional Applications
As a medical catheter manufacturer, ECO has long focused on and served high-end vascular interventional catheter applications, including neurointervention, coronary intervention, peripheral intervention, structural heart disease, and other fields.
For the common tubing and structural component needs in neurointerventional device development, ECO can provide downstream device companies with a variety of catheter materials and processing solutions, including the following:
（1）Tubing for Microcatheters
Microcatheters are used for coil delivery, embolic material delivery, stent-assisted embolization, and distal vascular access establishment.
They require distal flexibility, proximal pushability, kink resistance, and stable inner lumen performance.
ECO can provide polymer tubing, composite tubing, and related post-processing support based on customer requirements.
（2）Catheters for Stent Delivery Systems
Intracranial stents, flow diverters, and thrombectomy stents all rely heavily on the stability of the delivery system.
The delivery system must pass smoothly through tortuous vessels while providing sufficient axial support and positional control during deployment.
ECO can provide tubing and composite structures based on materials such as PEBAX, etched PTFE liners, FEP, and PI. Around development targets such as trackability, support, inner lumen friction, and dimensional stability, ECO can support customers with material and structural solution development.
（3）Tubing for Coil Delivery Systems
Coil delivery systems require smooth inner lumens, sensitive distal response, and stable deployment performance.
Inner lumen friction, dimensional consistency, distal softness transition, and batch stability all influence coil delivery and positioning.
ECO can provide tubing development, material matching, and precision processing support, helping customers identify and control risks related to dimensions, materials, and process variation during sample validation and mass production introduction.
（4）Balloon Tubing for Neurointervention
Neurointerventional balloon tubing is used in intracranial stenosis treatment, vessel pre-dilation, and stent-assisted procedures.
The concentricity, wall thickness control, elongation behavior, and material stability of the balloon tubing directly affect the wall thickness uniformity, burst performance, and fatigue stability of the formed balloon.
ECO can support balloon tubing development through material selection, dimensional control, and subsequent validation support.
（5）Other Access Catheters and Composite Tubing
These include intermediate catheters, distal access catheters, guiding catheters, aspiration catheters, and other access-related catheter structures.
Such products need to balance inner lumen stability, distal flexibility, proximal support, kink and collapse resistance, low-friction outer surfaces, and compatibility with other devices.
ECO can provide multiple solutions, including single-lumen tubing, multilayer composite tubing, braid-reinforced tubing, thermal bonding structures, PEBAX outer layer tubing, PTFE/FEP low-friction liners, high-strength thin-wall PI tubing, and PEEK support tubing.
（6）From a Single Tube to Neurointerventional Access Capability
As China’s neurointerventional market continues to expand, industry competition will shift from single-product competition to platform-based capability competition.
For downstream companies, what truly matters is not only a qualified sample tube, but whether they can build a repeatable, verifiable, and scalable supply chain capability.
Upstream catheter suppliers need to become involved earlier in the customer’s R&D process and help answer key development questions:
What material should be used for this catheter? Is the wall thickness and inner diameter window reasonable? How should distal flexibility and proximal support be balanced? Does the product require braiding, thermal bonding, tip forming, punching, flaring, or precision cutting? Can the sample performance be consistently replicated in mass production?
ECO aims to support downstream medical device companies through material selection, structural design, process development, and mass production stability evaluation.
The growth of neurointervention will ultimately be reflected in every catheter structure that becomes thinner, more stable, and more controllable.
For ECO, neurointervention is not only an important vascular interventional application area. It is also a key scenario for evaluating the precision manufacturing capability of medical catheters.
In future neurointerventional product development, access catheters, delivery system tubing, and balloon tubing will become critical underlying capabilities connecting clinical needs with device innovation.
Note: This article is intended only for industry observation and technical trend analysis. It does not constitute investment advice, medical advice, product recommendation, or commercial evaluation of any company. The operating data of listed companies mentioned in this article are mainly sourced from their 2025 annual reports and public disclosures. Market size and procedure volume data are sourced from CIC data cited in the prospectus of MicroPort NeuroScientific. The company names mentioned in this article are used only for public information analysis and do not indicate any supply relationship, cooperation, authorization, endorsement, or other commercial relationship between ECO and the companies mentioned.
