MedSci Health: Driving a Deep Digital Ecosystem for Physicians, Enterprises, and Patients through 'Internet + Healthcare'

“Internet + Healthcare” has long been a cliché topic for nearly everyone.

With the deep integration of internet technology and traditional industries, the original methods of information transmission have been subtly transformed, and the healthcare industry is no exception. In recent years, driven by favorable national policies, market capital, and an influx of talent, internet healthcare enterprises have experienced explosive growth. Their business layouts now span nearly the entire industry chain, from upstream to downstream, covering medical resource integration, patient appointment registration and consultations, online pharmaceutical guidance, and third-party healthcare services.

In-Depth Expansion of Internet Healthcare Enterprises on the Supply Side of the Industry Chain (Liding Industry Research Center)

Among these, internet-based medical service platforms oriented toward patients are perhaps more widely recognized by the general public, whereas those focused on serving physicians tend to be more niche and specialized. Such platforms primarily enable physicians to stay abreast of cutting-edge industry information and technical consultations, facilitate access to literature and the dissemination of research findings, and provide services such as pharmacopoeia lookup, clinical practice guidelines, and case management.

Unlike other industries, healthcare is directly linked to patients’ lives and well-being; merely amassing big data is far from sufficient in this sector, as high-quality evidence is also required. Only high-quality evidence can drive improvements in healthcare quality. In this era of information explosion, the challenge of filtering high-quality medical data and enhancing healthcare quality to serve clinical practice has become a critical pain point for the development of internet-based healthcare platforms. This challenge also lies at the heart of the original mission of Shanghai MedSci Pharmaceutical Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “MedSci”).

Dr. Zhang Fabao, Founder & Chairman of MedSci

Looking back on its development journey, Dr. Zhang Fabao, founder and chairman of MedSci, pinpointed the year 2008 as a defining moment. That year marked the launch of MedSci, an internet-based medical platform dedicated to providing professional medical services.

“The original intention behind founding MedSci was actually quite simple: I hoped to lower the barriers for clinicians engaging in clinical research by providing medical tools and a platform for sharing clinical research knowledge, thereby promoting the sharing and collaboration of clinical research, enhancing the standards of clinical diagnosis, treatment, and scientific research, and facilitating physicians’ professional growth,” recalled Zhang Fabao. “Initially, the platform provided information and news related to clinical research, and later evolved to offer various small tools, with no commercialization involved. Since clinical research is a weak area for most experts, the platform quickly attracted a large number of clinical experts, particularly those engaged in clinical research.”

Four years later, in 2012, MedSci underwent its first major transformation. Leveraging its extensive medical knowledge system and abundant physician resources accumulated over the years, MedSci officially embarked on commercialization. Zhang Fabao and his team initiated business collaborations to provide high-quality academic services and comprehensive clinical research solutions for physicians and pharmaceutical companies, which subsequently became one of MedSci’s core business segments.

Leveraging its years of in-depth content development in the healthcare and biopharmaceutical industries, along with rapid and precise dissemination of medical information, MedSci has secured a commanding position in new media communication. In 2015, MedSci completed its Series A financing round, exclusively led by Qiming Venture Partners, to expand its mobile healthcare services and multi-channel marketing (MCM) services. “This represented a significant shift in mindset for us, as we transitioned from simply ‘doing tasks’ to ‘building a business.’ Consequently, our internal organizational structure and talent pipeline underwent substantial transformation,” said Zhang Fabao.

To date, MedSci’s two flagship platforms, “MedSci” and “Bioon,” have become leading service providers in China’s internet healthcare and biotechnology sectors. Their content spans the entire healthcare industry value chain, establishing them as premier online professional platforms for industry professionals to track sector developments and access cutting-edge medical knowledge.

Zhang Fabao revealed to VCBeat that MedSci currently has over 3 million registered professional healthcare users, with a compound annual growth rate of 35.7%, ranking second in the industry in terms of the number of registered physician users. According to a third-party research report published by Unicorn Studio, high-ranking physicians (attending physicians and above) account for 65% of its active users, leading the industry.

For internet companies deeply serving physicians, two challenges are unavoidable. First, the number of physicians is relatively stable, with an annual growth rate of approximately 5%. According to statistics from the National Bureau of Statistics and China Business Industry Research Institute, the total number of licensed (assistant) physicians in China reached 3.58 million by the end of 2018. Second, physicians possess a high degree of specialization and thus demand higher standards for services. Under these circumstances, internet healthcare providers targeting physicians must deliver high-quality products and services that meet their core needs.

First, with the advancement of precision medicine, clinicians are placing increasing emphasis on the guidance provided by clinical research and evidence in their practice; however, there remains a scarcity of clinical research evidence generated domestically in China. In the past, many pharmaceutical companies prioritized marketing and sales after drug approval, neglecting in-depth post-marketing clinical research and development. Consequently, conducting rigorous post-marketing clinical studies has emerged as a new challenge. Second, there is a rigid demand among physicians for continuous improvement in clinical skills, particularly among the vast number of primary care and junior doctors who constitute the primary audience. Furthermore, given the rapid updates in medical knowledge, it is challenging to help clinicians master the ever-evolving knowledge system more quickly and objectively. MedSci has launched an initiative to address these two major challenges in the medical field.

On one hand, MedSci leverages its internal professional academic expertise and real-world research to continuously generate post-marketing medical evidence for innovative drugs, thereby uncovering product value. On the other hand, it provides pharmaceutical companies with digital academic marketing solutions that rapidly deliver medical evidence of innovative drugs to target physicians. This enables more doctors to promptly understand the characteristics and value of these innovations, leading to more rational clinical use of the corresponding products, ultimately benefiting both patients and enterprises.

“MedSci is not a vendor serving pharmaceutical companies; rather, it forms partnerships with them to deliver information on innovative drugs to clinicians more quickly and accurately, enabling clinicians to use medications more rationally and appropriately for the benefit of patients,” said Zhang Fabao. “Therefore, our business model is described as ‘connecting pharmaceutical companies, serving physicians, and benefiting patients.’ We have engaged with numerous domestic and international enterprises to create a win-win-win model for physicians, pharmaceutical companies, and patients.”

It is reported that MedSci has currently partnered with leading domestic and international pharmaceutical companies, including Pfizer, Novartis, Roche, AstraZeneca, Janssen, Hengrui Medicine, Kanghong Pharmaceutical, Chia Tai Tianqing, Simcere Pharmaceutical, and CSPC Pharmaceutical Group, providing them with solutions in medical affairs, real-world studies, and digital academic marketing. In exploring the complete value chain among physicians, enterprises, and patients, MedSci offers a unique closed-loop ecosystem.

For internet healthcare companies, how to achieve commercial monetization of data services has always been a key proposition for their development. Zhang Fabao revealed to VCBeat that MedSci has been profitable for many years and achieved scaled profitability in 2019.

Meanwhile, Zhang Fabao stated that MedSci would soon launch a small-scale financing round. “The company has maintained strong profitability, so our capital requirements are not particularly high. Moreover, our primary clients are pharmaceutical companies, which prioritize consistent, high-quality services rather than the rapid growth achieved through cash-burning strategies common in other industries.”

He continued, “Therefore, in the short term, we will continue to focus on our core pharmaceutical enterprise clients. In the long run, we aim to build a comprehensive internet healthcare service framework, shifting greater emphasis toward patient management to drive the company’s future growth and ultimately realize our vision of ‘improving healthcare quality.’”