JD Health and AstraZeneca Announce Strategic Collaboration to Enhance Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Capabilities and Advance Integrated Digital Healthcare Services

In the era of “Internet + Healthcare,” leveraging digital and intelligent technologies to drive innovation in the healthcare sector and create new growth opportunities for the entire industry is a key development trend.

On November 17, 2020, JD Health formally entered into a strategic partnership with AstraZeneca, a leading global multinational pharmaceutical company. Both parties announced that they would fully integrate AstraZeneca’s international experience and innovative healthcare solutions accumulated across multiple therapeutic areas with JD Health’s core strengths in pharmaceutical supply chain, internet-based medical services, and health management. Together, they aim to explore new models of “Internet+” services, thereby providing patients with comprehensive, high-quality online healthcare services, while contributing significantly to the digital and intelligent transformation of China’s healthcare industry and the upgrading of the national health service system.

(Group Photo of the Strategic Cooperation Signing Ceremony)

Currently, chronic disease management has become one of the core issues in the healthcare industry. According to the Healthy China Action (2019–2030), chronic diseases have become the leading cause of death and disease burden among Chinese residents, representing a significant constraint on public health. The Outline of the “Healthy China 2030” Plan also proposes achieving comprehensive chronic disease health management for all populations across the entire life cycle by 2030.

Meanwhile, in the context of normalized epidemic prevention and control, it is essential not only to improve users’ access to high-quality pharmaceutical and healthcare services but also to establish health management services that cover the entire user lifecycle. Against this backdrop, “Internet+” has become an inevitable trend driving transformation in the healthcare service industry.

In fact, guided by its new strategic positioning as a “health management platform centered on the supply chain, driven by digital technologies across the user’s full lifecycle and all scenarios, with medical services as the key enabler,” “health management” has become a major focus for JD Health. Leveraging its leading “Internet + Healthcare” ecosystem resources, JD Health is upgrading from a medical-care-centric model to a health-management-centric one, striving to become the most trusted “National Chief Health Steward.”

AstraZeneca is one of the global leaders in the pharmaceutical industry and has deeply cultivated the Chinese market, boasting globally leading service capabilities across multiple therapeutic areas, including oncology, cardiovascular disease, nephrology, metabolism, respiratory diseases, and gastroenterology. AstraZeneca and JD Health have long engaged in a series of collaborations; for instance, several innovative specialty drugs under AstraZeneca’s portfolio, such as gefitinib and osimertinib, were launched on JD Pharmacy’s self-operated platform to provide high-quality medications to cancer patients. Building on this strong foundation of prior cooperation, both parties have identified broader and deeper opportunities for collaboration in areas such as innovative specialty drugs, vaccines, and chronic disease management.

Through this strategic partnership, JD Health will fully open its “Internet + Healthcare” ecosystem capabilities to AstraZeneca. Leveraging its extensive platform operation experience and its industry-leading “medical care + pharmaceuticals” closed-loop ecosystem, JD Health will collaborate with AstraZeneca to provide patients with more convenient, professional, and high-quality services. Meanwhile, AstraZeneca will fully leverage its technological and resource advantages across various specialized disease areas to jointly build an innovative patient service and chronic disease management system with JD Health. Based on products such as the JD Health General Practice Center, Diabetes Center, and JD Family Doctor, the two parties will create an integrated online-offline family doctor patient service model.

It is worth noting that both parties will continue to expand the scope and deepen the models of their collaboration in areas such as vaccines and innovative specialty drugs, thereby further enhancing the accessibility of high-quality pharmaceutical and healthcare services.

Currently, JD Health has achieved comprehensive upgrades in its service capabilities for new and specialty drugs, cross-border health supplements, critical-care medical devices, injectables, cold-chain products, traceable regional tonic supplements, and medications for rare diseases through its continued omnichannel expansion. While continuously improving its pharmaceutical supply chain, JD Health has taken the industry lead by launching an online platform for new and specialty drugs.

Following this strategic cooperation, JD Health will join hands with AstraZeneca to further enhance its pharmaceutical supply chain service capabilities. Leveraging advantageous resources such as its pharmaceutical supply chain and internet hospital platforms, the two parties will deepen their strategic collaboration to provide patients with more convenient and efficient healthcare services throughout the entire process of pre-diagnosis, during diagnosis, and post-diagnosis. It is reported that AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine, the only one globally currently in Phase III clinical trials, is planned to be launched on JD Health after receiving regulatory approval in China.

Wang Lei, Executive Vice President of AstraZeneca and President of International Business and China, stated that AstraZeneca has been actively responding to the national call for promoting the development of digital healthcare and continuously exploring innovative application models of “Internet + Healthcare.” Against the backdrop of upgrading health consumption in China, the collaboration between the two parties has set a benchmark for cross-border cooperation, mutual benefit, and industrial win-win outcomes. It is believed that this cross-industry partnership with JD Health will further drive the innovative development of China’s medical and healthcare industry across multiple fields, ranging from pharmaceutical and health products to chronic disease management services, thereby providing higher-quality medical and healthcare services to more users.

Xin Lijun, Vice President of JD.com and CEO of JD Health, stated that JD Health has established a comprehensive “Internet + Healthcare” ecosystem. Its products and services span the entire pharmaceutical industry chain, the full medical care process, all health-related scenarios, and the entire user lifecycle, effectively enabling high-quality pharmaceutical and healthcare services to benefit more consumers. Looking ahead, the collaboration between both parties will not only cover more scenarios and serve more users but also provide greater impetus for the transformation and upgrading of the pharmaceutical industry and the improvement of national health standards.