Sanofi Launches Comprehensive 'Health Journey' Initiative to Deepen Commitment to China's Primary Healthcare Market

(Image source: Panoramic Vision)

Economic Observer Network, Reporter Han JingOn the morning of October 13, Sanofi announced the launch of its new “Healthcare Journey” initiative at the Xinhua News Agency’s All-Media Broadcast Control Center. At the launch event, Jean-Christophe Pointeau, President of Sanofi China, introduced the initiative as a long-term “package program” targeting China’s primary healthcare sector. The first phase will include at least six major projects and their sub-projects, and by 2020, it is expected to cover 94% of the regions along China’s Belt and Road Initiative.

Six Projects Advanced Continuously in Three Phases

It is understood that “Healthy Medical Journey” is a diverse and multi-layered initiative targeting China’s primary healthcare sector. In collaboration with various partners, Sanofi brings high-quality innovative medicines, vaccines, and leading disease management models to provinces and cities along the Belt and Road Initiative, enhancing the capabilities and experience of primary healthcare, promoting the decentralization of high-quality medical resources, advancing the development of primary healthcare management and services, and improving access to high-quality medical care.

As a sustainable initiative, “Healthy Medical Journey” is projected to cover seven cities along the Belt and Road Initiative (Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Chongqing, and Xi’an) in the fourth quarter of 2018, with over 1,700 training sessions and activities, reaching nearly 2,000 community and county-level hospitals, supporting more than 1,500 managers of primary healthcare institutions and 30,000 general practitioners at the grassroots level, and conducting health education programs for at least 6,000 community residents. In 2019, Sanofi’s “Healthy Medical Journey” project plans to expand to 14 cities across 12 provinces and municipalities along the Belt and Road Initiative. By 2020, the project will cover 94% of the regions along the Belt and Road Initiative.

According to Sanofi representatives, the first batch of six projects includes: the Sino-French Sanofi General Practice Training Base; the General Practitioner Empowerment Program for general practitioners; the “Blue Sky Plan,” which supports community healthcare institutions in providing regular and comprehensive health education to patients; the “Healthy Cities” initiative, which establishes online smart community digital healthcare solutions; the China County Hospital Presidents’ Forum, which creates a platform for exchange and discussion among presidents of county-level hospitals nationwide; and the Meishan Diabetes Management Project, which conducts screening, follow-up, and standardized management for individuals with diabetes.

Notably, the Meishan Diabetes Management Project was launched on July 3 this year, when the Meishan Municipal People’s Government of Sichuan Province signed a strategic agreement with Sanofi China and the Chinese Alliance for Diabetes Innovation. The project has an overall duration of 10 years, with an investment of RMB 50 million in the first five-year phase, aiming to explore and pilot chronic disease management models tailored to China’s national conditions.

In the first phase of the project, a baseline population survey involving 50,000 individuals will be conducted in Meishan City to establish a relevant database. Concurrently, building upon this baseline survey, the project team will carry out screening, follow-up, standardized management, and a five-year interventional follow-up study for individuals with diabetes, jointly constructing a chronic disease prevention and control network system covering one million people.

The “Meishan Model” has, for the first time, achieved coordinated collaboration among the government, alliances, and enterprises, rather than relying on the traditional approach of government-led implementation of healthcare reform policies. As the first pharmaceutical company to participate in this initiative, Sanofi leveraged its extensive experience accumulated over many years in the field of chronic disease management in China.

AI Enables Leapfrog Development in Primary Healthcare Institutions

Furthermore, “Healthy Medical Journey” will comprehensively leverage leading technologies (such as big data and artificial intelligence) and innovative platforms (iHealth station, M-robots) to bring advanced medical resources and innovative solutions to the development of primary healthcare in China.

For instance, the “Sino-French Sanofi General Practice Training Base” will introduce demonstrations and training on innovative digital technologies and tools, such as robotic physician assistants and artificial intelligence (AI), applying them to patient disease course management. This covers all stages, including electronic health record (EHR) collection for initial consultations, in-hospital and out-of-hospital patient education and WeChat-based disease knowledge Q&A, out-of-hospital management and follow-up, EHR updates, AI-driven medication reminders, and EHR retrieval for follow-up visits. By demonstrating big data-enabled, comprehensive coverage of the entire patient journey, it aims to broaden the horizons of community hospital administrators and expand their imagination regarding “Internet + Healthcare.”

Sanofi also introduced that the interactive engine enables AI-powered medical semantic recognition, along with disease-specific “knowledge bases + dialogue libraries,” facilitating the integration of chronic disease “patient education + patient management” and digital technologies. As a result, community hospitals and county-level hospitals now have access to a professional physician assistant available 24/7.

"AI and doctor assistants, as auxiliary diagnostic tools, are not yet widely used in China's top-tier hospitals. How effective would their direct implementation be in grassroots hospitals? In response to the reporter's question, Peng Zhenke said, 'The value these devices generate in community settings may surpass that in top-tier hospitals.' He believes this could help grassroots hospitals achieve leapfrog development."

Strategic Presence in County-Level Markets, Cultivated Over Many Years

“Sanofi is the first multinational pharmaceutical company to establish a presence in county-level markets and set up an independent primary healthcare business unit.” On October 8, at the press conference announcing the strategic partnership between Sanofi (China) and the China County Hospital Presidents Alliance (Hainan Boao County Healthcare Development Research Center), Academician Wang Longde, member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and founder of the China County Hospital Presidents Alliance, stated that this strategic cooperation further expands and deepens the existing collaborative relationship between the Alliance and Sanofi.

Forty years ago, with the opening of China’s reform and opening-up policy, a large number of foreign pharmaceutical companies gradually expanded and grew in China. Today, new pharmaceutical industry policies are frequently introduced, and market competition is becoming increasingly fierce. In recent years, the Chinese government has clearly defined its strategic goal of “strengthening primary healthcare,” placing high importance on the development of a tiered diagnosis and treatment system. As Sanofi’s second-largest market globally, China requires the company to carve out a unique path amidst numerous competitors. Consequently, Sanofi has turned its focus to the primary healthcare sector.

In 2011, Sanofi established its Primary Care Business Unit in China, becoming the first multinational healthcare company to commit to the vast primary care market. Subsequently, Sanofi implemented the principle of “one medical representative per county,” deploying medical information specialists to be stationed at the county level, enabling direct communication with county-level hospitals and physicians. More importantly, these medical information specialists possess comprehensive knowledge of disease diagnosis and treatment, as well as training skills, across Sanofi’s full product portfolios in cardiovascular diseases and diabetes, thereby allowing them to provide close-range support to primary care providers.

Subsequently, Sanofi supported the “Dayi Bo’ai Grassroots Initiative,” a continuing medical education (CME) program on the diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular diseases for primary care physicians, initiated and organized by the Dayi Bo’ai Volunteer Service Team. Addressing the practical needs of primary healthcare institutions, particularly county-level cardiologists, the program employed comprehensive CME activities—including coursework, surgical guidance, and online support—to enhance physicians’ professional knowledge and clinical skills, thereby comprehensively improving the standard of cardiovascular disease diagnosis and treatment at the grassroots level. In addition, Sanofi supported the “CDS Grassroots Diabetes Education Program,” launched by the Chinese Diabetes Society (CDS). This initiative addressed challenges faced by county-level diabetes healthcare professionals, such as shortages of continuing education resources and inconsistent implementation of standardized diabetes care, by delivering comprehensive educational activities through coursework, online support, and case sharing.

Meanwhile, Sanofi has actively collaborated with the Hospital Management Institute of the National Health Commission and the National Health Standards Committee to launch a project for the promotion and implementation of medical service standards (chronic disease management in primary care hospitals). Centered on medical service standards and based in county-level hospitals, this initiative aims to establish a standardized platform for the diagnosis and treatment of chronic diseases in primary healthcare institutions. By setting up pilot demonstration bases for the promotion of medical service standards in well-established county-level hospitals, the project extends its reach to surrounding primary healthcare facilities and medical professionals, thereby improving quality control and diagnostic and therapeutic standards for chronic diseases, and meeting the healthcare needs for chronic disease management at the primary care level.

Earlier this year, Sanofi established a community hospital promotion team under its Core Business Unit to further strengthen its presence in primary healthcare.

By the end of 2013, Sanofi’s Primary Care Division had reached nearly 700 counties in China, covering a population of approximately 200 million, and its four major physician training programs had provided training to 20,000 county-level physicians. This represented a threefold increase in scale compared to the first year. By the end of 2014, the initiative was projected to cover more than 1,200 counties and train 72,000 county-level physicians. The training content provided by Sanofi has become increasingly tailored to the characteristics of patients in county-level areas, ensuring that county-level physicians receive optimal skills training and the most up-to-date knowledge. Currently, Sanofi’s Primary Care Division covers more than 1,600 counties across China.

Optimistic about the Primary Care Market, Proficient in the Art of Collaboration

It is understood that in China, there are nearly 300 million patients with chronic diseases, making chronic diseases the number one health threat in the country. The "China Cardiovascular Disease Report 2017 (Summary)" points out that cardiovascular disease mortality ranks first among the total causes of death for both urban and rural residents, with rural mortality rates consistently higher than those in urban areas; furthermore, the China Kadoorie Biobank study on chronic diseases shows that the increased risk of all-cause mortality among diabetic patients in rural areas is more pronounced compared to urban areas. County-level hospitals serve as the primary healthcare facilities for residents in China’s counties and act as the leading component of the three-tier rural medical network. According to the key objectives of the national tiered diagnosis and treatment system, the goal is to ensure that “major illnesses are treated within the county,” with 90% of treatments managed at the county level.

Since 2016, Sanofi has supported 165 county-level hospitals in obtaining Chest Pain Center certification and facilitated the registration of 1,551 hospitals through its County Hospital Chest Pain Center Construction Project. Additionally, it has conducted over 3,000 training sessions, reaching nearly 90,000 discipline leaders and clinicians.

“‘Healthy China 2030’ strategic goals are not only an important vision for the Chinese people, but also hold significant guiding significance for Sanofi's development in China,” said Kathleen Tregoning, Executive Vice President and Head of External Affairs at Sanofi, in a media interview.

In April 2017, Sanofi partnered with the Cardiovascular Health Research Institute (Suzhou Industrial Park) (China Cardiovascular Health Alliance) to launch the Chest Pain Center project. The initiative aimed to deploy 550 chest pain specialists in cardiovascular medicine to grassroots levels, with a plan to deliver over 1,000 training sessions on standardized diagnosis and treatment of myocardial infarction to 40,000 county- and city-level physicians by 2018. This effort sought to enhance these physicians’ ability to diagnose and differentiate acute myocardial infarction, thereby benefiting a larger number of MI patients in county-level regions.

“Community health centers are playing an increasingly important role, while county-level hospitals serve as the primary venues for medical consultations among residents in China’s counties and act as the leading component of the three-tier rural healthcare network.” Wu Suwei, Director of the Department of General Practice and Continuing Education at the Chinese Medical Doctor Association, stated at the launch ceremony, “It is gratifying to see enterprises, government bodies, social organizations, and medical institutions actively joining hands to creatively establish extensive ‘Health Medical Pathways’ across communities and county-level regions. These efforts aim to strengthen the workforce of primary care physicians, promote the establishment of a new high-quality and efficient primary healthcare service system, and provide the public with safe, effective, convenient, and accessible basic medical and health services.”

Jin Xiaodong, Head of Sanofi China’s Core Products Division, stated in an interview with a reporter from Economic Observer Network that this project is primarily aimed at fulfilling the company’s corporate social responsibility.

In September, Sanofi announced a restructuring of its organizational architecture, establishing a new global business unit for “China and Emerging Markets.” In November, Sanofi will participate in the inaugural China International Import Expo with a 300-square-meter exhibition booth.

It is evident that Sanofi is optimistic about the Chinese market and has a deep understanding of how to collaborate with the government, hospitals, and other stakeholders. Its years of dedication to the primary healthcare sector represent a strategic move to further penetrate the Chinese market.