Miao Health Receives Approval for China's First Digital Therapeutic Targeting 'Three Highs' Chronic Conditions, Enters Commercialization Phase
Miao Health Takes Another Step Forward in Digital Therapeutics.
Recently, Miao Health’s digital therapeutics product targeting patients with the “three highs” chronic conditions—the first such offering from a Chinese enterprise to join the International Digital Therapeutics Alliance—has received approval from the National Medical Products Administration.
Since experiencing explosive growth in 2021, digital therapeutics (DTx) have gradually moved from the periphery to the mainstream. With continuous capital inflows, related technologies are also developing rapidly. According to VCBeat’s “White Paper on Digital Therapeutics in China 2.0,” as of September 2021, more than 17 DTx products had received medical device registration certificates in China, primarily consisting of products for vision-related and cognitive function treatments.The digital therapeutics product approved for Miao Health is also China’s first digital therapeutic solution targeting individuals with the “three highs” (hypertension, hyperglycemia, and hyperlipidemia), further accelerating the clinical adoption of digital therapeutics in the field of chronic disease management.
In recent years, the number of patients with obesity, hypertension, diabetes, and dyslipidemia has increased year by year. It is increasingly common in clinical practice to encounter individuals who concurrently present with two, three, or even all four of these conditions, a cluster known as metabolic syndrome (MS). The prevalence of metabolic syndrome in China continues to rise. An epidemiological survey on MS conducted from 2014 to 2017 reported that the prevalence among Chinese residents was 21.90% (21.3% in men and 21% in women), showing a gradual increase with age. According to reports from the Shanghai Institute of Endocrinology and Metabolism and the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the prevalence of metabolic syndrome among Chinese adults has reached 33.9%, meaning one in every three adults suffers from MS. Based on this rate, it is estimated that there are 450 million MS patients in China, indicating a substantial market demand.
Extensive medical research has demonstrated a strong correlation between chronic conditions—such as hypertension, diabetes, fatty liver disease, obesity, and cardiovascular disease—and patients’ lifestyle behaviors. Relying solely on pharmacological intervention is insufficient; optimal therapeutic outcomes are achieved only when medication is administered in conjunction with modifications to, and avoidance of, unhealthy lifestyle behaviors.
Miao Health’s digital therapeutics system for chronic disease intervention is grounded in evidence-based medicine. By leveraging data collection, disease risk prediction and analysis, health interventions, and improved medication adherence, it scientifically and effectively helps patients achieve a higher quality of life.
It is understood that Miao Health’s “MIAOHEALTH-DTx1” active health intervention technology primarily targets chronic disease management, including diabetes, hypertension, medical obesity, and sleep-related psychological conditions. This physiological parameter management and analysis software can be used in conjunction with medical devices to provide chronic disease management services for the target population.
The product is divided into a patient-facing module and a physician-facing module. The physician-facing module facilitates interventions based on evidence-based medicine, diagnosis, follow-up, and risk assessment management. It analyzes physiological data (such as blood pressure and blood glucose) collected by designated medical devices and provides assessments of patients’ blood glucose and blood pressure levels in accordance with the Guidelines for the Prevention and Treatment of Type 2 Diabetes in China (2017 Edition) and the Guidelines for Primary Care Management of Hypertension in China. In the event of abnormalities, the digital therapeutic system alerts relevant healthcare personnel, who then follow up with the patient to provide further evaluation or guidance. The patient-facing module primarily focuses on data collection, storage, transmission, analysis, assessment, reminders, recommendations, and tracking.
In addition, the product includes “Health Management Tasks” for proactive intervention. This feature generates personalized chronic disease management plans based on users’ health records and assigns daily tasks accordingly. Users can earn predetermined Healthy Behavior Index (HBI) points by completing their daily tasks on time. To enhance user adherence, chronic disease management tasks are supported through one-on-one dedicated customer service supervision.
As digital therapeutics gain increasing acceptance within the medical community, their application scenarios are becoming ever more extensive. Currently, the commercialization of digital therapeutics primarily involves consumers, hospitals, insurance providers, governments, and pharmaceutical companies.
In terms of scenario-based applications, Miao Health primarily implements its digital therapeutics in commercial insurance settings and chronic disease management for communities and enterprises. Taking the insurance scenario as an example, Miao Health’s digital therapeutics have accumulated valuable data based on preliminary screening, assessment, and intervention, which will play a highly positive role in future policy underwriting and medical cost containment. Specifically, on one hand, it stratifies users’ health risks through quantification and provides personalized digital health plans, including daily lifestyle interventions and medical consultation guidance. By offering these digital therapeutic services to insurance companies, it enables high-frequency user engagement and cost control. On the other hand, it genuinely enhances users’ health management capabilities.
The emergence of digital therapeutics has tightly integrated in-hospital and out-of-hospital interventions. By implementing lifestyle-focused digital therapeutics, care can extend beyond treatment and medication to encompass interventions targeting patients’ daily behaviors and lifestyles. Building on this foundation, Miao Health has expanded its health management applications from out-of-hospital settings into hospitals, collaborating with leading domestic hospitals to jointly explore digital pathways for the coordinated management of “three highs” (hypertension, hyperglycemia, and hyperlipidemia). This initiative aims to establish a novel health management model centered on “appropriate digital management technologies,” and to construct an integrated health management service framework linking hospitals, communities, families, and individuals.
On the other hand, leveraging digital health management technologies—including digital therapeutics—Miao Health has assisted local governments in advancing healthy city initiatives. Under the guidance of the Xingtai Municipal Government, Miao Health’s Canadian Health Management Center has collaborated closely with local communities and insurance institutions to create a new regionalized health management model that integrates scientific exercise, chronic disease management, rehabilitation interventions, and new retail health services. This model provides scientifically grounded and effective chronic disease management services for local residents, holding significant importance for helping the government establish a multi-tiered, high-efficiency regional health management system.
A representative from Miao Health stated that the implementation of the “MIAOHEALTH-DTx1” digital therapeutic solution for individuals with the “three highs” (hypertension, hyperglycemia, and hyperlipidemia) is merely the company’s first step. Moving forward, leveraging health data from nearly 100 million users, Miao Health will further focus on specialized disease management by deepening technical exchanges with the Canadian Health Management Center, the Canadian Institute for Innovation in Chronic Disease, and leading experts from top-tier hospitals in China, so as to explore diversified pathways and solutions for digital therapeutic-based health management.