French X-Ray Anode Company Enters Chinese Medical Imaging Market

Acerde (Sainte-Hélène-du-Lac, France), a company that develops rotating anodes for X-ray tubes used in the medical imaging industry, reported on a development contract with a major China-based player in the medical imaging field, and the preparation of the company’s next-generation of rotating anodes, which are now composite-based instead of graphite-based.

“We are very excited about this agreement with a China-based medical imaging giant that underpins our recent developments and confirms the quality of our rotating anodes for X-ray tubes. Acerde has achieved a key milestone, and this will bring us greater international recognition and exposure. China is seeking to develop its own technology by leveraging the best-performing, most innovative solutions on the market. This contract definitely reinforces our position in China,” commented Acerde’s President, Hervé Poirel.

Tests performed in collaboration with all the major global medical imaging companies have been very successful. Imaging Companies worldwide will now be able to test a larger number of rotating anodes under real-life conditions, given that an anode’s lifespan is about three to four months. Now that Acerde’s completed production line is capable of producing 150 anodes per month, the company will be able to test its products on a larger scale.

The lengthy, expensive marketing phase has nevertheless resulted in the signature of 10-year contracts. After accelerated testing throughout 2013 (a standard accelerated test normally takes two months and simulates 18 months of real-life use), major medical imaging companies are now testing Acerde’s anodes in situ.

The global rotating anode market for X-ray tubes generates 300,000 parts per year (around EUR 250 million), which are manufactured mostly for export (United States, China, Japan, Germany, Italy). The first manufacturing unit has been set up for the yearly production of 1,000 to 1,500 anodes. Acerde has signed several cooperation agreements with many key participants in the sector and already has numerous preproduction orders, thereby giving it a position on various markets in the United States, Germany, Italy, France, China, and Japan.

Acerde hopes in the future to obtain 10% of this market. Acerde’s customers include some of the major names in medical imaging, as well as equipment manufacturers who make their own X-ray tubes.

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