MedSci Healthcare, Backed by 2.9 Million Doctors and Tencent, Lists on HKEX

Today, the online doctor platform MedSci Healthcare listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

With the widespread adoption of digital technologies, online learning, communication, and practice by physicians have become an inevitable trend. Numerous online physician platforms, positioned as either comprehensive or specialty-focused, have also emerged in China.

MedSci Healthcare was founded in 2012 and has received investments from prominent institutions such as Qiming Venture Partners and Tencent. After years of accumulation, by the end of 2022, MedSci Healthcare had amassed 2.9 million registered physician users, with an average monthly active user base of 2.7 million in 2022. The MedSci platform also covers a significant number of senior-level physicians; by the end of 2021, physicians at the associate chief physician level and above registered on the platform accounted for 67.1% of the total number of physicians at these levels in China.

For MedSci Healthcare, physicians serve as both core resources and its users and customers. Leveraging a base of 2.9 million physicians, MedSci Healthcare has maintained steady revenue growth, with annual revenues reaching RMB 216 million, RMB 298 million, and RMB 349 million from 2020 to 2022, respectively.

Now listed on the secondary market, MedSci Healthcare has become another physician platform company to go public following Medlive Technology. What are its key performance highlights?

Physicians are the primary target of marketing efforts by pharmaceutical and medical device companies; therefore, digital marketing has become a common business model and revenue source for online physician platforms.

Currently, MedSci Healthcare has established three major business segments: Precision Omnichannel Marketing Solutions, Physician Platform Solutions, and Real-World Study (RWS) Solutions; among these, the Precision Omnichannel Marketing Solutions are centered on digital marketing.

MedSci Healthcare’s Business Segments and Profit Model, Source: Prospectus, Chart Compiled by VCBeat

In its precision omnichannel marketing solutions, MedSci Healthcare designs and customizes professional academic medical content for pharmaceutical and medical device products, delivers academically oriented medical content co-developed with pharmaceutical and medical device companies to targeted physician audiences, and provides customized online surveys tailored to specific physician segments.

From 2020 to 2022, MedSci Healthcare’s precision omnichannel marketing solutions generated revenues of RMB 131 million, RMB 184 million, and RMB 199 million, respectively, while its client base grew from 200 to 350.

Precision omnichannel marketing solutions are the primary revenue driver for MedSci Healthcare, accounting for approximately 60% of total revenue.

Currently, online doctor platforms, medical AI companies, internet healthcare enterprises, and pharmaceutical e-commerce players are all actively deploying digital marketing services for pharmaceutical companies, while traditional marketing firms are also leveraging digital technologies to transform. Approximately 200 participating companies in China operate under diverse business models. In terms of product functionalities and service offerings, customer relationship management (CRM) systems, virtual representatives, online academic conferences, post-diagnosis follow-up platforms, and patient education all fall within the scope of digital marketing.

As centralized procurement, national medical insurance negotiations, and the two-invoice system become normalized, an increasing number of pharmaceutical and medical device companies are urgently seeking marketing approaches that are more cost-effective and efficient, while also demanding greater diversity and systematic rigor in marketing content and outcomes. This market environment will further drive the development of digital marketing.

As its precision omnichannel marketing solutions continued to grow steadily, MedSci Healthcare’s RWS solutions saw rapid revenue growth, emerging as a standout performer among its three major business segments.

Revenue and Growth by Business Segment of MedSci Healthcare (RMB 10,000), Source: Prospectus, Compiled and Charted by VCBeat

RWS solutions are also tailored for pharmaceutical and medical device companies, providing real-world evidence-based studies on the safety and efficacy of medical products. MedSci Healthcare assists these companies in designing comprehensive RWS protocols, recruiting participants, and managing projects, enabling them to derive valuable data from RWS to inform their marketing strategies.

According to the prospectus, RWS solutions generated revenue of RMB 36.59 million in 2021, a year-on-year increase of 211.7%; in 2022, revenue reached RMB 61.306 million, representing a year-on-year growth of 67.5%. The revenue growth from RWS significantly outpaced the company’s overall growth rate, with its share of total revenue rising from 5.5% in 2020 to 17.6% in 2022.

RWS solution revenue has grown rapidly, primarily driven by an increase in pharmaceutical and medical device enterprise clients. In recent years, these companies have actively conducted real-world studies (RWS) to generate academic content, enhance product recognition among physicians, and expand product indications, all of which are key objectives for pharmaceutical and medical device enterprises. Over the past three years, the number of clients for MedSci Healthcare’s RWS solutions has surged from 10 to 86.

Overall, the gross profit margin of RWS solutions is lower than that of precision omnichannel marketing or physician platform solutions. However, as business scale expands, the adoption of technologies such as optical character recognition (OCR) and electronic patient-reported outcome (ePRO) tools has improved the delivery efficiency of RWS solutions, driving a continuous rise in gross profit margin from 10.1% in 2020 to 36.5% in 2022.

Overall, the RWS solution has become a new growth driver for MedSci Healthcare.

In recent years, the interest in RWS has been continuously rising.

Since 2020, the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) has issued documents such as the *Guiding Principles for Using Real-World Evidence to Support Drug Development and Review (Trial)*, the *Technical Guiding Principles for Using Real-World Data in Clinical Evaluation of Medical Devices (Trial)*, and the *Guiding Principles for Communication on Real-World Evidence Supporting Drug Registration Applications (Trial)*. Policy has become a key factor driving the rapid development of real-world studies (RWS).

Meanwhile, real-world studies (RWS) are increasingly being conducted by both academia and industry. Taking clinical trials registered with the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (ChiCTR) as an example, a keyword search for “real world” yielded a total of 821 studies. The number of clinical trials registered in 2016 and 2017 was relatively low; however, starting in 2018, the volume grew rapidly, exceeding 200 in 2021, with only a slight decline in 2022 due to the impact of the pandemic. In 2023, as of April 25, 56 additional trials had already been registered.

Real-world study projects registered with ChiCTR; Data source: ChiCTR official website; Chart compiled by VCBeat

Throughout the implementation of real-world studies (RWS), challenges of varying degrees exist across all stages, from study design to operational management.

For example, poorly designed real-world study (RWS) protocols can compromise study validity. Pharmaceutical and medical device companies may lack accurate and efficient tools for data collection and analysis. The daily management and operation of RWS are complex, requiring substantial effort and resources to achieve the highest possible data completeness. Meanwhile, these companies may have insufficient capabilities in comprehensive statistical analysis, making it difficult to effectively unlock the value of real-world data (RWD), or they may lack adequate experience in translating RWS findings into publishable materials.

In response to these challenges, various enterprises—including online physician platforms, contract research organizations (CROs), big data and artificial intelligence firms, genetic testing companies, and internet healthcare providers—have launched real-world study (RWS) services. When delivering RWS services, each type of company leverages its specific core strengths, whether in study protocol design expertise, data governance and analytical capabilities, efficient execution teams, or proprietary data assets and application scenarios.

Online physician platforms also offer significant advantages for conducting real-world studies (RWS): these platforms boast abundant and widely distributed physician resources. In multi-center RWS, a larger network of connected physicians translates into greater flexibility in site selection. Most physician platforms possess an academic orientation, providing unique methodological strengths in the design of clinical research protocols. Furthermore, once RWS generate real-world evidence (RWE), physician platforms can serve as dissemination channels, facilitating the rapid outreach of valuable RWE to a broader physician community and even directly influencing professional medical societies.

On online physician platforms, MedSci Healthcare Holdings Limited is not the only entity that recognizes the immense potential of Real-World Studies (RWS); Medlive, another company listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, has also established a presence in this field. Medlive’s latest annual report revealed that in 2022, leveraging its strengths in clinical research, its brand reputation among physicians, and its collaborative foundation with pharmaceutical and medical device companies, it rapidly launched RWS services. These services encompass trial design and protocol writing, project management and clinical operations, data management and statistics, medical monitoring, and manuscript support, with implementations already in place across oncology, hematology, neurology, pediatrics, and cardiology.

In the future, the importance of RWS is expected to become even more prominent.

Amid the trend of population aging, patient demand for pharmaceuticals and medical devices continues to grow. Real-world studies (RWS) can enhance the efficiency of clinical trials for new products, thereby accelerating the launch of new drugs and medical devices.

Medical products require not only medical evidence prior to commercialization but also the continuous generation of such evidence during the commercial phase. At this stage, Real-World Evidence (RWE) can strongly support the expansion of product indications and target populations. As competition among homogeneous medical products intensifies, leveraging Real-World Studies (RWS) to identify subtle differences between similar products has become a key strategy for precisely benefiting patients and enhancing product competitiveness.

Furthermore, evidence from real-world settings can help pharmaceutical and medical device companies optimize their marketing strategies to reach a broader target audience of physicians and patients.

Therefore, RWS is gradually evolving from being policy-driven to industry-demand-driven, and market-oriented innovative collaborations will further invigorate the RWS sector. Online physician platforms with ample physician resources can also unlock greater potential in this context.

Next, let’s examine MedSci Health’s RWS solution, which primarily encompasses study protocol design, data collection and assessment, and project operations, covering the entire research lifecycle.

During the study protocol design phase, MedSci Healthcare provides pharmaceutical and medical device companies with comprehensive protocol evaluation, as well as the design of statistical and analytical methods for electronic medical record data.

During the data collection and assessment phase, MedSci Healthcare integrates various data collection and assessment technologies and analytical tools to facilitate the efficient collection and evaluation of electronic medical records (EMRs). In the practical implementation of real-world studies (RWS), MedSci Healthcare’s Electronic Data Capture (EDC) system can be utilized to collect, manage, and process real-world clinical data for statistical analysis.

EDC systems and other tools employ optical character recognition (OCR) technology to automatically extract data from written or electronic medical records, and then utilize edit check tools to assess the logic and consistency of the data.

During the project operational phase, MedSci Healthcare assists pharmaceutical and medical device companies with personnel recruitment and ethical approval, while maintaining close communication with physicians, researchers, hospitals, and clinical departments to monitor research progress and ensure that the study encompasses a sufficient number of appropriate cases. To ensure the integrity of the research results, MedSci Healthcare can conduct patient follow-ups to obtain sufficiently comprehensive data records.

In the statistical analysis phase, MedSci Healthcare assembled a technical team comprising experts in databases and natural language processing to extract, integrate, and construct standardized data for research, thereby ensuring the data meets the standards required for medical research.

Finally, in the publication support phase, MedSci Healthcare assists pharmaceutical and medical device companies in transforming real-world study (RWS) results into high-quality scientific materials. Throughout the entire cycle, MedSci Healthcare synchronously tracks the progress of RWS solutions to ensure that the project generates academic medical content and evidence sufficient for publication in academic journals.

MedSci Healthcare provided services to the Chinese subsidiary of a multinational pharmaceutical company, where real-world studies (RWS) helped enhance product visibility and drive sales.

One of the pharmaceutical company’s core products is a medication for pediatric respiratory diseases, and there is a need to enhance its awareness among pediatricians in China.

During the collaboration, both parties established multiple objectives for the Real-World Study (RWS), including: generating medical evidence on the drug’s effectiveness in pediatric respiratory diseases; enhancing pediatricians’ confidence in using the drug by evaluating its safety and efficacy in real-world settings; and promoting the rational use of the drug in pediatric respiratory diseases through the generated Real-World Evidence (RWE).

Ultimately, MedSci Healthcare successfully collected approximately 4,000 cases from around 30 renowned hospitals across China. Data analysis revealed that for respiratory diseases such as pneumonia, bronchiolitis, and asthma—which can cause coughing and sputum production—the proactive use of antitussive and expectorant medications, alongside treatment of the underlying condition, significantly aids pediatric recovery. Among medications used to alleviate cough and sputum symptoms, this drug demonstrates comparative advantages in terms of safety and efficacy. These findings have bolstered the confidence of pediatricians, particularly those involved in the Real-World Study (RWS), in the medication.

Benefiting from RWS and other relevant medical evidence, the “Expert Consensus on the Diagnosis and Treatment of Chronic Wet Cough in Chinese Children (2019 Edition)” recommends the use of this drug for treating chronic wet cough in children, further enhancing its awareness and influence among pediatricians in China.

RWE is primarily generated through RWD and causal inference, involving complex models, assumptions, and the application of artificial intelligence, which imposes relatively high demands on relevant researchers and analysts.

Physician platforms demonstrate significant advantages in the design of real-world study (RWS) protocols and the promotion and application of real-world evidence (RWE), while capabilities in data processing and analysis require continuous strengthening.

The intended use of proceeds by MedSci Healthcare highlights its emphasis on technology and talent. The prospectus indicates that the company plans to offer competitive salaries to recruit renowned scientists, researchers, and engineers in fields such as artificial intelligence, big data, natural language processing, deep learning, and medical research.

With physician resources being extremely limited, online physician platforms—whether general or specialty-focused—aggregate these resources. Beyond basic services such as physician education, clinical tools, and digital marketing, what further potential remains?

Taking MedSci Healthcare as an example, in addition to its existing three major business segments, the company has begun to actively expand into new directions.

For example, MedSci Healthcare provides prognostic modeling for complications of rare diseases to several renowned tertiary hospitals in Shanghai, facilitating early preventive measures; it also develops macro-level healthcare expenditure prediction models for various conditions, such as ischemic stroke, to serve as a reference for physicians, hospitals, and insurance companies.

Leveraging its established physician resources, technological expertise, and research capabilities, MedSci Healthcare has also expanded into cutting-edge technical products such as digital therapeutics and VR-based diagnostics.

In the field of digital therapeutics, MedSci Healthcare is developing a product for chronic insomnia, expected to launch in the fourth quarter of 2023.

In the field of VR-based diagnostics, MedSci Healthcare has developed “MedSci Doctor,” a platform integrating over 3,000 clinical cases to meet physicians’ lifelong learning needs. Compared with traditional learning methods such as text, graphics, video, and live streaming, VR offers a more interactive environment.

By leveraging this product, physicians can conduct more effective case studies and simulate real-world treatment processes. “MedSci Doctor” also enables physicians to gain an intuitive understanding of clinical symptoms, particularly those associated with rare diseases, thereby enhancing their learning efficiency.

In addition, MedSci Healthcare Holdings Limited plans to establish partnerships with insurance companies to assist them in risk management and insurance product design, or to explore other new cooperation models, thereby enriching its service offerings.

The prospectus shows that from 2020 to 2022, MedSci Healthcare's revenue was RMB 216 million, RMB 298 million, and RMB 349 million, respectively, while its adjusted net profit was RMB 28.914 million, RMB 41.169 million, and RMB 45.553 million, respectively.

It is foreseeable that MedSci Healthcare Holdings Limited is poised to leverage technological innovation to resolve more academic challenges and deploy its innovative products in clinical settings with substantial unmet needs, thereby unlocking broader potential for revenue and profit growth.

In the future, online doctor platforms need not be confined to digital marketing but can explore greater possibilities in new directions.