Baidu Health and Yipu Biotech Announce Strategic Partnership to Advance Full-Cancer Early Screening Services

On October 30, 2022, at the opening ceremony of Yipu Biomedical Laboratory in Heze City, Shandong Province, Baidu Health Internet Hospital (hereinafter referred to as “Baidu Health”) and Shanghai Yipu Biotechnology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Yipu Biotech”) announced a strategic partnership. The two parties will join hands to promote the adoption and popularization of pan-cancer early screening in clinical settings and across the broader health and wellness sector.

Zhang Xinwen, Secretary of the Heze Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China; Wang Jun, Member of the Standing Committee and Secretary-General of the Heze Municipal Committee; Wang Changhua, Member of the Standing Committee and Deputy Mayor of Heze; and other municipal leaders, together with guests such as Professor Zhu Tongyu, Vice Dean of Shanghai Medical College of Fudan University, jointly witnessed the opening ceremony.

Mr. Zhang Kuan, Dean of Baidu Health Internet Hospital, and Ms. Hua Lin, CEO of Epu Bio, jointly witnessed the signing ceremony of the strategic cooperation between Baidu Health and Epu Bio. Baidu Health and Epu Bio will leverage their respective strengths to the fullest, integrate online and offline services, promote the widespread adoption of early cancer screening and diagnosis across the population, and comprehensively explore integrated health services ranging from cancer prevention education to early screening.

At a symposium held on the afternoon of October 29, Zhang Xinwen introduced that in recent years, Heze has seized development opportunities to promote industrial agglomeration. The city is currently in a period of rapid development, with stable and healthy economic operations and strong, positive growth momentum. He expressed hope that Shanghai Medical College of Fudan University would leverage its strengths to actively seek cooperative projects in Heze, facilitate the transformation of scientific and technological achievements, and strive for mutual benefit and win-win development. Heze will continue to optimize its business environment, provide comprehensive service guarantees and coordination support, and offer substantial assistance in areas such as industrial park development and industry funds, thereby creating a favorable environment for the implementation of relevant projects.

It is reported that in recent years, Heze Modern Medicine Port has actively nurtured existing enterprises and vigorously introduced high-quality projects, providing solid support for the accelerated rise of Heze’s pharmaceutical industry. The establishment of Yipu Biomedical Laboratory at the Modern Medicine Port will provide high-quality, more professional tumor testing services to residents in Heze and surrounding areas. Starting from Heze and extending its reach across China, it aims to benefit society by leveraging cutting-edge medical technologies to help more people.

Data show that annual medical expenditures for malignant tumors in China exceed RMB 220 billion, making them a significant component of household and basic medical insurance fund outlays. According to a report by Frost & Sullivan, cancer treatment costs in China are projected to rise to USD 351.7 billion in 2023 and further increase to USD 592 billion by 2030. Early detection and diagnosis of cancer are crucial for improving patient survival rates and can also reduce the healthcare cost burden on both the nation and individuals. The Cancer Hospital of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences has stated that early cancer screening is of great significance for cancer prevention and for avoiding cancer-related deaths. Through this collaboration, Baidu Health and Yipu Biology will jointly facilitate the implementation of services for early detection, early diagnosis, and early treatment of cancer.

Baidu Health is a health management platform incubated and developed by Baidu itself, serving over 100 million healthcare users daily and handling more than 200 million precise health-related searches per day. Every day, over 300,000 doctors from public hospitals provide 2.4 million online medical consultations to users through Baidu Health, making it the leading online consultation platform across the entire internet.

As the primary gateway for users to access health information, Baidu serves 100 million users daily with health knowledge and services. Currently, Baidu Health is comprehensively building a health science popularization and consultation system through Baidu Health Medical Encyclopedia, Baidu Health Baijiahao, and Q&A sessions with authoritative physicians. It has accumulated 500 million pieces of authoritative health-related educational content, establishing itself as the leading online platform for health science popularization. Its educational content covers the entire lifecycle of user care, including prevention, diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation, and health management.

Mr. Zhang Kuan, President of Baidu Health Internet Hospitalstated: “Since its inception, Baidu Health has been committed to empowering the healthcare industry by leveraging its advantages in big data search and AI technologies. It actively engages in deep collaborations with biopharmaceutical enterprises, building digital platforms to promote the comprehensive, scenario-wide adoption of their new technological products. We aim to utilize our platform’s traffic and technological strengths, along with our one-stop health service capabilities, to collaborate with Yipu Biology in exploring early cancer screening service models. Our goal is to raise user awareness of the value and significance of early screening, jointly establish a nationwide early screening service system that integrates online and offline resources, and incorporate prevention and treatment solutions from oncology expert teams at top-tier (Grade A tertiary) hospitals. This will enable us to provide residents with comprehensive, one-stop services for tumor prevention and treatment, thereby driving the upgrading of the healthcare industry through digitalization.”

As a pioneer and advocate for pan-cancer early screening, Epigenomics Biotech is a high-tech enterprise specializing in tumor molecular diagnostics and focused on the precision medicine industry. Leveraging a distinguished team of epigenetics experts and over 30 years of profound academic expertise, Epigenomics Biotech has deeply cultivated the field of cancer detection. Upholding its mission to “keep everyone free from cancer,” the company is committed to the early detection, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer, with the goal of improving survival rates among cancer patients and advancing public health for all.

Ms. Hua Lin, CEO of Yipu BiologyHe stated, “We define early screening as the ability to conduct effective screening before tumors have developed. Currently, pan-cancer biomarkers used in early screening have enabled comprehensive pan-cancer early detection and precancerous monitoring. This helps physicians take timely interventional measures to eliminate cancer at the precancerous lesion stage, thereby significantly improving patient survival rates and reducing treatment-related costs. Our corporate vision is to ‘build a cancer-free world,’ which reflects our confidence and determination in early cancer screening. Through the collaboration between Yipu Bio and Baidu Health, we aim to combine our respective strengths and strategically position ourselves in both in-hospital and out-of-hospital markets. We are committed to establishing Yipu’s specialized, vertically integrated service system, focusing on testing services for early tumor screening. We will provide comprehensive solutions for clinical applications, including tumor screening, auxiliary diagnosis, prognostic assessment, and monitoring of treatment response and recurrence. This will enable the implementation of end-to-end health services, transitioning from ‘early detection of existing cancer’ to ‘proactive prevention before cancer develops.’”