WeDoctor and Abbott Forge Strategic Partnership to Build a Digital Lung Cancer Early Screening System and Innovate Diagnosis-Treatment Model

On November 6, 2021, at the 4th China International Import Expo, WeDoctor, China’s largest digital healthcare service platform, signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Abbott, a global leader in health and wellness. The two parties will integrate their advantageous resources and leverage WeDoctor’s internet hospital platform to jointly promote the application of Abbott’s “LCBP Lung Cancer Risk Assessment Model” in early screening, diagnosis, treatment, and patient education for lung cancer. This collaboration aims to further enhance the accessibility of cutting-edge lung cancer early screening models in China, facilitate early screening, early diagnosis, and early treatment of lung cancer, and comprehensively advance lung cancer prevention and control efforts in the country.

Yan Jinhong, Vice President of WeDoctor Group and Head of the Medical Capability Center, and Chen Jianzhong, Vice President of Abbott’s Core Diagnostics Division, attended the signing ceremony and engaged in in-depth discussions on diversified business cooperation between the two parties. Shen Yu, General Manager of Specialty Disease Business at WeDoctor Group, and Gu Linlin, Marketing Director of Abbott’s Core Diagnostics Division, signed the cooperation agreement on behalf of their respective organizations.

WeDoctor and Abbott Strategic Cooperation Signing Ceremony

In China, the incidence and mortality rates of lung cancer have consistently ranked first among all cancers. According to the "Latest Estimates of the Global Cancer Burden in 2020" released by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), a specialized agency under the World Health Organization, there were 4.57 million new cancer cases in China in 2020, with lung cancer accounting for the highest number of new cases at 820,000. As the detection rate of pulmonary nodules continues to rise, early screening and early diagnosis have become key to the prevention and control of lung cancer.

As China’s largest digital healthcare service platform, WeDoctor is actively committed to building a specialized digital prevention and treatment system for specific diseases, thereby enhancing the accessibility, effectiveness, and cost-efficiency of specialized care. In the field of lung cancer, WeDoctor partnered with the China Lung Cancer Prevention and Control Alliance to establish the “WeDoctor Pulmonary Nodule Diagnosis and Treatment Center” in 2020. Patient-centered, this initiative has developed an efficient medical service model focused on early screening, early diagnosis, and early treatment of pulmonary nodules. Abbott, a global leader in the healthcare industry, has pioneered the “LCBP Lung Cancer Risk Assessment Model,” the world’s first lung cancer diagnostic model tailored to the Chinese population that integrates imaging data with tumor markers. In their joint efforts against lung cancer, both parties aim to leverage digital tools and advanced early-screening technologies to shift the focus of lung cancer prevention and control toward the early stages, where prognosis is better, social impact is greater, and patient benefits are maximized.

As planned, the two parties will leverage WeDoctor’s professional medical and disease-specific service capabilities on its digital platform, along with Abbott’s resource advantages in early lung cancer screening technologies and patient education, to engage in in-depth collaboration. This cooperation will cover areas such as early screening for benign and malignant pulmonary nodules, online diagnosis and treatment for patients with pulmonary nodules, patient education, and the establishment of expert teams specializing in pulmonary nodules. Specifically, the WeDoctor Pulmonary Nodule Diagnosis and Treatment Center will launch medical services incorporating Abbott’s “LCBP Lung Cancer Risk Assessment Model.” Through the WeDoctor App, patients can receive guidance and precise assessments from renowned pulmonary nodule specialists without leaving home, thereby reducing overtreatment while avoiding delayed diagnoses. Furthermore, Abbott’s professional educational materials on pulmonary nodule management will be made freely available to physicians and patients on the WeDoctor platform. This initiative aims to provide Chinese doctors and patients with cutting-edge international knowledge on the clinical management of pulmonary nodules and patient education resources, thereby enhancing the standard of pulmonary nodule diagnosis and treatment and raising awareness of early lung cancer screening.

It is reported that the WeDoctor Pulmonary Nodule Diagnosis and Treatment Center has previously implemented its distinctive “PNapp 5A” diagnostic and treatment workflow along with physician training and certification. Abbott’s “LCBP Lung Cancer Risk Assessment Model” features high sensitivity, high accuracy, broad applicability, and a safe, non-invasive profile. It enables rapid risk assessment using only 5 mL of peripheral venous blood and imaging data. Compared with single diagnostic methods (CT or tumor markers), its sensitivity is improved by approximately 20%, achieving an accuracy of 82.2% in differentiating benign from malignant pulmonary nodules—surpassing the 62.6% accuracy of the ACCP model recommended in the United States. With the introduction of Abbott’s “LCBP Lung Cancer Risk Assessment Model,” the WeDoctor Pulmonary Nodule Diagnosis and Treatment Center will further enhance its methods and capabilities for distinguishing benign from malignant pulmonary nodules, and its online-to-offline, whole-course management service network covering “screening–diagnosis–treatment–postoperative care” will be further refined.

Leveraging its platform resources, WeDoctor is accelerating the development of digital prevention and treatment systems for various specialized diseases, with lung cancer as a representative example. By the end of 2020, WeDoctor operated 27 internet hospitals, 17 of which were designated as medical insurance providers; meanwhile, the platform connected more than 7,800 hospitals nationwide, covering over 95% of China’s Grade A tertiary hospitals, and linked more than 270,000 registered physicians, serving 220 million real-name registered users.

Yan Jinhong, Vice President of WeDoctor Group and Head of the Medical Capability Center

“Significant challenges remain in the prevention and treatment of lung cancer. The collaboration between WeDoctor and Abbott will expand the reach of cutting-edge diagnostic and therapeutic tools for lung cancer in China, while also helping physicians accumulate clinical case experience, thereby enhancing their diagnostic and treatment capabilities as well as academic influence,” stated Yan Jinhong. He added that the integration of both parties’ complementary strengths will provide patients with pulmonary nodules across China with the most advanced technologies and services, enabling early diagnosis and timely treatment for those with early-stage lung cancer.

Chen Jianzhong, Vice President of Abbott's Core Diagnostics

Chen Jianzhong stated, “WeDoctor is the largest channel and capability integrator in China’s healthcare industry. Abbott’s globally leading ‘LCBP Lung Cancer Risk Assessment Model’ will leverage the synergy between its digital platform and offline medical institutions to reach broader geographic areas and larger populations, thereby advancing lung cancer prevention and control efforts in China.”