Digital Therapeutics Industry Innovation Practice Forum: Diverse Manifestations in the Commercialization Dawn Year
The rapidly developing digital economy is becoming a key factor in reshaping the global competitive landscape.
As an interdisciplinary frontier science, digital therapeutics offers the opportunity to integrate various cutting-edge digital technologies with healthcare, thereby creating new or enhanced therapies that complement existing traditional treatments. Meanwhile, as an emerging field, digital therapeutics still requires the refinement of various regulations and frameworks; the industry landscape remains fluid and has not yet solidified.
Hainan Province took the lead in releasing the first full-lifecycle support policy for digital therapeutics, seizing the policy high ground. Although provinces and municipalities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Hunan, and Sichuan have not introduced policies specifically targeting the digital therapeutics industry like Hainan, they have provided favorable policy support in areas related to the upstream and downstream or ecosystem of digital therapeutics, including pharmaceutical digitalization reforms, drug and medical device review and approval processes, and optimization of the business environment. These measures aim to ensure they do not fall behind in this increasingly competitive sector. Major pharmaceutical and medical device companies are vying to establish their presence, hoping to gain further advantage in the era of healthcare digital transformation. In the post-pandemic era, favorable external policies, entry of industry giants, and capital enthusiasm have intensified competition within the sector. However, challenges such as difficulties in commercial profitability and the need to improve market payer acceptance have made the “beachhead” battle for digital therapeutics increasingly fierce and protracted.
In this context, the 2023·7th Future Healthcare Top 100 Conference was heldDigital Therapeutics Industry Innovation Practice Forum, from the perspectives of domestic policy development trends, technological innovation, and industrial transformation, and with industry associations, investment institutions, innovative enterprises, and government industrial parks as core focal points, we listen to the insights of policy scholars, clinical experts, investors, executives of technology-driven companies, and representatives of industry service organizations. Our aim is to empower the key innovators in the digital therapeutics field to achieve the incubation from concept to commercial operations, from research to production, and to establish market access pathways for their products, thereby jointly exploring the foundational origins of digital therapeutics development.
I. Forum Highlights
(I)Industry Outlook: The Next Stop for Innovative Development in the Digital Therapeutics Industry
In 2022, as the digital therapeutics industry moved past its phase of chasing concepts and hype, the focus shifted toward building corporate competitiveness, with a return to core products and application scenarios. In 2023, digital therapeutics demonstrated diverse developments. Experts suggested that 2023 would mark the first year of commercialization for digital therapeutics, characterized by large-scale, batched transactions driven by clinical adoption. Companies in the digital therapeutics sector will face increased opportunities and challenges across dimensions such as regulatory approval, certification, and commercialization. To this end, the forum has specially invitedLiu Chongsheng, Secretary-General of the Digital Therapeutics Professional Committee, China Association for Medical Device IndustryAs the first keynote speaker, I will share insights on forward-looking trends.
(II)Wave of Practice:Building a Closed Loop from Technology to Product for More Diverse Applications
Digital therapeutics hold revolutionary significance in reshaping the healthcare experience, reducing costs within the healthcare system, and improving efficiency. Compared with digital health and digital medicine, the core of digital therapeutics lies in “intervention,” featuring an “intervention model” that creates value in two ways: first, it further enhances the quality of care at the same treatment cost, thereby reducing costs and increasing efficiency for the industry; second, empowered by AI and digital therapeutics, it breaks through the limitations of healthcare professionals’ capabilities, energy, and motivation, thus overcoming the bottlenecks in the quality of traditional medical services and driving innovative development in the healthcare sector. Guided and driven by the wave of digital therapeutics overseas, domestic digital therapeutic products in China have caught up and even surpassed their counterparts, propelled by supportive policies and relaxed regulations. However, at present, digital therapeutics in China are still in the early stages of exploration, ranging from product forms and service ecosystems to business models.In 2023, the field of digital therapeutics will exhibit greater diversity. The forum plans to invite multiple innovative digital therapeutics companies to share their experiences across a broader range of disease areas, as well as practical insights into integrating digital therapeutics with various healthcare and medical platforms.
(III)Co-building the Ecosystem:Corporate Commercial BreakthroughWith Digital Ecosystem Innovation
To truly realize intelligent healthcare, digital therapeutics (DTx) are an indispensable component. As DTx solutions become increasingly diversified, companies in this sector are seeking common opportunities for growth. As a new increment within the pharmaceutical industry ecosystem, digital therapeutics face a landscape where opportunities and challenges coexist, offering broad prospects for research and application. Currently, the challenges facing the domestic DTx sector in China are primarily concentrated in three areas: product development, promotion and customer acquisition, and payment models. In the future, digital therapeutics will play a vital role among pharmaceuticals and medical devices. This forum will comprehensively explore the development of the industrial ecosystem from perspectives including technological advancement, product R&D, talent cultivation, and policy guidance.
II.ForumIntroduction
ForumTime:May 5–7, 2023
ForumLocation:Shanghai · Zhangjiang Science Hall
Forum Name:Digital Therapeutics Industry Innovation Practice Forum
Representatives of Attending Enterprises/Associations:Botong Medical,Zhilan Health,China Association of Medical Device Industry, Digital Therapeutics Professional Committee
※ Listed in alphabetical order by company/association name; no ranking is implied.
ForumTopicPlan:
The Next Stop for the Innovative Development of the Digital Therapeutics Industry
In the Era of Digital Therapeutics: How Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Companies Can Go Global and Bring Innovations In
Creating a Closed Loop from Technology to Product in Digital Therapeutics
Digital Therapeutics Reshape the Industrial Ecosystem of Internet Healthcare
Digital Therapeutics Drive the Digital-Intelligent Transformation of Chronic Disease Management
Digital Therapeutics Revolution: A New Ecosystem in Specialty Disease Areas
Commercialization Breakthrough Strategies for Innovative Companies Amid Homogenized Competition
The Collision of Technology and Capital: From Scientist to Entrepreneur
※The proposed agenda is for reference only; the final agenda is subject to on-site confirmation.
