Weimai Launches First Self-Operated Pharmacy, Integrating Health Insurance and Strengthening Localized Healthcare Services

On October 30, Kangtai Pharmacy, the self-operated pharmacy of Weimai, an internet-based medical and health service platform, officially opened in Xihu District, Hangzhou. On its opening day, the pharmacy attracted a large crowd of nearby residents. According to the pharmacy manager, Kangtai Pharmacy covers a business area of over 300 square meters and offers more than 5,000 product categories, including common over-the-counter (OTC) drugs, prescription medications, and health supplements.

In recent years, with the implementation of policies such as the outflow of prescriptions and the “4+7” centralized drug procurement, along with the year-on-year increase in the number of patients with chronic diseases, China’s healthcare market has shown a trend of transitioning from “acute disease treatment” to “chronic disease management,” revealing significant growth potential in the chronic disease market. According to the China Health Management and Health Industry Development Report (2018), the number of people suffering from chronic diseases in China is approximately 300 million, with individuals under the age of 65 accounting for 50% of the chronic disease burden.

As a leading "Internet + Healthcare" platform in China, Weimai has established local one-stop medical service portals in over 160 cities across the country, serving an average of more than 500,000 users daily. Hong Chaihu (pseudonym), Chief Medical Officer of Weimai, stated that through years of practice in localized healthcare services, Weimai has found that patients with chronic diseases constitute one of the primary groups seeking local medical care, representing a vast population base. However, the current landscape for professional chronic disease management and the corresponding market for chronic disease medications remains generally underdeveloped.“Especially now that many drugs have negative gross margins, this has led to incomplete product ranges or high prices in many pharmacies, which is a significant burden for patients with chronic diseases.”

Against this backdrop, Weimai has built a"Chronic Disease Medication and Management Services"To establish a closed-loop localized medical service at the terminal, measures such as centralized drug procurement, Direct-to-Patient (DTP) services, and platform subsidies are employed to align chronic disease medication prices with those of the “4+7” centralized procurement program. This enables end-users with chronic conditions to purchase reliable, stably supplied, and comprehensively categorized medications at lower costs.

“We also hope to gradually achieve the integration of ‘online consultations + offline medication purchases’ through the operation of localized pharmacies, addressing the issues of inaccessible required medications and high long-term medication costs for more patients with chronic diseases, thereby truly making healthcare services more accessible to the general public,” said Hong Chaihu.

From the perspective of the “Internet + Healthcare” landscape,Pharmaceutical supply services are the key to bridging the “last mile” in localized healthcare.Weimai Makes a Push“Internet Healthcare + Local Pharmacies”innovative service model also serves as a strong complement to Weimai’s localized one-stop medical service development strategy.

Kangtai Pharmacy has been designated as a medical insurance-accredited pharmacy by both Zhejiang Province and Hangzhou City, allowing patients to use medical insurance for medication purchases. In-store customers can also receive consultations, obtain prescriptions, and have their medications dispensed on-site. According to Hong Chaihu, once the pharmacy’s operations stabilize, Weimai will leverage its advantages in localized internet healthcare to provide more professional medical and health services to pharmacy clients. Meanwhile, the medical resources and service capabilities accumulated by the Weimai platform over the long term will indirectly help pharmacies enhance the quality of their professional services and expand their service scope, thereby extending high-quality pharmaceutical care to more patients in need.