From Selling Medicines to Health Solutions: Haleon’s 'Proactive Health' Strategy to Navigate Beyond China's Volume-Based Procurement

"Nearly 70% of consumers believe they meet the standard for health awareness, but in reality, only 40% actually do." Recently, Fu Yue, Vice President of Haleon China, cited contrasting data from the "2025 China Consumer Proactive Health Insights Report" to illustrate the current 'knowledge-action gap' in public health awareness.

Regarding this dislocation, Fu Yue analyzed that the main deviations in cognition stem from mixed sources of information, lagging knowledge updates, and societal environmental influences. Therefore, the responsibility of enterprises is not only to provide products but also to become part of the "mainstream voice" by promoting scientific awareness, education, and scenario-based communication to help consumers establish correct cognition and foster greater proactive health awareness.

In Fu Yue's view, from the perspective of national strategy, health has always been a key focus for the Chinese government since the release of the "Healthy China 2030" planning outline. "Health literacy" has become the core of national strategy; without it, individuals would struggle to understand their own health challenges, let alone achieve effective intervention and continuous improvement. As a health company, Haleon, along with other enterprises, must align with this trend by taking corporate social responsibility seriously, committing to integrate into the entire health life cycle, making deep investments in the Chinese market, responding to local consumer needs, and playing a full-chain role.

Haleon, combining the perspectives of experts from various fields, has proposed the concept of "Proactive Health," which is also its response to the national development plan. Fu Yue believes that in this context, from enhancing awareness, guiding behavior to building an ecosystem, corporate responsibility no longer ends with product delivery but runs through every aspect of consumers proactively managing their health. This is not only a shift in business strategy but also a reshaping of the chain of health responsibilities.

Against the backdrop of the continuous advancement of the "Healthy China 2030" strategy, public health awareness is shifting from "passive response" to "proactive management," yet the gap between knowledge and action—knowing is easy, doing is hard—remains widespread.

The Report shows that nearly 70% (68%) of respondents have reached a qualified standard in health awareness, demonstrating a good level of health cognition. However, the objective physical condition feedback is not optimistic – only about 40% of respondents truly meet the physical standards. The public's health currently faces multiple burdens: more than one-third of adults are overweight or obese, and the awareness rate of common chronic diseases such as hypertension and diabetes is only about three-quarters of the actual prevalence rate, meaning a large number of patients are already ill without knowing it.

In this regard, Fu Yue believed that part of it is related to cognition, but the correlation between cognition and health actually involves interpretation issues. Either there is no clear interpretation for oneself, or there is a reluctance to acknowledge illness, or a selective blindness and lack of understanding.

In Fu Yue's view, the aforementioned cognitive biases mainly stem from three aspects: mixed sources of information, where "noise" from some irresponsible self-media, folk remedies, advertisements, etc., dilutes scientific voices; lagging knowledge updates, such as the adjustment of hypertension standards, but public awareness still lingers on the old criteria; and social environment influences, like "late-night snack culture" and "drinking culture," which lead people to overlook health risks.

The "Knowledge-Action Gap" in Health: Challenges and Characteristics in the Chinese Market

This requires the public to have more awareness of proactive health. However, the Report also revealed another major challenge, mainly reflected in the structural imbalance of the public's proactive health behaviors. The research results show that proactive health is mainly composed of three representative behaviors: lifestyle (41.4%), disease prevention (35.6%), and disease treatment (23.3%). Among them, maintaining a good lifestyle is the core pillar of proactive health. Its influence is more decisive and long-term compared to interventions for specific diseases, and it is the key to fundamentally improving the overall health level of the public.

However, research shows that the public is currently more adept at dealing with existing diseases rather than proactively engaging in preventive health management, overall demonstrating a clear "emphasis on treatment, neglect of prevention" trend, which poses potential risks for future health.

To effectively bridge this widespread "knowledge-action gap," Fu Yue believes that consumer health companies must undergo a role transformation, shifting from traditional product providers to "health cycle partners" throughout an individual's health journey. This means that companies need to take on broader responsibilities, deeply engaging in every aspect of health management—from enhancing health awareness and intervening in health behaviors to supporting disease prevention. At the same time, companies should actively collaborate with forces across society to jointly build a positive and mutually prosperous health ecosystem.

It is reported that the concept of "Proactive Health" was proposed by Haleon against the backdrop of the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee, which emphasized improving the social security system and deepening the reform of the medical and health system, while incorporating insights from experts across various fields. It refers to the actions individuals autonomously take to promote health, prevent diseases, and maintain health capabilities for the purpose of achieving better health outcomes. Such health behaviors include following doctors' advice as well as independently adopting appropriate health interventions or preventive measures.

This is precisely in line with Haleon's positioning.

Haleon originates from the integration of consumer health businesses of three major pharmaceutical companies: GSK, Novartis, and Pfizer. On July 18, 2022, Haleon completed its spin-off from GSK and officially became an independent company focused on consumer health. Its business covers over-the-counter medicines, health supplements, fast-moving consumer goods, and other consumer health products. Haleon's brand portfolio includes Caltrate, Centrum, Sensodyne, Panadol, Voltaren, Contac, Bactroban, Flixonase, Polident, and Enbio.

The above products fall into the fields of oral health, pain management, respiratory health, digestive health, and nutritional health, all of which are related to proactive health. Haleon is not a "pharmaceutical company" in the traditional sense but a "consumer health company."

Fu Yue emphasized that driven by multiple certainties such as the continuous upgrading of health needs, the steady improvement of consumption capacity, and strong support from national policies, the prospects for China's consumer health industry are extremely broad.

This is actually Haleon's reverse operation when multinational pharmaceutical companies such as BMS, UCB, and GSK are divesting their mature drug businesses in China. Haleon (Haleon) acquired the remaining 12% stake in its joint venture in China, Tianjin SmithKline & French Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (Sino-American SmithKline), to achieve 100% ownership.

Haleon's reverse operation is not "against the trend," but "following the trend": aligning with the trends of China's health consumption upgrade, policy liberalization, and local capacity building.

In fact, Haleon's business logic is not "selling medicine," but rather "selling health solutions." Its products, such as Fenbid, Caltrate, and Centrum, possess the dual attributes of "consumer goods + pharmaceuticals," making them unaffected by the "rock-bottom prices" of bulk procurement. Instead, they benefit from the increasing health awareness among Chinese residents.

If the mission, competitive logic, and benchmarks for success of multinational traditional pharmaceutical companies and Haleon are placed within the same coordinate system, two increasingly divergent curves emerge: the former ends with "treating diseases," while the latter begins with "preventing diseases"; the former battles through patent cliffs and bulk procurement pricing, whereas the latter cultivates deeply within consumer mindsets and lifestyle scenarios.

The core mission of traditional pharmaceutical companies is strictly defined by clinical needs — targeting diseases that have already occurred, winning doctors' prescription rights with chemical names and evidence-based data, where efficacy serves as the "gold standard" for success. Haleon, on the other hand, shifts its focus to the vast gray area before diseases occur, using brand warmth and everyday scenarios to remind consumers: prevention is more cost-effective than treatment, and self-management is more dignified than passive medical visits.

"The key to a pharmaceutical brand becoming well-known to consumers, from its chemical name, lies in whether it has clear efficacy, long-term safety verification, and original research advantages — just like 'Fenbid,' which has surpassed its patent period but remains deeply trusted due to unique advantages such as therapeutic effectiveness and balanced properties. Haleon is currently in the stage of brand competition, rather than simply competing on the chemical names of original drugs," said Fu Yue. She emphasized that against the backdrop of consumers already having clear medication awareness for common ailments, there is an even greater need to focus on 'proactive health.' This means guiding consumers to actively choose trusted products when symptoms arise and building confidence through continuous high quality and scientific evidence.