Zhang Wei, Founder of Yongliu Tech: Vertical Disease Management and Digital Therapeutics Are Driving Digital Health into a New Era

Amid the ongoing evolution of digital healthcare, an increasing number of digital technologies are being deeply integrated into disease diagnosis and treatment pathways. This deeper level of integration empowers physicians and enhances patient care, enabling both providers and patients to achieve greater therapeutic efficiency and improved outcomes throughout the entire course of specific diseases.

Mr. Zhang Wei, a seasoned industry expert with over a decade of experience in the digital healthcare sector, formerly Head of Marketing for Veeva Systems China and former Vice President and Head of Corporate Partnerships at DXY, co-founded Yongliu Technology based on his insights into industry trends and his deep understanding of disease course management and digital therapeutics in specialized therapeutic areas. He established the company together with Ms. Zhang Jing, former Vice President and Head of Operational Management for Corporate Partnerships at DXY. Yongliu Technology focuses on disease course management and digital therapeutics in dermatology. At its inception, Yuan Yi Capital served as the angel investor, joining forces with Yongliu Technology to embark on development and exploration in this field.

Digital healthcare has played a significant role in pandemic prevention and control. Models such as remote consultations and online medication purchasing have enabled both physicians and patients to derive value from the convenience and efficiency of digital healthcare. Moreover, these now-mature service models will continue to deliver substantial value in the future.

Amidst this overarching trend, Yongliu Technology has been continuously reflecting on and exploring what initiatives it should prioritize to help doctors and patients create greater value. Drawing on its understanding of the essence of medical value and its prior practices in the digital healthcare industry, Yongliu Technology believes thatIn the post-pandemic era, the digital healthcare industry will build upon its current foundation of mature, generalized services to further deepen its integration into the diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation processes for specific disease areas.

This domain represents a core value proposition wherein physicians assist patients in curing diseases or maintaining health. It is also a critical process for enhancing clinicians’ diagnostic and therapeutic capabilities and efficiency for specific diseases, as well as for guiding patients in the scientific use of medications and monitoring treatment outcomes, thereby holding substantial value and significance.

However, as the field of disease course management requires integrating specialized clinical knowledge of specific diseases with advanced digital technologies and rigorous professional service management for physician-patient interactions, all companies developing in this sector need stronger comprehensive management capabilities and industry practical experience as support.

As a company focused on disease course management and digital therapeutics in dermatology, Yongliu Technology brought together, at its inception, a team of members with successful track records in medical expertise, digital technology, doctor-patient engagement, professional service management, and industry collaboration. With whole-course disease management for specific conditions as its core strategic direction, the company aims to create value for physicians, patients, and the broader healthcare industry. To gain deeper insights into Yongliu Technology’s perspectives, VCBeat conducted an exclusive interview with Mr. Zhang Wei.

Q：What is the relationship between disease course management and chronic disease management?

Zhang Wei: Drawing on our practical experience and in-depth exchanges with numerous physician colleagues, we believe that the “disease course management” model emerging in the industry today is a personalized service system designed to span the entire disease continuum. Guided by the principle of “patient-centered care,” it comprehensively considers patients’ individual characteristics, disease status, mental health, payment capacity, and comorbidity progression.

Disease course management and chronic disease management are not independent, let alone opposing; rather, they represent an iterative and derivative relationship that emerges when treatment technologies and pharmaceuticals for specific diseases, along with patients’ expectations for their therapeutic experience, reach a new stage of development. Even if a patient’s condition evolves from one chronic disease to related comorbidities, they remain within the scope of disease course management. The disease course management model comprehensively considers the patient’s medical history, treatment regimen, financial capacity, psychological status, and associated personalized needs, thereby providing the most suitable individualized care plan in subsequent stages.

In practice, disease course management is an integrated, patient-centered model that combines disease treatment with physical and psychological rehabilitation. The first phase of disease course management spans from the onset of symptoms to their stabilization. This phase includes treatment for the specific disease itself, as well as systematic management of comorbidities associated with that condition. Once the disease reaches a stable state, the process transitions into the next phase, known as the physical and psychological rehabilitation phase.

Together, these two stages not only address the concurrent treatment and rehabilitation of comorbidities under a specific therapeutic regimen, but also take into account comprehensive factors such as the patient’s psychological well-being, thereby forming a patient-centered, complete chain of disease course management.

Q: How to build a disease progression management model?

Zhang Wei: The establishment and development of a disease course management model require at least three key success factors. First, it must begin with specific diseases; only by focusing on particular disease entities can we truly integrate disease-specific characteristics to build digital and intelligent assistance models for all critical treatment and rehabilitation processes, thereby achieving personalized disease course management based on patients’ varying needs.

Second, there must be sustainable value and interaction mechanisms to drive joint participation by both physicians and patients. This interaction mechanism is a key component of the entire disease course management. On one hand, patients’ adherence to diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation behaviors based on scientific guidance can beneficially promote the disease course itself. On the other hand, the substantial amount of data generated during patient interactions can assist physicians and the system in formulating more suitable personalized treatment plans and providing tailored service solutions. This aspect is also a critical area where digital and intelligent technologies demonstrate their value in disease course management.

Third, it is essential to ensure flexible customization and user-friendly application of the entire disease management system. Only by meeting the functional and professional service needs of diverse groups of physicians and patients can the system be truly integrated into a broader range of diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation processes, thereby genuinely serving and empowering more patients and healthcare providers.

Q: What is the relationship between digital therapeutics and disease progression management models?

Zhang Wei: Digital therapeutics (DTx) is currently one of the most prominent focal points in the digital healthcare industry. As an emerging field, DTx is defined within the industry as a therapy based on software programs that provides evidence-based therapeutic interventions to patients for the prevention, management, or treatment of diseases. Digital therapeutics can be used independently or in conjunction with medications, devices, or other therapies. These products integrate the latest advancements in design, clinical validation, usability, and data security, and are subject to regulatory review and approval as required.

If we examine the components of disease management models in light of the definition of digital therapeutics, we find that one or more value-adding steps within the disease management system, once digitally transformed, present opportunities to evolve into digital therapeutics. Supported by professional service systems related to disease management, these digital therapeutic products can better realize their value and serve a broader population of physicians and patients.

Q: How does Yongliu Technology enter the field of disease course management?

Zhang Wei: Over the past six months, Yongliu Technology has leveraged dermatology as its entry point and digital and intelligent technologies as its foundation to initiate practices and explorations in full-course disease management models and digital therapeutics products for specific skin conditions.

Dermatology is a field characterized by diverse disease subtypes and complex diagnosis and treatment. Dermatological conditions can be classified into at least 26 major categories. In terms of specific diseases, more than 2,000 types have been identified to date. Many of these are lifelong immune-mediated conditions that persist throughout the patient’s life, such as psoriasis, atopic dermatitis, and vitiligo. These diseases often onset at an early age, causing various skin lesions on the face, trunk, and limbs. In addition to compromising physical health, they also impose significant psychological and mental burdens beyond mere physiological effects.

In addition, these immune-mediated skin diseases are often accompanied by various serious comorbidities, posing additional health impacts on patients. Taking psoriasis as an example, a growing body of research has identified close associations between psoriasis and several other conditions, including depression, hypertension, metabolic syndrome, arthritis, Crohn’s disease, ocular disorders, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and major adverse cardiovascular events.

In light of these factors, physicians should develop and provide personalized disease management plans tailored to each patient’s overall treatment progress and the evolution of comorbidities, thereby creating value for patients’ health.

Q：Disease Course Management of Skin DiseasesWhat are the challenges?

Zhang Wei: According to the definition provided by leading experts in dermatology, disease course management for skin conditions encompasses all activities—including examinations, assessments, diagnoses, treatments, medication administration, skincare, and psychological support—undertaken from the time a patient is diagnosed with a specific skin disease until the disease is cured or the patient passes away.

As evident from the above definition, the successful implementation of a disease course management model for skin conditions requires at least two key driving elements. The first is specialized disease diagnosis and treatment, which helps physicians enhance their clinical diagnostic and therapeutic capabilities more efficiently and precisely. The second is the establishment of a systematic digital platform, along with a professional service system tailored to specific dermatological conditions, to achieve effective end-to-end management of the treatment process for these diseases.

These two key factors are crucial to the development of disease management models, yet significant pressures and challenges persist in real-world clinical settings. On one hand, dermatologists in China face immense workloads, leaving them with little time or energy to provide long-term disease management services to patients. According to the 2020 edition of the China Health and Health Statistical Yearbook, dermatologists in Chinese public hospitals delivered 124 million patient visits in the previous year. This substantial volume of patient care was shouldered by only 28,900 dermatologists and 10,800 medical aestheticians across the country. This clearly illustrates the enormous pressure borne by dermatologists.

On the other hand, while urban hospitals handle 124 million outpatient visits annually, the number of hospitalized patients with dermatological conditions remains below 400,000. This indicates that the vast majority of patients receive treatment for skin diseases on an outpatient basis. At this scale, it is extremely challenging for physicians to provide long-term, continuous outpatient management. However, for a large population of patients with skin diseases—particularly those with immune-mediated conditions such as psoriasis and atopic dermatitis—evaluating treatment efficacy and psychological status, along with making dynamic medication adjustments based on these assessments, is both essential and critical.

This represents an unmet need covering tens of millions of patients with specific dermatological conditions. Moreover, we believe that the integration of scientifically grounded professional services with innovative digital technologies will be the key driver in addressing this need today, delivering sustainable, high-quality value to a broad base of physicians and patients.

Q: How does Yongliu Technology implement its practices in detail?

Zhang Wei: Yongliu Technology has collaborated with experts and institutions in the field of dermatology, as well as leading partners in the field of artificial intelligence, to jointly build a full-course management service system for specific skin diseases.

This ecosystem encompasses both an AI-assisted diagnostic and treatment system for dermatological conditions, designed specifically for clinicians to enhance the identification of disease characteristics, thereby improving final diagnostic efficiency and accuracy; and specialized disease management platforms for conditions such as lupus erythematosus, psoriasis, and atopic dermatitis. These platforms create greater diagnostic and therapeutic efficiency, achieve better clinical outcomes, and reduce the overall cost of treatment for both physicians and patients throughout the course of managing specific skin diseases.

We are encouraged to see that these tools and platforms are delivering new value and enhanced experiences for both physicians and patients. Post-discharge disease management services, which were previously difficult to implement, can now be conveniently delivered. Complex scales and disease severity assessments, such as the Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) for psoriasis, are being applied more efficiently through intelligent PASI assessment tools. Tasks that once required physicians to spend 20–30 minutes conducting face-to-face evaluations with patients based on specific assessment pathways and comprehensive calculation rules can now be completed in just 2–3 minutes. Supported by imaging artificial intelligence and digital technologies, this new assessment model seamlessly supports diverse scenarios both within and outside hospital settings.

More importantly, all assessment processes can undergo continuous data analysis and be correlated with the patient’s treatment regimen, including medication. This creates a more favorable foundation for implementing personalized diagnosis and treatment models for patients, as well as for advancing physicians’ integrated development across clinical practice, education, and research.

As Yongliu Technology’s disease management system is gradually implemented, we have also initiated the qualification application process for our related digital therapeutics products. These digital therapeutics can be applied independently to specific value segments of certain dermatological conditions, or work in synergy to build a more systematic management framework. We firmly believe that both the disease management system for dermatological conditions and digital therapeutics products hold vast potential for growth.

The various digital and intelligent products and professional services currently being provided to physicians and patients represent only a part of Yongliu Technology’s overall value system. In the future, Yongliu Technology will continue to center on the core values of physicians and patients, collaborate with diverse industry partners, and consistently launch other innovative products and services that are already in the planning stages, thereby contributing to the development of the industry.