Internet Plus Remains the Main Theme in Pharmaceuticals, with Digital Transformation at Its Prime [Spring Festival Special]
As the 2019 Spring Festival quietly arrived, VCBeat wishes all its readers a Happy New Year and extends our festive greetings! On the occasion of this joyful holiday, the VCBeat content team has specially curated a series of New Year reports. We have compiled the articles published over the past year across various healthcare sub-sectors into cohesive chapters, presenting them as the first knowledge package of the new year.
This initiative also invited entrepreneurs and investors deeply entrenched in various medical sub-sectors to share their New Year’s messages on the future of healthcare. Amidst the turbulent transformations reshaping the medical landscape, VCBeat remains committed to identifying innovative forces that are changing the healthcare paradigm, providing support, and fostering mutual growth.
VCBeat has long been labeled by the outside world as a platform focused on “innovation” and “entrepreneurship.” In the relatively “traditional” pharmaceutical industry, we have consistently concentrated on the evolving aspects—such as pharmaceutical e-commerce, Internet-plus-pharma, electronic prescriptions, and prescription outflow. New technologies and novel business models are gradually penetrating the core of the pharmaceutical sector, representing the most significant variables shaping the future industry landscape.
Following the evolution of the pharmaceutical industry chain, we observe that, from the R&D perspective, new technologies such as artificial intelligence have improved the efficiency of target identification, molecule discovery, and crystal form construction; from the clinical perspective, electronic data capture systems, big data technology, and digitalization have enhanced data mining capabilities; and from the market perspective, “Internet+” has increased drug accessibility, with new retail gaining momentum.
“Internet + Healthcare” and pharmaceutical digitalization are integrated along the pharmaceutical industry chain, rather than existing in isolation. Moreover, they have already demonstrated significant promise in practical applications. In the future, pharmaceutical companies will increasingly adopt a “patient-centric” approach, addressing unmet needs by providing comprehensive solutions ranging from health management to disease management, rather than offering fragmented products.
It is our great honor to participate in this transformation, serving as its chroniclers and thinkers, and driving the advancement of the industry.
The structure of this article is as follows:
Industry Report: Competitiveness Model for Pharmaceutical E-commerce;
Pharmaceutical Digitalization Special: From Drug Discovery to Patient Management;
Industry Hotspot: Prescription Outflow Is the Most Discussed Topic;
Industry Hotspots: Cross-Border Competition and Cooperation Among Internet Giants;
Industry Hotspot: Exploration and Practice of China-Style PBM;
Looking Ahead: Insights from 15 Industry Leaders
China's pharmaceutical e-commerce sector primarily consists of B2B and B2C platforms. B2B pharmaceutical e-commerce platforms mainly serve institutional clients, with purchasers including hospitals, primary healthcare institutions, and retail pharmacies. B2C pharmaceutical e-commerce platforms primarily provide medication purchasing services to individual consumers. Based on whether the operations are self-run, B2C models are further divided into marketplace-based B2C and self-operated B2C. The former resembles the Taobao model, where various pharmaceutical merchants are onboarded onto the platform, which provides services such as product display, transaction facilitation, IT support, and data analytics. The latter involves procuring medications independently and selling them through a self-built platform.
Pharmaceutical e-commerce 1.0 was a pure online drug sales service model that leveraged internet information technology to build platforms providing drug transaction services for pharmaceutical suppliers, distributors, retailers, and individual consumers. This model featured limited service offerings, low added value, and restricted value creation for users. Pharmaceutical e-commerce 2.0 has transformed from a mere drug sales service provider into an ecosystem anchored in drug sales services but extended to include a series of value-added services such as SaaS, financial services, diagnosis and treatment services, and health management services. This evolution aims to construct an industrial ecosystem for pharmaceutical distribution and a closed-loop “medical + pharmaceutical” healthcare service ecosystem.
Key Findings of the Report
From 2012 to 2017, the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of online pharmaceutical sales penetration in China reached as high as 37.6%, indicating immense market development potential;
From 2012 to 2016, online pharmacies in China experienced rapid growth, with an average of 111 new establishments added annually;
The share of the B2C pharmaceutical e-commerce channel has steadily increased, gradually narrowing the gap with that of the B2B channel;
B2B pharmaceutical e-commerce integrates the supply, distribution, and procurement of medicines to build an ecosystem for the pharmaceutical circulation industry;
B2C pharmaceutical e-commerce is patient-centric, building a closed-loop ecosystem of “medical + pharmaceutical” healthcare services.
For details, see:
Digital technologies, represented by artificial intelligence, machine learning, big data, and internet-based healthcare, are reshaping the pharmaceutical industry and bringing a new look to the sector.
“Digital” tools or technologies undoubtedly possess the qualities most urgently needed by the pharmaceutical industry. This refers to the application of internet and information technologies across various stages of pharmaceutical operations to transform existing business processes and models, with the primary aim of reducing costs, improving efficiency, or both.
Correspondingly, innovative companies emerging at these various stages have also gained favor with pharmaceutical enterprises. Examples include the application of AI tools in early-stage R&D, the use of big data tools in clinical research, digital marketing initiatives via physician-oriented tools/platforms, and the penetration of patient management tools.
Just as advances in biotechnology have brought targeted therapies for precision medicine to the pharmaceutical industry, this new wave of digitalization—centered on AI, big data, wearable devices, and flexible sensor technologies—will reshape the drivers and trajectory of the pharmaceutical sector. In the future, only companies that can accurately grasp digital trends will secure a place amid technological transformation. Pharmaceutical companies that have taken the lead in deploying digital health initiatives are undoubtedly ahead of the curve.
For details, see:
Prescription Outflow: What is being transferred is the prescription itself. Previously, patients completed consultations, received prescriptions, and obtained medications all within the hospital. Now, with restrictions on the free flow of prescriptions lifted, medications are provided by community pharmacies, thereby separating medical consultation from drug dispensing.
The emergence of prescription outflow is driven by the dismantling of the “drug-revenue-dependent healthcare” mechanism, aiming to refocus hospitals on their core medical functions and weaken their “monopoly” over prescriptions. Policies such as medical insurance cost containment, zero-markup drug pricing, and controls on the proportion of drug expenditures serve as the primary incentives for hospitals to release certain prescriptions. Thus, prescription outflow represents both a “political mandate” and a form of “market-based adjustment.”
Prescriptions for chronic disease medications, new specialty drugs, and oncology drugs will be among the “first batch” to be released outside hospitals. This move will not only provide convenience for patients, especially those with chronic conditions, but also help control the proportion of pharmaceutical revenue in hospitals and alleviate operational pressure on hospital pharmacies.
The outflow of prescriptions will drive structural adjustments in pharmaceutical distribution channels, representing both a reallocation of existing market share and a new growth engine for the industry. Consequently, retail pharmacy chains, DTP (Direct-to-Patient) pharmacies, hospital-adjacent stores, pharmaceutical e-commerce platforms, and “Internet + Healthcare” enterprises are actively positioning themselves to capitalize on this opportunity.
Among these, chain pharmacies are viewed most favorably, DTP (Direct-to-Patient) pharmacies are experiencing the fastest growth, and pharmacy stores adjacent to hospitals enjoy immediate geographic advantages. Meanwhile, pharmaceutical e-commerce platforms are piloting an integrated “medication + medical care” model to create a closed-loop service ecosystem, supported by prescription platforms and internet hospitals.
It is estimated that the scale of prescription outflow in 2018 ranged between RMB 40 billion and RMB 90 billion. However, due to the difficulty in standardizing prescription outflow, the above figures represent only a rough estimate and may deviate somewhat from actual conditions. Furthermore, influenced by factors such as tiered diagnosis and treatment and the deregulation of medication at primary care levels, patients from public tertiary hospitals may be diverted to primary care institutions, which will also become important recipients of outflowing prescriptions.
Prescription outflow is a systemic phenomenon involving multiple facets, including healthcare reform, adjustments in pharmaceutical distribution and retail channels, transformation of operational structures, changes in medical insurance policies, shifts in healthcare delivery models, and evolving patient preferences. The process will entail a tortuous journey of exploration.
For details, see:
China’s two internet giants, Tencent and Alibaba, have also made significant inroads in the “Internet + Healthcare” sector: Tencent unveiled its “WeChat Smart Hospital 3.0” initiative and officially launched the National New Generation Artificial Intelligence Open Innovation Platform for Medical Imaging; Alibaba Health, an affiliate of Alibaba, partnered with Xi’an International Medical Center to create a new “Internet +” healthcare model.
Beyond their recent moves, Tencent and Alibaba have extended their reach into every segment of the healthcare sector through “Internet + Healthcare,” including internet hospitals, pharmaceutical retail, medical AI, and healthcare informatization. It is fair to say that both companies have gone “all-in” in the “Internet + Healthcare” space.
So, what are Tencent and Alibaba’s strategic layouts in the “Internet + Healthcare” sector? What are the similarities and differences in their strategic rationales? How will they leverage internet technologies to “empower” the healthcare industry? What objectives do they aim to achieve, and what impact will they have on the future development of healthcare?
Tencent’s “in-house” healthcare businesses include WeChat Smart Healthcare, WeSure, Tencent Miying, Penguin Medical Encyclopedia, Tencent Cloud, and Teng Ai Tang Daifu. Alibaba’s “in-house” healthcare layout comprises four major segments: AliHealth, Ant Financial, Alibaba Cloud, and Taobao, with Yunfeng Capital often serving as an investment and resource integration platform. Both companies have made numerous investments in the healthcare sector, with stakes in more than 50 companies.
From the perspective of the future direction of healthcare strategies at these two companies, Tencent demonstrates greater openness. This is because Tencent has become “investment-bank-like,” placing greater emphasis on the industry’s future growth potential and making early strategic investments. In contrast, Alibaba’s strategy focuses on progressively enriching specific segments of the industrial chain, aiming to dominate key “entry points” and thereby revitalize its overall resource ecosystem.
At present, Tencent and Alibaba are not engaged in direct confrontation in the healthcare sector. Even in areas with high similarity, such as “Future Hospital” and “Smart Hospital” initiatives, as well as medical AI businesses, they have yet to reach a stage of head-to-head competition. The vast market of the healthcare industry provides a broad platform for companies like Tencent and Alibaba, which possess strong financial resources, technological expertise, and industrial advantages. The two giants may drive the development of the healthcare industry through their competitive dynamics.
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The Pharmacy Benefit Management (PBM) model, which originated in the United States, made its way to China around 2010 and has roughly undergone three developmental stages: “emergence,” “dormancy,” and “revival.”
PBMs emerged in the United States in the late 1960s, coinciding with the invention of the plastic insurance card. The 1970s saw the nascent stages of prescription drug utilization review, and this model further evolved in the 1980s, establishing PBMs as a cornerstone in the management of outpatient prescription medications.
Since the 1980s, the PBM industry has experienced rapid growth driven by two key factors: first, the rising demand for cost containment amid escalating healthcare service and prescription drug costs; second, the advent of the “golden age” of drug discovery, which brought a large number of new drugs to market each year, necessitating institutions to help payers track the launch and utilization of these new therapies and balance the selection between older and newer medications based on metrics such as efficacy and cost.
As of today, players in the U.S. PBM market can be broadly categorized into three types: first, PBMs embedded within insurance companies, such as Optum, the PBM subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group; second, PBMs operated by chain pharmacies, such as Caremark, owned by CVS Health; and third, independent PBMs, such as Medimpact.
When PBMs first entered the market, the industry’s expectation was that “stones from other hills may serve to polish the jade.” During their period of stagnation, the prevailing view was that “oranges grown south of the Huai River remain oranges, but those grown north become bitter trifoliate oranges.” With the renewed resurgence of PBMs, greater emphasis is now placed on “localization” and “China-style innovation.”
PBMs mediate among numerous stakeholders—pharmaceutical companies, insurers, healthcare providers, pharmacies, and patients—to optimize diagnostic and treatment services as well as medication pathways, striving to minimize healthcare expenditures while ensuring therapeutic efficacy. In China’s rapidly reforming healthcare market, where stakeholder interests are even more intricate, innovation is essential to break the deadlock, and PBMs are once again held in high expectation.
Six Key Elements Required to Successfully Establish Localized PBM Operations in China:
i. Strong drug price negotiation power: Ensures that PBMs can procure drugs from upstream pharmaceutical manufacturers at lower prices;
ii. Ability to issue and review prescriptions: Ensure that the PBM can assist patients in rational medication use based on drug prescriptions;
iii. Sufficient patient volume: Ensures that the PBM has an adequate patient base and pharmaceutical sales volume;
iv. Mature supply chain system: Ensures efficient distribution of pharmaceuticals;
v. Comprehensive payment-side safeguards: Ensuring final payment for pharmaceuticals;
vi. Continuous medication data for chronic diseases: Ensuring PBMs understand the medication patterns of patients with chronic conditions.
“Amid the backdrop of healthcare reform,” China’s medical and health industry is undergoing rapid transformation, where any beneficial foreign model can find fertile ground for pilot implementation—such as adopting Pharmacy Benefit Management (PBM) from the United States, learning tiered management of retail pharmacies from Japan, and promoting the scaling up and intensification of pharmaceutical production, distribution, and usage. Seeking opportunities amidst change, rather than being constrained by rigid frameworks within business models, constitutes the foundation of innovation.
For details, see:
Strategic Victory: PBM Business Drives CVS Health’s Second Growth Curve - VCBeat
PBM Practices in China: Identifying Opportunities Through Local Innovation - VCBeat
Dr. Gang Yu, Co-founder of 111.com
VCBeat has been deeply engaged in the healthcare and wellness sector, focusing on frontier hotspots and development trends within the industry. Adhering to an objective, impartial, and rigorous approach, it consistently contributes highly valuable industry reports and insights. We appreciate VCBeat’s contributions to advancing industry development and sincerely wish it continued success and growth!
2018 was a pivotal year for the development of the internet-based pharmaceutical and healthcare industry. The Chinese government has continuously deepened reforms in the medical and health sectors, introducing a series of new policies such as the “Two-Invoice System,” the separation of prescribing from dispensing, the “4+7” volume-based procurement program, and the “Internet + Medical Health” initiative. The pharmaceutical and healthcare industry is undergoing unprecedented transformation, bringing forth numerous new opportunities and challenges. We are fortunate to be part of this exciting historical period, and we believe that amidst this transformation, 111 Group will work with its many partners to pioneer new horizons.
In September 2018, 111 Group successfully listed on the NASDAQ, becoming the first Chinese internet healthcare company to go public in the United States. The IPO provided us with a significant strategic advantage; however, it represents merely a milestone and a new starting point. It has enabled us to leverage greater resources, enhance our brand, and implement more transparent corporate governance to achieve healthier growth. Consequently, an increasing number of leading domestic and international pharmaceutical companies are willing to collaborate with us.
In December 2018, 111 Group successfully hosted the 2018 China Internet Healthcare Summit and 111 Group Partner Conference. Nearly 400 industry leaders and elites from leading pharmaceutical companies in China and abroad attended the event to discuss strategies for leveraging technology and the internet to enhance industry efficiency and transparency.
On January 28, 2019, 111 Group signed a strategic cooperation memorandum with Eli Lilly and Company, the multinational pharmaceutical giant. The two parties will engage in in-depth collaboration focusing on key areas such as the development of the “fourth terminal” for pharmaceutical distribution, big data, electronic prescriptions, doctor-patient services, and patient education. By establishing the “fourth terminal” for pharmaceutical distribution, 111 Group will help Eli Lilly rapidly reach channels beyond traditional public hospitals.
To date, 111 Group has established strategic partnerships with more than 80 leading domestic and international pharmaceutical companies. Additionally, 111 Group has entered into a deep strategic cooperation with Manulife-Sinochem Life Insurance, China’s first Sino-foreign joint venture life insurer.
111 Group has established a new pharmaceutical retail platform comprising three core business segments: the B2C pharmaceutical e-commerce platform “1 Drug Store” (1 Yao Wang), the internet hospital “1 Clinic” (1 Zhen), and the B2B pharmaceutical platform “1 Drug City” (1 Yao Cheng). To date, 1 Drug Store has accumulated over 15 million registered users and offers more than 290,000 products; 1 Drug City serves over 130,000 pharmacies; and 1 Clinic boasts a team of more than 2,000 medical professionals, including both directly employed and external practitioners. Through the 1 Drug Store website and mobile app, users can access integrated “diagnosis and treatment” services from the comfort of their homes.
111 Group’s objective is to leverage technology to build China’s largest integrated online-to-offline (O2O) pharmaceutical and healthcare platform. By employing its unique Technology-enabled Business-to-Consumer (T2B2C) model, the company aims to better serve the public, connect online and offline retail terminals, and establish an integrated pharmaceutical and healthcare platform and ecosystem.
In 2019, we will remain steadfastly focused on enhancing customer experience and strengthening our core competencies. Our core competitiveness is manifested in four key areas: First, an intelligent supply chain, with all supply chain management systems independently developed in-house. Second, big data capabilities, leveraging extensive data analysis to provide pharmaceutical companies, pharmacies, and hospitals with precision marketing and data services. Third, a cloud service platform characterized by integration, real-time performance, flexibility, and scalability. Fourth, professional medical expertise, supported by a team of over 2,000 physicians, comprising both directly employed and third-party collaborators.
In 2019, we aim to collaborate with numerous participants in the pharmaceutical and healthcare ecosystem—including pharmaceutical companies, pharmacies, hospitals, and healthcare service providers—to jointly create a new model for pharmaceuticals and healthcare, delivering comprehensive omnichannel online-to-offline services to the public. Through our new retail pharmaceutical platform, we ensure that all customers can access our services anytime, anywhere, bringing care directly to their side and into their hands.
Shen Difan, CEO of AliHealth
“Making health within reach.” This has been the original aspiration of Alibaba Health since its inception as a young enterprise. Over the past five years, we have remained committed to this vision, collaborating with leading industry partners to strive to provide the public with a range of innovative internet-based healthcare services.
Those familiar with our long-standing partner know that Alibaba Health’s third-party traceability platform, “Ma Shang Fang Xin” (Code for Assurance), provides a “one item, one code” technical solution, assigning a unique “ID card” to every box of medication. Each day, hundreds of millions of boxes of drugs are coded on the production line before leaving the factory and entering circulation.
Following the vaccine scandal last July, our engineers worked around the clock to rapidly launch vaccine information query features across multiple apps, including Taobao Mobile, Alipay, UC Browser, and Ali Health. This enabled parents to verify whether their children’s administered vaccines were affected by simply scanning a code or entering the batch number, thereby alleviating the anxiety of hundreds of thousands of families. Leveraging our years of accumulated expertise in pharmaceutical traceability and safety, we developed and deployed this solution within just 20 hours.
On the foundation of ensuring medication safety, we have enriched the new retail pharmaceutical scenario. In collaboration with Ele.me’s Fengniao delivery network and a vast number of offline pharmacies, we have launched a 24/7 O2O home delivery service for medications. In cities such as Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Hangzhou, medicines can be delivered to customers within 30 minutes during daytime hours, thereby meeting more diverse user needs.
In addition to medication, we leverage the “Internet + Healthcare” model to help physical hospitals achieve digitalization and intelligent transformation, thereby better connecting with and serving patients. In October, we launched facial recognition for medical visits and integrated medical insurance settlement at Yuhang Hospital. Currently, the number of daily health services provided to users via Alipay—including online appointment registration, payment, and report viewing—has exceeded one million.
While keeping our feet firmly on the ground, we also keep our eyes on the stars. Together with Alibaba Cloud and high-quality third-party partners, we have built the open ET Medical Brain 2.0. In the future, we will continue to refine the smart healthcare ecosystem and actively explore commercialization pathways.
We have found that we are currently facing an unprecedented challenge, which also presents a prime opportunity for internet technology to optimize traditional healthcare. China is on the verge of an era of massive population aging; by mid-century, the elderly population is projected to approach 500 million—equivalent to the combined populations of the United States and Japan—with the majority suffering from chronic conditions such as diabetes and hypertension.
The optimal solution to this impending human challenge can be found in the internet era: chronic diseases exhibit significant patterns in both diagnosis and treatment, as well as medication management. Internet, big data, and artificial intelligence technologies can liberate limited medical resources, assist physicians, and enable precise treatment and management for the vast population of patients with chronic conditions. Opportunity always favors the prepared mind; the 2019 survey is about to launch, and we are ready to respond.
Xie Fangmin, CEO of Jianke
From its inception, Jianke has looked beyond mere pharmaceutical e-commerce, aiming instead to build a comprehensive health management service platform. Therefore, in addition to connecting with the pharmaceutical supply side, the platform also integrates with medical services. The shift from a disease-oriented to a health-oriented paradigm will be the next focal point for the internet healthcare industry, requiring companies to explore mature and diversified business models.
Guided by this mission, Jianke advanced through challenges in 2018. In addition to securing $130 million in Series B financing—providing the company with sufficient capital to strive for growth in 2019—Jianke also established deep strategic partnerships with international pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer, Gilead, AstraZeneca, and Novartis. Together, we have taken root in internet healthcare and pioneered a new smart online family doctor health platform.
Today, Jianke’s strategic development is entering a transitional phase from a “Health Service Platform” to a “Smart Health Management Service Platform.” Although only two characters have been added in Chinese, the scope of its reach has become significantly broader than before.
Jianke has consistently centered its strategic layout around a health management service platform. Whether it is online pharmacies, pharmaceutical e-commerce, mobile healthcare, or smart health, these different modules merely represent varying focal points in Jianke’s development. Specifically, online pharmacies and pharmaceutical e-commerce serve as the entry points for the health management service platform, while mobile healthcare and smart health constitute the core components of this platform.
Therefore, Jianke had two major priorities in 2019: first, to adopt a dual-drive strategy combining mobile healthcare and pharmaceutical e-commerce, thereby solidifying its market position; second, to pursue an initial public offering on the NASDAQ in 2019, enabling Jianke to deliver better medical services to the Chinese public.
Jiao Baoyuan, General Manager of Kang Aiduo
Upholding our original commitment to put users at the core and deliver exceptional health services, Kang Aiduo will continue to explore expanded health offerings and category diversification in the future, striving to provide more comprehensive health services and empowerment support for both users and the industry.
Kangaiduo adheres to the development philosophy of being customer-centric, focusing on chronic disease management, and centering on comprehensive health services. Upholding the corporate spirit that "rational medication leads to better health," it innovatively carries out work in five areas through empowerment and connectivity.
From Online to Offline: Practicing New Retail. While strengthening and expanding its pharmaceutical e-commerce business, Kangaiduo has actively developed its offline presence, integrating diverse resources to form mutually beneficial alliances. In 2018, our e+ Pharmacy established a multi-dimensional terminal network across China, covering 25 provinces and autonomous regions (excluding Qinghai and Tibet), 136 cities, and over 1,400 counties. This network encompassed more than 30,000 independent pharmacies, clinics, small and medium-sized pharmacy chains, and outpatient departments. By leveraging internet-based empowerment, we help small and medium-sized chains adopt the new retail model and enhance their operational and management capabilities. Moving forward, Kangaiduo plans to launch its own chain pharmacies nationwide.
From Urban Centers to Grassroots Levels: Creating New Scenarios. In 2018, Kangaiduo focused on the development of grassroots healthcare by introducing strategic partners such as Shenzhen Qianhai Xikang and Community 580. These efforts aimed to enhance primary care diagnostic and treatment capabilities, improve the current state of grassroots medical services, establish coordinated mechanisms between different levels of healthcare institutions, better address the shortage of medical resources and pharmaceuticals at the grassroots level, and empower primary healthcare.
From Medications to Services: Building a New Ecosystem. Kang Aiduo has always adhered to the philosophy that rational medication use promotes better health, advancing the process of rational drug utilization. It has transformed the traditional “sales-to-sales” model for pharmaceuticals and established an operational workflow centered on “service-to-transaction.” By providing professional services and continuously optimizing processes, Kang Aiduo delivers considerate and comprehensive health services to users. Furthermore, leveraging its existing holistic health service system, Kang Aiduo is able to offer partners more specialized and socially integrated pharmaceutical care services.
From Manual to Intelligent: Introducing New Technologies. As a pharmaceutical e-commerce enterprise with strong internet DNA, Kangaiduo actively embraces new technologies and strategically positions itself in smart healthcare. By onboarding more strategic partners, it has established a systematic health solution encompassing intelligent monitoring, intelligent analysis, automated intervention, and smart pharmacy services.
From Mass Market to Chronic Disease Management: Building a New Structure. As a leading pharmaceutical e-commerce enterprise in China, Kang Aiduo boasts over 28,000 SKUs covering major medical specialties, thereby meeting the medication needs of patients with various diseases. Meanwhile, through nearly eight years of online operations, accumulation, and refinement, Kang Aiduo has established a unique online chronic disease management model. By empowering offline channels with its online capabilities, the company is implementing and monetizing its online chronic disease management expertise, while also embarking on new explorations. Recently, Kang Aiduo has officially launched a new model for Community Pharmacy Chronic Disease Health Management Centers.
Deshengtang Founder Long Yan
In 2018, Deshengtang Group forged ahead with steady and rapid development, completing its national expansion plan of “building another Deshengtang within three years” nearly half a year ahead of schedule. At the beginning of the year, Deshengtang Group introduced the “Health Steward” strategy, which integrates medicine, pharmaceuticals, and wellness. This approach combines pharmacy medication sales with health and wellness care, intelligent device testing with APP-based health records, and personalized healthcare plans with comprehensive after-sales big data analytics. The company continuously upgraded its technology, services, medications, and product categories, launching its exclusive “11 Special Member Services” to effectively address customers’ health needs and resolve health issues.
By August, Deshengtang Group had over 600 physical stores, ahead of schedule in completing its national expansion plan of “building another Deshengtang within three years.” Through the integration of retail operations, the profitability of newly opened stores has significantly improved, with an average break-even period of just 3 to 6 months.
In that year, Deshengtang Group’s online sales performance reached new heights. During the “6·18” and “Double 11” shopping festivals, the group’s “online retail platform matrix” exceeded its sales targets while maintaining healthy gross profit margins. By the end of 2018, Deshengtang Group had expanded onto emerging e-commerce platforms such as Pinduoduo, thereby reaching a broader base of consumers with pharmaceutical needs.
In early 2019, Alibaba Health and Deshengtang Group signed a strategic cooperation agreement themed “Building a Pharmaceutical Ecosystem, Co-developing New Retail, and Advancing Comprehensive Health.” The two parties will engage in in-depth collaboration across areas such as pharmaceutical supply chain management, integration of technical services, and platform interoperability. Furthermore, Alibaba Health made an equity investment in Deshengtang Group to support the latter in accelerating and optimizing the strategic deployment of its “Health Steward” initiative.
Dingdang Express Medicine CEO: Yu Lei
Dingdang Kuaiyao, launched in 2015, has established its own offline pharmacies and drug delivery teams over the past four years to address users’ pain points in purchasing medications. It provides customers with 24/7 service, including 28-minute home delivery of medicines and professional guidance from licensed pharmacists.
Unlike many internet companies, Dingdang Kuaiyao, which boasts traditional resource advantages, is not keen on large-scale cash burning. In 2018, after rapidly expanding into core cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Chengdu, the company chose to deepen its presence in existing markets. It continuously increased the density of its service points, adding 60 Dingdang Smart Pharmacies in Beijing alone within a year, and acquiring Zhejiang Huafang Chain Pharmacy in Hangzhou, thereby steadily improving delivery efficiency and expanding coverage. In November 2018, as a leading player in the new retail pharmaceutical sector, Dingdang Kuaiyao began to further deepen its strategic initiatives in this direction.
Launch the Dingdang Kuaiyi service to create a closed-loop healthcare ecosystem integrating medical consultation and pharmaceutical services. Health needs extend beyond “medication” to include “medical consultation”; medical care and pharmaceuticals are inseparable. When users are uncertain about their symptoms or underlying causes, they require professional physician consultations first, followed by targeted medication purchases; in special circumstances, even home-based diagnosis and treatment by medical professionals may be necessary.
To meet the demand for medical consultations, we officially launched Dingdang Kuaiyi’s new business line in 2018, creating a closed-loop healthcare service integrating medical care and pharmaceuticals. By simultaneously offering “Fast Pharmacy” and “Fast Medical Consultation” services, we have connected internet hospitals, clinics, and pharmacies to provide users with an integrated health solution encompassing “medical consultation + testing + medication.” This enables patients to connect with a doctor within one minute, receive medication delivery within 28 minutes, and access at-home nursing care within 28 minutes, thereby delivering more comprehensive health services and significantly enhancing user experience.
To deliver specialized and efficient medical services, we have established strategic partnerships with industry leaders including BGI Genomics in genetic testing, Medlinker—which boasts a network of over 500,000 physicians—in the internet hospital sector, and Xinyi International and Yuwell Technology in the fields of remote consultation and smart health hardware.
Launch the “100 Cities, 1,000 Stores” initiative to empower partner pharmacies with standardized services. While accelerating the expansion of our offline self-operated pharmacy network, we also launched Dingdang’s “100 Cities, 1,000 Stores” strategic plan in 2018. Leveraging our proprietary supply chain system, we will comprehensively empower and connect pharmaceutical manufacturers, pharmacies, and consumers, exporting Dingdang Smart Pharmacy’s mature new retail model through partnerships. The plan aims to cover 300 cities and open 2,000 stores within three years.
Empowered by Dingdang Medicine’s new retail model, the sales per square meter of Dingdang’s offline self-operated pharmacies have reached 2.6 times that of traditional chain pharmacies, with the highest store-level sales per square meter hitting RMB 160,000. Moving forward, this empowerment system will be extended to partner pharmacies across “hundreds of cities and thousands of stores.” Resources including the supply chain system, geo-fencing technology, information system services, member data, as well as brand and marketing assets, will all be made accessible to partner stores to ensure service standards and boost revenue performance.
Jiang Qiang, Founder and CEO of Mingyi Zhonghe
In 2018, the “Strengthening Primary Care” policy was fully implemented, removing many institutional barriers that had hindered the development of primary healthcare. However, given the depth and severity of longstanding issues, there is still a long road ahead for the comprehensive revitalization of primary care. Primary healthcare institutions suffer from shortages of talent, equipment, and operational capabilities; primary care physicians face inadequate income, limited professional growth opportunities, and insufficient skills; and the public lacks trust, awareness, and respect for primary care services. The revival of primary healthcare requires empowerment through internet-enabled, ecosystem-based approaches. The integration of “policy,” “market,” and “technology” is the inevitable path toward systematic and ecological transformation of the primary healthcare system.
In 2018, Mingyi Zhonghe comprehensively upgraded the Yidebang S2b2c service platform, empowering primary healthcare institutions across two key dimensions: First, enhancing the internal service capabilities of primary healthcare institutions by strengthening online medical education to improve their clinical services, operational management, and patient-facing service capacities. This transformation begins with shifts in awareness and cognition. Second, enabling online connectivity with upstream resources by rigorously selecting and linking high-end medical, diagnostic testing, and pharmaceutical resources, thereby leveraging internet technologies to facilitate primary healthcare institutions’ access to appropriate service resources.
By the end of 2018, multi-dimensional empowerment services had been delivered to nearly 100,000 clinics. The Yidebang platform offers multi-scenario service capabilities, including diversified clinic operations, social networking, professional learning, and pharmaceutical supply. By leveraging an internet-based platform to provide ecosystem-wide empowerment and unleash the vitality of diversified clinic operations, we can fundamentally address the development challenges faced by primary healthcare institutions, ultimately realizing the vision of “letting data do more running so that people have to run less.”
I believe 2018 can be best described as a year of transformative change. During this period, we witnessed an acceleration in mergers and acquisitions among traditional pharmaceutical retail chains, increasingly clear policy guidance, and the rising prominence of new pharmaceutical retail models characterized by home delivery services. The “Internet + Healthcare” model is unlocking immense potential for the entire industry. The diverse faces and expressions within the sector all reflect the current pharmaceutical trends. The convergence of these factors is catalyzing positive growth and upward momentum in the industry, ultimately delivering tangible health benefits to the broader population.
Wang Lijue, Chairman of Akang Health Group
When we take a long-term historical perspective, we find that the health concepts championed by the public have fundamentally deviated from the trajectory of commercialization. The user base as perceived through the lens of the internet resembles a microcosm of the mundane world: seemingly real yet elusive and intangible. In 2018, Akang Health proposed that we are closer to patients than at any other point in history, and that what people need is no longer merely a product, but genuine services. While implementing this philosophy, what further actions has Akang Health taken?
From the perspective of core supply chain development: upgrading from product management to disease-specific management. Leveraging innovative internet technologies, we provide integrated supply chain services centered on chronic diseases, critical illnesses, and rare diseases. We have pioneered innovative leading models, including the out-of-hospital DTP+CDC development path, category planning based on medical specialties and disease types, and an integrated service model transitioning from product distribution to disease-specific solutions. Currently, Aikang Health has developed 12,000 SKUs, established medication combination solutions for 1,300 disease types across 17 medical specialties (covering over 5,000 disease types in total), and is progressively realizing a pharmaceutical health management system integrating “medical care + disease types + medications.”
In terms of terminal channel layout and development: Adopting the distinctive strategy of “encircling the cities from the countryside.” As a country with a large rural population, 80% of China’s 380 million chronic disease patients reside in grassroots areas below the county level and primarily pay out-of-pocket. In patient management, Aikang Health engaged in extensive deliberation in 2018 on how to leverage its high-quality resources to penetrate grassroots county-level markets. Ultimately, it decisively chose the path of “encircling the cities from the countryside.” By targeting various B-side clients through initiatives such as the “Chronic Disease Rehabilitation Project,” “Rural Partner Mechanism,” “Medication Ordering on Behalf of Customers,” “Cloud Commerce Chain Alliance,” and inter-enterprise resource integration via “Internet Healthcare + Grassroots Healthcare,” we deliver a series of innovative empowerment services. Through these pivotal intermediaries, we continuously deepen our engagement with C-side end-users at the grassroots level. To date, we have covered more than 300,000 B-side clients across all regions of China, cumulatively serving millions of grassroots chronic disease patients.
From the perspectives of brand positioning and services: We propose the mission, “Making Medicines Easy to Find for Everyone.” As the name suggests, our business positioning focuses on low-volume drugs, unit-dose dispensing services, and delivering medications through the “last mile” to townships and villages, striving to provide customers with meticulous, best-in-class service. Upholding our corporate ethos of “A Pharmacist’s Heart of Compassion: Bringing Convenience and Hope to People,” we are committed to ensuring that people in grassroots communities have access to essential medicines and high-quality treatments.
Chen Zhouhua, CEO of Quanyuantang
2018 also marked the inaugural year of Quanyuantang’s new retail pharmaceuticals initiative. In early 2018, we unveiled our “50 Cities, 1,000 Stores in 3 Years” plan, formally positioning ourselves within the new retail pharmaceuticals sector. Leveraging our expertise from pharmaceutical e-commerce, we integrated online and offline operations to enhance every consumer health purchase with visualized data tools and a safe, professional medication-buying experience.
Human-centricity is the core essence of the new retail model in the pharmaceutical industry that we frequently emphasize. All our services are designed around meeting user needs, which has led to the establishment of a 2-kilometer radius health and lifestyle service circle in Chengdu as our pilot market. This includes 30-minute home delivery of medications, 24/7 non-stop service, supply chain optimization, upgrades to pharmaceutical care centers, and the foundational development of internet hospitals. We have subsequently expanded our presence to Guangzhou, Xi’an, and Chongqing.
Addressing users’ pain points in medication sourcing through the lens of product thinking and by elevating commercial dimensions is, to me, a deeply rewarding endeavor. Occasionally, when I visit physical stores and hear the constant chime of incoming orders while seeing uniformly positive user reviews displayed on the platform, I am truly moved to reflect on the value and original mission of our new retail initiatives.
Currently, our network of over 200 offline smart pharmacies has generated a significant number of stores with monthly revenues exceeding RMB 10,000, with online orders accounting for nearly 70% of total store sales. Meanwhile, our e-commerce segment has consistently maintained a top-three market position. To use a vivid analogy, these two “air forces” and “ground forces” are advancing in tandem, complementing and reinforcing each other.
From a business perspective, I am not a pure pharmaceutical professional; I originally came from the internet e-commerce sector. Nevertheless, I have always held the pharmaceutical industry in high regard. My understanding of retail has always been this: “Retail is about using the most efficient processes to deliver the most cost-effective products to consumers as quickly as possible.” For Quanyuantang’s current new pharmaceutical retail endeavors, we continue to uphold the fundamental logic of retail by providing professional and efficient services to our users. Only in this way can we remain true to Quanyuantang’s original entrepreneurial mission, established 117 years ago: “A century of serving society, drawing water while remembering its source.”
Gong Ye, General Manager of Renhe Pharmacy Network
In 2018, Renhe Pharmacy Network continued to focus on innovative and specialty drugs as its core business, centering on user needs to build a professional service platform for niche markets. Meanwhile, it improved its membership service system, strengthened refined management, and engaged in deep collaborations with pharmaceutical companies and public welfare organizations to continuously fulfill its social responsibilities and pursue various strategic partnerships, all while maintaining a user-centric approach through meticulous operations. In 2019, we will further deepen our presence in niche markets, enhance service quality, optimize the entire product portfolio based on specific disease conditions, and strengthen the development of our pharmaceutical care team. We aim to provide patients with specialized disease management, medication guidance, and adherence reminders, thereby realizing the value of retail through superior service.
Zou Xiaoliang, Founder and CEO of Weiming Penguin
Weiming Penguin leverages modern management expertise and a data-driven perspective to help partners position themselves for future competitive landscapes. Currently, the entire industry is undergoing an upgrade from consumer internet to industrial internet. As the internet becomes infrastructure for various sectors, determining which internet-based products pharmaceutical companies should adopt to enhance their competitiveness was Weiming Penguin’s primary research focus in 2018. Throughout the year, Weiming Penguin actively engaged with the industry, meticulously refining its approach by studying market needs and polishing its offerings. This resulted in two flagship products: “Penguin Commissioner,” featuring five core functionalities—“Sales Rep Online,” “Safety Online,” “Management Online,” “Customer Online,” and “Marketing Online”—and “Terminal Link,” described as the map and radar of the pharmaceutical industry.
Penguin Commissioner’s “Five Online” Modules Go Live, Embracing the Industrial Internet. In 2018, the core team of Weiming Penguin conducted over 100 field surveys in frontline markets, gathering more than 600 user requirements and launching 480 features. The team developed over 980 test cases to build the “Five Online” modules of Penguin Commissioner. By enhancing information synchronization across various roles in pharmaceutical commerce, implementing proactive management, and providing early warnings for operational and managerial risks, the platform offers managers mobile, multi-dimensional data analytics on enterprise operations. Additionally, it supports customer service and drives revenue growth through open-source marketing functionalities, helping pharmaceutical commerce enterprises optimize operations, reduce costs, and increase income. This product helps enterprises standardize management, minimize reliance on individual discretion, and enhance overall competitiveness. Through fair and impartial system-based management, it boosts sales personnel’s initiative and enthusiasm, leading to even greater performance achievements.
Terminal Connect: The Map + Radar for Pharmaceutical Companies’ Market Operations. Influenced by healthcare reform policies, pharmaceutical manufacturers are accelerating their layout in the secondary and tertiary markets to build vertical industry chains, making it imperative for these companies to enhance refined management of terminal sales. As the saying goes, “Whoever wins the terminals wins the market.” But how many terminals are there, where are they located, and how should they be managed? To address these questions, Weiming Penguin has independently developed “Terminal Connect.” Terminal Connect—your map and radar—helps pharmaceutical companies resolve all challenges in terminal sales, driving comprehensive improvements in management efficiency and performance!
In 2019, Weiming Penguin will continue to deepen its engagement in the industrial internet, focusing on addressing issues of redundancy, inefficiency, and fixed, repetitive processes within the pharmaceutical industry. This strategy aims to help Weiming Penguin’s partners position themselves for future competitive dynamics. By leveraging modern management expertise and a data-driven perspective, we assist enterprises in continuously enhancing their soft power capabilities beyond their existing hard asset strengths.
Qiu Zhongxun, CEO of Yaodou.com
Amidst the ever-changing landscape of healthcare policies, Yaodou.com navigated a volatile 2018. By staying true to its original entrepreneurial mission and maintaining a steadfast belief in the future of internet-based pharmaceuticals, the company has come to recognize the profound significance of its work as it delves deeper into the industry.
First, we are building a completely independent, new pharmaceutical supply chain system that integrates online and offline services. As a pioneer in China’s internet-based B2B pharmaceutical e-commerce sector, we expanded beyond merely providing an online procurement platform for small business (small-B) users in 2018 by beginning to construct a direct manufacturer-to-business (manufacturer-to-B) supply chain. Pilot programs launched in several provinces yielded significant results, prompting us to rapidly establish strategic offline warehouses through industrial partnerships on our Yaodou.com platform. This enabled us to meet small-B users’ demand for rapid and flexible supplies of branded products. Moving forward, we plan to scale up this successful pilot model, aiming to deploy at least ten Yaodou.com offline distribution warehouses across China by 2019. This will allow manufacturers to sell directly to small-B users, truly reducing intermediary links and bringing prices back to rational levels.
Second, we have expanded from a pure B2B model to include B2C operations, breaking the myth that B2B enterprises cannot engage directly with consumers. Over the past three years, Yaodou.com has been deeply rooted in the pharmaceutical B2B sector, continuously exploring its development. Through this period, we have gradually established our own business system and model. However, we found that merely reducing transaction links in the pharmaceutical distribution chain was insufficient to bring drug prices back to reasonable levels. In 2018, Yaodou.com comprehensively upgraded its capabilities to empower new pharmaceutical retail initiatives, beginning to deploy central smart pharmacies across various provinces. This effort has built a new healthcare consumption system that enables direct sales from manufacturers through central retail pharmacies to consumers, thereby delivering tangible benefits to the general public.
In 2018, Yaodou.com’s business model underwent certain changes, marking its transition from a pure e-commerce enterprise to an internet-based pharmaceutical services provider. By establishing a nationwide “Two Networks, One Warehouse, One Store” model, the company creatively built an independent, closed-loop pharmaceutical supply chain system. We believe that such a closed-loop supply chain and service ecosystem will contribute to the development of new retail in China’s pharmaceutical industry in the future.
Zhong Yi, Founder and CEO of Yaofangwang Mall
Compared with other industries, policies have a significant impact on the development of the pharmaceutical industry. Many favorable policies were introduced in 2018. Although prescription drugs remain restricted, the outflow of prescriptions has gradually become an inevitable trend against the backdrop of the separation of prescribing and dispensing.
Many capital investors, pharmaceutical companies, large chain pharmacies, and internet enterprises have identified this opportunity and are actively positioning themselves. I believe that amid unclear policies, compliant operations are essential for current pharmaceutical e-commerce platforms. Meanwhile, our Yaofangwang Mall is also actively integrating resources to prepare for future policy changes.
In 2018, we achieved strong business performance, standing as the only company in the pharmaceutical e-commerce industry to achieve profitability without external financing or paid user acquisition advertising. Yaofangwang Mall successfully signed agreements with thousands of offline brick-and-mortar pharmacies, with participating pharmacies covering over 90% of provinces across China. The platform offers nearly 100,000 drug specifications and 2 million SKUs.
Analysys Qianfan Releases Latest Pharmaceutical E-commerce Data: Yaofang.com Mall’s Monthly Index Reached 776,000 in December 2018, a 6.0% Month-on-Month Increase, Ranking Second in the Industry. In fact, from July 2018 to December 2018, Yaofang.com Mall’s data showed a continuous growth trend. The monthly index increased by 41%, from 550,000 to 776,000. Moreover, Yaofang.com Mall has ranked second in the industry for six consecutive months.
Technological innovation is the foundation of corporate development. We place great emphasis on investment in research and development, and our technological achievements have effectively benefited the company. In 2017, the “Data Synchronization System and Method Between Online and Offline Internet Product Retail Systems,” independently developed by Yaofang.cn Mall, was granted a national invention patent. In 2018, in response to national policy initiatives and to support drug traceability and regulation, Yaofang.cn Mall leveraged its 11 years of data and technological expertise to actively innovate and independently develop the Yaofang.cn Smart Pharmacy ERP System.
Smart Pharmacy ERP (Invoicing, Sales, and Inventory Management Software) is an intelligent management solution for pharmaceutical retailers that integrates smart procurement, smart sales, smart inventory, smart logistics, smart marketing, and Good Supply Practice (GSP) compliance, leveraging leading technologies such as big data and cloud computing. In the future, regulatory authorities at all levels will be able to oversee the entire drug distribution process, enabling rapid tracking and traceability of retail pharmaceuticals. This system will be made available free of charge to small and medium-sized pharmacies.
In 2019, we will continue to advance the research and development of technologies centered on big data and artificial intelligence, including medical information systems, online healthcare platforms, and intelligent pharmaceutical management and sales systems. We will continuously establish and improve internet-based medical services such as online consultations, intelligent triage, appointment registration, medication counseling, health checkup reservations, prescription inquiries, and diagnosis and treatment payments, serving both a broad consumer base and enterprise clients, including pharmaceutical companies and pharmacies. As a private enterprise rooted in Shanghai for twelve years, Yaofangwang Mall has established a dominant position in Shanghai’s pharmaceutical e-commerce industry. Leveraging its status as a high-tech enterprise, Yaofangwang Mall will, with policy support, continuously enhance its R&D capabilities and product service experience, elevating the company’s overall scientific and technological strength to new heights and positioning it as a leading pharmaceutical e-commerce enterprise in Shanghai and across China.
Li Tianquan, Founder of Yaozhi.com
There are typically four models for implementing industrial internet platforms: transaction, data, services, and finance. Although these four models can intersect and develop in parallel, generally each website has a primary entry point, which serves as its foundation and source of traffic. The transaction model is the most common and visually appealing, especially for bulk commodities; investors are quick to provide funding when they see transaction volumes soaring. In contrast, the data model requires strong professional expertise and represents a challenging and solitary entry point. Yaozhi.com has chosen this industrial internet model with data as its primary entry point.
The pharmaceutical industry is highly knowledge-intensive. In drug R&D, commercial sales, and investment financing, operating without data is akin to a blind man riding a blind horse. Even with data, if it is difficult to search and cannot be systematically analyzed, it remains merely a gold mine rather than refined gold. What Yaozhi.net aims to do is to excavate this global gold mine of pharmaceutical information, enabling users to easily access and analyze data.
Since its inception in 2009, Yaozhi.com has been exploring development models for pharmaceutical big data, establishing itself as one of the earliest enterprises in China to venture into this field. Over nearly a decade of development, Yaozhi.com has integrated pharmaceutical expertise with computer technology to create specialized pharmaceutical IT solutions, particularly in the R&D and industrialization of key big data technologies. Leveraging its independently developed core technologies and patented innovations in pharmaceutical data cleaning, coding, and big data profiling, along with its proprietary coding system, Yaozhi.com enables more convenient, comprehensive, and precise data retrieval. As the world’s first big data platform for pharmaceutical patents, Yaozhi Patent Connect has broken the monopoly held by foreign pharmaceutical data suppliers in this sector.
In the past, the vast majority of investment in China was concentrated in the To C (consumer-facing) sector rather than the To B (business-facing) sector. Yaozhi.com is a platform dedicated to serving the pharmaceutical industry. Initially, however, it faced skepticism, with many believing that To B businesses were difficult to scale. This perception persisted until 2015, when the “Internet Plus” initiative was formally introduced, sparking a wave of development. Yet, this concept was too broad to specifically represent internet solutions tailored for industrial services. With the recent emergence of the “Industrial Internet” concept, I believe it will inevitably trigger a new surge in the adoption and growth of the Industrial Internet.
Hone resilience through competition, forge faith through exploration, accumulate strength through struggle, and transcend dreams in the face of adversity. In addition to its already mature pharmaceutical data module, Yaozhi.com will further strengthen the development of its pharmaceutical service platform, leveraging its data foundation to provide customers with personalized services and solutions.
In 2018, Yaozhi.com underwent product iteration and upgrades, as well as the research, development, and construction of new products and platforms. Yaozhi Data Enterprise Edition 1.0, Yaozhi Data APP 2.0, and Cloud Clinic were successfully launched. The construction of its three major service platforms—Yaozhi.com, Yaozhi Valley, and FindDrug.com—was advanced in a coordinated manner.
Looking ahead to 2019, Shi Yuanping, Founder and Chairman of Yaozhi.com, stated, “We will remain committed to innovation, continue to deepen our development of the pharmaceutical big data platform, expand its depth and breadth, and enable more people to access professional pharmaceutical information services. We hope that through continuous innovation, we can draw broader societal attention to the ‘Yaozhi.com + Pharmaceutical and Health Industry’ model, attract more talent and capital, and drive the industry’s rapid and healthy development.”
He Xiaobing, CEO of Chunfeng Health
2018 can be described as a year in which the general public reaped tangible benefits. The internet healthcare sector welcomed a new wave of favorable policies, which clearly demonstrated strong support for the development of “Internet + Healthcare” and, to some extent, alleviated the difficulties of registering appointments and accessing medical care.
In fact, few people rely on internet healthcare companies to treat cancer and other major diseases requiring surgery; instead, they primarily use these platforms to manage common ailments such as colds and fever, as well as for the prevention of chronic diseases.
In 2018, China’s national medical insurance policies witnessed substantial adjustments across various aspects, including the drug approval process and price negotiations. Although these changes significantly alleviated prior pressures, accessing affordable care for severe conditions such as cancer remains the most pressing challenge.
Meanwhile, consistency evaluations in the field of drug research and development are being vigorously conducted. The rapid growth of the industry has generated substantial demand.
In response to the aforementioned policy and environmental changes, Chunfeng Health adjusted its business positioning in the past year to focus on clinical trial participant recruitment, while upholding its mission of “providing affordable hope for life” to patients. In 2019, we will establish a participant recruitment database, leveraging big data and artificial intelligence technologies to help patients identify more opportunities for recovery and enable pharmaceutical companies to rapidly locate suitable candidates. Overall, we remain committed to fulfilling our credo of being an “affordable hope for life” for patients through continuous efforts.
The aforementioned guest speakers are listed in no particular order. We extend our sincere gratitude to the friends of VCBeat for their continued support and understanding. We remain committed to continuously improving upon any shortcomings. In the new year, let us move forward together.