HLT and PPD Forge Strategic Alliance to Advance AI-Driven Clinical Solutions and Enhance Global Pharmaceutical R&D Capabilities

Wilmington, North Carolina, USA and Beijing, China (February 20, 2019) – VCBeat (WeChat Official Account: vcbeat) has learned that Pharmaceutical Product Development, LLC (PPD) and Happy Life Technology Holding Group (HLT) have announced an exclusive partnership agreement to engage in deep collaboration within China’s drug development market. The aim is to create a new generation of regulatory-grade real-world data and artificial intelligence-driven clinical trials, as well as to develop evidence-based assessments of drug efficacy, safety, and value based on real-world evidence.

This strategic partnership combines HLT’s artificial intelligence (AI) and big data technologies with PPD’s global leadership in clinical trial management and real-world research, aiming to enhance the R&D capabilities of China’s innovative pharmaceutical industry. The collaboration primarily focuses on supporting Chinese innovative drug companies in their global R&D efforts, helping more outstanding Chinese pharmaceutical enterprises and drugs reach international markets. Additionally, a key mission of this partnership is to assist international pharmaceutical companies in entering China’s evolving drug R&D and post-marketing ecosystem, thereby addressing unmet clinical needs in the Chinese disease market.

HLT holds significant advantages in AI-enabled innovative pharmaceutical research solutions, bolstered by its expanding ecosystem alliance network that collaborates with over 100 leading hospitals and renowned experts in China. By combining HLT’s big data technology and technological prowess in the healthcare sector with PPD’s global leadership in clinical research, this strategic partnership aims to address unmet clinical needs for international pharmaceutical companies entering the Chinese market, as well as for domestic innovative enterprises targeting global markets. Furthermore, it seeks to comprehensively empower clients at critical stages, including IND registration, clinical trial protocol design, clinical trial quality management, and patient enrollment efficiency.

“David Simmons, Chairman and CEO of PPD, said: ‘Our collaboration with HLT will bring new opportunities in China to PPD’s clients.’”。By collaborating with China’s top GCP clinical research centers, we accelerate patient recruitment and enable Chinese patients to participate more effectively in global clinical trials. We empower global clients to execute their clinical development programs in China by helping them design indication and trial strategies better aligned with the Chinese market. Additionally, we support research centers in enhancing clinical trial quality and achieving planned patient enrollment, thereby enabling Chinese GCP clinical research centers to better participate in, and even lead, global multicenter clinical trials. Furthermore, leveraging China’s real-world data and artificial intelligence technologies, we can identify potential patients for clinical trials, generating real-world insights that facilitate product launch and enhance efficacy.

“We are thrilled about this collaboration. We believe that the joint efforts of PPD and HLT will deliver more effective solutions for clients, significantly enhance clinical trial efficiency, reduce costs, and ultimately benefit patients in China and around the world,” said Gong Rujing, Founder of HLT. “We are also committed to helping China’s burgeoning innovative pharmaceutical companies enhance their products’ competitiveness in the global disease market through optimized overseas regulatory submission strategies. Furthermore, we recognize the continuous improvement of China’s clinical research capabilities and anticipate its pivotal role in global clinical development. We are highly interested in participating in and driving this progress.”

The exclusive partnership between HLT and PPD will focus on providing data-driven feasibility solutions, patient recruitment, and real-world evidence services to biopharmaceutical companies globally and in China.

PPD has nearly 20 years of extensive experience in Phase I–IV clinical trials in the Asia-Pacific region, with clinical development offices in Beijing and Shanghai, as well as a central laboratory in Shanghai. PPD’s Evidera business unit is a leading provider of real-world evidence research, demonstrating the real-world effectiveness, safety, and value of biopharmaceutical products throughout their lifecycle, from early-stage development to the expiration of market exclusivity.

PPD is a leading global contract research organization dedicated to providing drug discovery, development, lifecycle management, and laboratory services. Its clients and partners span the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device, academic, and government sectors. With offices in 48 countries and more than 20,000 professionals worldwide, PPD leverages innovative technologies and therapeutic expertise, underpinned by an unwavering commitment to quality, to help clients and partners accelerate the development of safe and effective therapies while maximizing return on R&D investment.

HLT is a leading medical artificial intelligence technology company in the industry, dedicated to improving the relationship between humans and diseases. HLT has established in-depth collaborative relationships with regulatory authorities, medical schools, and research institutes in China and other countries. HLT’s full-lifecycle solutions, encompassing clinical trials, post-marketing studies, drug commercialization, and real-world studies, have significantly accelerated the new drug development process. Furthermore, HLT’s papers based on real-world insights have been published in top-tier journals such as The Lancet Oncology, Nature Medicine, and others.