Prescription External Flow Gains Momentum: Quanyuantang Partners with Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center

VCBeat (WeChat: vcbeat) has learned that on April 23, the launch ceremony for the full implementation of the Guangdong Provincial Internet Medical Services Supervision Platform and the inaugural online services of the first batch of internet hospitals was held in Guangzhou. A total of 22 hospitals, including Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital, Guangdong Second Provincial General Hospital, and Guangzhou Women and Children’s Medical Center (hereinafter referred to as “Guangzhou Women and Children’s”), have established their internet hospitals and collectively went live at the event.

As a leading digital retail platform for pharmaceuticals and healthcare in China, Quanyuantang has officially partnered with the Guangzhou Women and Children’s Medical Center to fully manage its electronic prescriptions. The two parties will jointly explore the out-of-hospital circulation of prescription drugs, enhance patients’ medical and medication experiences through both online and offline channels, and establish a closed-loop value chain for new retail of prescription drugs.

At the press conference, Guangzhou Women and Children’s Medical Center presented video case studies of follow-up consultations conducted through its internet hospital to the attendees. The presentation provided a comprehensive overview of how Quanyuantang manages electronic prescription fulfillment and the out-of-hospital circulation of prescription drugs in online medical consultations, highlighting its advantages in digital technology, new retail services for prescription medications, and off-campus pharmacy operations. These efforts have further facilitated patients’ access to medications and medical care, demonstrating practical support for the national policy of separating pharmaceutical dispensing from medical services.

In accordance with the cooperation framework and specific service workflows, patients can schedule initial consultations, follow-up visits, and online prescription renewals at the center. Leveraging physicians’ electronic prescriptions, they may independently select through the system to purchase relevant medications—including prescription drugs—from Quanyuantang’s online pharmacy and off-site retail stores. This approach fully capitalizes on Quanyuantang’s channel advantages across B2C, O2O, and off-site store models, establishing a “urban warehouse + urban distribution network + smart pharmacy” layout that responds promptly to user needs. It enables 24/7 home delivery services, allowing patients to access comprehensive medical consultation and medication services without leaving their homes.

It is understood that the Guangzhou Women and Children’s Medical Center is the largest Grade A tertiary hospital for women and children in South China, boasting numerous national-level key specialties. At its peak, the center handles over 4 million outpatient visits annually, with approximately 12,000 outpatient visits per day during non-peak hours.

As one of the first specialized internet hospitals for women and children in Guangdong Province, the Internet Hospital of Guangzhou Women and Children’s Medical Center relies on its physical hospital infrastructure. By integrating advanced technologies such as cloud computing, big data, the Internet of Things (IoT), mobile 5G, and artificial intelligence, it consolidates high-quality obstetric, gynecologic, and pediatric medical resources from both domestic and international hospitals. In collaboration with primary and secondary healthcare institutions and pharmaceutical enterprises, the platform enables patients to complete the entire online healthcare process—from appointment scheduling and online consultations to result review, electronic prescriptions, medication delivery, and health education—without leaving home.

For a long time, constrained by the model of subsidizing healthcare with drug revenues, China’s prescription drug market has been largely confined to hospital pharmacies. Relevant data indicate that policies such as caps on the drug-to-revenue ratio, zero-markup pricing for hospital drugs, and regulatory deregulation have continued to drive the outflow of prescription drugs from hospitals. The theoretical incremental market space generated by this outflow exceeds RMB 200 billion in the short term, and this figure is expected to experience explosive growth by 2020.

Chen Zhouhua, CEO of Quanyuantang, stated that the collaboration with Guangzhou Women and Children’s Medical Center will lay a solid foundation for Quanyuantang to facilitate the out-of-hospital circulation of prescription drugs. Quanyuantang will remain committed to the compliant acquisition and effective management of prescriptions, providing patients with medication delivery and patient management services. By leveraging big data and information technology, the company will continuously empower patient health and create a “2x7x24 Health and Life Service Circle” that highlights the core value of patients.

As a leading enterprise in the new retail of pharmaceuticals, Quanyuantang has been deeply cultivating the sector through digitalization and informatization against the backdrop of continuously released policy dividends. Meanwhile, it actively embraces the “Internet + Healthcare” model by partnering with internet healthcare institutions such as WeDoctor and Yunbao, integrating data interfaces with hospitals to empower drug distribution for internet hospitals, and extending its industrial chain through a combined strategy that integrates medical services with pharmaceuticals.

In June 2017, Mianyang Central Hospital Internet Hospital, the first Grade-A tertiary general internet hospital in Sichuan Province, issued its first online prescription order, which was fulfilled and delivered by Quanyuantang. In April 2018, the Internet Hospital of the Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Medical University issued the first cross-provincial electronic prescription in the internet hospital sector; Quanyuantang accepted this e-prescription and completed the delivery, transporting the required medications over a distance of 1,300 kilometers directly to the patient.

To date, Quanyuantang, a national-level e-commerce demonstration enterprise, has been listed among the Top 100 China Pharmacy Value Rankings for three consecutive years. It has partnered with numerous renowned domestic and international pharmaceutical companies, including GSK and AstraZeneca, offering an SKU count of 28,000. The company provides comprehensive health management services, such as one-stop pharmaceutical consultation and online medical consultations, to tens of millions of users. Looking ahead, Quanyuantang will continue to create vibrant and healthy lifestyles for its broad user base through the integration of online and offline channels, contributing to the “Healthy China” initiative.