GSK and Meituan Dianping Join Forces to Deepen Collaboration in China's OTC Pharmaceutical Market

　　【Pharmaceutical Network Corporate News】On August 18, Meituan Dianping and GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare China (GSK) announced a comprehensive strategic partnership. The two parties will join forces to deepen their presence in the over-the-counter (OTC) pharmaceutical industry, including by co-developing an O2O (online-to-offline) pharmaceutical model based on local life services, thereby offering consumers a wider product selection and more convenient medication purchasing services.
 

OTC is the abbreviation for over-the-counter drugs, which are medications that consumers can self-diagnose, purchase, and use. According to relevant data, the global OTC drug market showed an overall upward trend from 2013 to 2018, reaching approximately $122 billion in 2019. It is projected that the global OTC market size will continue to grow from 2020 to 2025, reaching $162 billion by 2025. In China, the domestic OTC industry has also experienced continuous growth in recent years. According to data from the China Pharmaceutical Association, the industry's compound annual growth rate (CAGR) reached 7.7%, significantly higher than the global average growth rate, indicating substantial potential for development in China’s OTC market.
 

Industry forecasts suggest that with the upgrading of consumer spending levels and heightened health awareness, demand for over-the-counter (OTC) products is likely to continue growing. It is projected that by 2020, China’s OTC drug market may become the largest globally, with its scale expanding to RMB 600–800 billion in the future.
 

As OTC products possess the attributes of branded consumer goods and are unaffected by centralized government procurement policies, competition in the OTC market remains intense despite the substantial blue-ocean opportunities, necessitating continuous exploration and innovation in corporate business models. It is reported that the comprehensive and in-depth strategic cooperation between Meituan Dianping and GSK will be rolled out across three key areas.
 

First, with a focus on serving consumers, we will jointly build an online supply ecosystem. By leveraging Meituan’s big data analytics technology to understand consumer demand and integrating the complementary strengths of both parties, we will help traditional offline pharmacies embrace the new retail model in the pharmaceutical industry, thereby enabling online operational management for brick-and-mortar pharmacy stores. This initiative will provide users across China with a higher-quality, more comprehensive, and more convenient medication-purchasing experience.
 

Secondly, through integrated online-to-offline lifestyle service scenario marketing, we help GSK’s many consumer-favorite brands integrate with the platform’s omni-channel ecosystem, fostering consumer awareness of GSK’s product portfolios across diverse scenarios. By exploring new channels, we help GSK unlock new growth opportunities and create incremental market value.
 

Thirdly, by leveraging a wider array of online marketing tools, GSK accumulates digital assets across multiple dimensions—including campaigns, users, and terminal pharmacies—and generates real-time, visualized data analytics. This provides scientifically grounded optimization guidance for brand marketing investments and supply strategies. Consequently, this approach helps traditional pharmaceutical companies accelerate their digital marketing transformation and foster innovative marketing concepts. In the post-pandemic era, harnessing the power of internet platforms is driving new development opportunities for the over-the-counter (OTC) pharmaceutical industry.
 

From an industry perspective, the “Internet Plus” model has continued to expand since the beginning of this year amid the impact of the special period. In particular, the penetration rate of “Internet Plus Healthcare” is steadily rising, rapidly integrating into people’s daily lives and gradually transforming consumer habits. The recent collaboration between Meituan Dianping and GSK may help explore new development directions for the over-the-counter (OTC) pharmaceutical industry.
 

Data shows that GSK is a large global R&D-based multinational pharmaceutical company. Its products hold a dominant position in four therapeutic areas: antibiotics, central nervous system, respiratory, and digestive systems. GSK’s business in China mainly focuses on prescription drugs and vaccines. In 2019, GSK announced the completion of a transaction with Pfizer to integrate their consumer healthcare businesses and establish a global joint venture. Following the merger, GSK Consumer Healthcare in China will strengthen its industry-leading position in pain management, respiratory health, nutritional supplements, and therapeutic oral care.