Qilu Pharmaceutical President Li Yan Proposes Boosting Geriatric-Friendly Drug Development Including Easy-to-Swallow Formulations

During the 2026 Two Sessions in China, a reporter from The Paper learned that Li Yan, a national representative and president of Qilu Pharmaceutical Group, has proposed "Accelerating the Construction of an Integrated Medical-Pharmaceutical-Rehabilitation Service System to Effectively Enhance the Health Satisfaction of the Elderly." Li Yan suggested strengthening the coordination mechanism between health authorities, drug regulators, and pharmaceutical companies, establishing a platform to connect clinical needs with research and development supply. She proposed guiding companies to increase investments in age-friendly R&D such as easy-to-swallow formulations, portable testing equipment, and intelligent rehabilitation devices, while providing policy incentives. Additionally, she recommended improving clinical compatibility evaluation standards and feedback mechanisms, with medical institutions leading clinical trials and effectiveness assessments, promptly feeding results back to pharmaceutical companies, thereby forming a virtuous cycle of "demand-research-application-iteration."

By the end of 2025, the population aged 60 and above in China has reached 323 million, accounting for 23% of the total population. It is projected to exceed 400 million by 2035. In recent years, China has been continuously strengthening the construction of an elderly healthcare service system, introducing a series of key policies. For instance, the Notice on Carrying Out the Establishment of Elder-Friendly Medical Institutions provides basic guidelines for the aging-oriented transformation of medical institutions from four dimensions: elder-friendly culture, management, services, and environment.

Li Yan pointed out that the elderly population generally faces issues such as multiple coexisting diseases, functional decline, and a high incidence of chronic illnesses, leading to an increasing demand for integrated health services including medical treatment, medication, rehabilitation, and nursing care. Guided by policy, the construction of China's elderly health service system has achieved phased results. By the end of 2024, 94.4% of public hospitals at or above the secondary level have established "green channels" for the elderly; 7,436 general hospitals at or above the secondary level have geriatric medicine departments, and 15,624 general hospitals have become elder-friendly medical institutions. National pilot programs for hospice care now cover 185 cities (districts). Across China, 85,000 pairs of medical and elderly care institutions have established cooperative agreements, with 8,427 integrated medical and elderly care institutions.

Despite the significant achievements in the construction of the elderly healthcare service system, there are still multiple shortcomings in current practice compared to the growing needs of the elderly population and policy goals. Li Yan introduced that the market lacks a sufficient supply of elder-friendly medical devices specifically designed for the elderly (such as formulations that are easy to swallow and portable testing equipment suitable for home use), with a low degree of alignment with actual clinical needs. Meanwhile, the incidence of polypharmacy (using ≥5 medications simultaneously) is high among elderly patients. Elderly patients with multiple chronic conditions take an average of 5.6 medications, with a potential drug interaction risk rate as high as 37%. However, less than 30% of hospitals across China have implemented standardized and systematic rational medication management programs.

Li Yan further introduced that the information barriers between the three major sectors of medical treatment, pharmacy, and rehabilitation remain strong. A unified electronic health record for the elderly has not been fully established, leading to difficulties such as "repeated referrals, duplicate examinations, and service disruptions" when they move between hospitals, rehabilitation institutions, and communities. The data interoperability rate is less than 30%. There is a significant structural imbalance on the service supply side: on the one hand, there is a huge shortage of professional talent, especially geriatric caregivers, with a gap as high as 3.5 million; on the other hand, the distribution of medical and elderly care resources across regions is uneven, with large cities experiencing a "one-bed shortage" while third- and fourth-tier cities face high bed vacancy rates. Additionally, hospice care services, which provide crucial support in the final stage of life, are particularly weak. Among over 1.07 million healthcare institutions in China, only about 4,000 have established a hospice care department, accounting for less than 0.4%.

In response to the above situation, Li Yan suggested improving the regulatory coordination mechanism and strengthening the defense line for the quality of elderly healthcare services. A multi-department collaborative supervision mechanism should be established involving health authorities, drug regulators, civil affairs departments, and medical insurance agencies, with clear regulatory responsibilities: Health authorities should focus on supervising the quality of geriatric medical services and the coordination between "medical treatment and rehabilitation." Drug regulators should concentrate on the quality of age-friendly pharmaceuticals and medical devices as well as their clinical compatibility. Civil affairs departments should prioritize linking elder care services with rehabilitation resources, while medical insurance agencies should guide medical institutions to optimize elderly healthcare services through medical insurance payment policies. It is recommended that the National Health Commission take the lead in continuously enhancing dynamic supervision, evaluation, and rectification of senior-friendly medical institutions. Additionally, it should collaborate with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology to guide hospitals in further advancing the adaptation of digital technologies for the elderly, optimizing and upgrading features such as large fonts, large icons, senior mode, and barrier-free medical treatment.

In addition, Li Yan also suggested further promoting the construction of "medical and elderly care integrated service consortium," integrating resources from tertiary hospitals, secondary hospitals, community health service centers, rehabilitation institutions, and elderly care institutions within the region. This aims to achieve unified management of electronic health records and cross-institutional, cross-level information sharing, breaking the "information silos" to address issues such as "repeated referrals, redundant examinations, and service disruptions" for the elderly. It seeks to realize a closed-loop system where "minor illnesses are treated in the community, major illnesses are referred to hospitals, and rehabilitation returns to the community." Significant efforts should be made to resolve structural imbalances in medical and elderly care resources, encouraging some secondary and lower-level medical institutions to transition into rehabilitation hospitals or nursing homes, while promoting county-level medical institutions to actively provide integrated medical and elderly care services. Efforts should also focus on genuinely enhancing the quality of integrated "prescription-medication-rehabilitation" services, implementing effective long-term prescription management for elderly patients with chronic diseases, avoiding frequent hospital visits.

Pengpai News reporter Xiaoxiao Li