Shukang Completes $40M Series B Funding and Launches Large-Scale Clinical Trials of China's First 'Digital Drug' Across 27 Top Hospitals in Three Cities

VCBeat (WeChat: vcbeat)It is reported that Shukang, as China’s first “digital therapeutic,” has established a comprehensive exercise rehabilitation and chronic disease management system integrating “smart hardware + mobile app + medical exercise therapy centers.” Currently, it is conducting five major clinical projects across 27 Grade A tertiary hospitals in Beijing, Shanghai, and Chengdu. These projects focus on the rehabilitative effects of remotely monitored exercise therapy for diabetes, knee osteoarthritis, and coronary heart disease, as well as on screening criteria for exercise-induced sudden cardiac death. This represents a high-quality milestone achieved by Shukang after four years of dedicated efforts in the professional field.

It is precisely this recognition within the professional field that has enabled Shukang to secure RMB 40 million in Series B financing, strategically led by a pharmaceutical company with follow-on investment from IDG Capital. According to founder Lei Zhen, the funds raised in this round will be primarily allocated to various clinical studies and market promotion efforts.

Unlike other online healthcare products that transition to offline services, ShuKang established a comprehensive layout for digital therapeutic development from the outset: “Smart Hardware + Mobile App + Medical Exercise Therapy Center.” By combining exercise therapy with nutritional therapy, it aims to improve patients’ cardiovascular status and enhance cardiopulmonary function, thereby treating or assisting in the treatment of conditions such as diabetes, the “three highs” (hypertension, hyperglycemia, and hyperlipidemia), postoperative recovery from breast cancer, sports injuries, and chronic pain.

Lei Zhen told reporters that chronic disease management is a field that requires close coordination with post-diagnosis follow-up. Every patient in the follow-up process needs personalized exercise prescription guidance and quantified implementation of the prescription. For example, diabetes treatment guidelines clearly specify an exercise volume of 150 minutes per week at moderate intensity, divided into 2–3 sessions. However, individual circumstances vary significantly. Factors such as effective heart rate during exercise and the degree of blood glucose reduction necessitate the development of personalized plans for each patient; otherwise, the so-called “volume” remains a vague concept.

Shukang Digital Therapeutics can address this issue:

1. Personalized prescriptions tailored to individual patients;

2. Easily complete remote monitoring online;

3. Most importantly, the prescribed regimen is qualitatively and quantitatively defined, ensuring high executability. It enables intervention in and modification of individuals’ lifestyles, adopting a holistic approach that considers the person as a whole rather than focusing solely on the disease symptoms, which distinguishes it from traditional approaches that address only the symptoms themselves.

These hospitals, including Peking University People’s Hospital, Peking University First Hospital, Shanghai Sixth People’s Hospital, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chinese PLA General Hospital, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Southwest Hospital, and the First People’s Hospital of Yunnan Province, have taken the lead in adoption.

“Smart Hardware + Mobile App + Medical Exercise Therapy Center” is the core of Shukang’s digital therapeutics. The smart hardware consists of wearable heart rate monitoring devices that help remote patients scientifically quantify exercise metrics, while the mobile app provides remote assessment, intelligent prescription, video guidance, real-time monitoring, smart follow-up, and intelligent optimization. By monitoring users’ cardiopulmonary function to calculate target heart rate zones for effective exercise, personalized “exercise prescriptions” are formulated, including scientifically designed exercise content, quantified exercise intensity, and musculoskeletal improvement training. Exercise data is collected in real time, and prescriptions are optimized based on training progress.

Offline support for digital therapeutics is provided by the Shukang Medical Exercise Therapy Center, which primarily manages complex cases. When patients are not receiving treatment at the center, they can undergo home-based rehabilitation under physician guidance and real-time monitoring via the App. These services are mainly delivered by Shukang’s full-time physicians. Currently, Shukang focuses on training Exercise Physiologists (EPs) and Physical Therapists (PTs) to conduct rehabilitation assessments and develop rehabilitation plans for patients.

For EPs, the primary approach involves selecting physicians with suitable backgrounds for training at Baylor University Medical Center in the United States through an internal fellowship program; upon obtaining certification, they return to the rehabilitation center. Currently, there are over 20 full-time EPs and PTs. Shukang Exercise Therapy Centers have already been established in Chengdu, Shanghai, and Chongqing, with operations set to launch soon in Beijing, Shenyang, Xi’an, Shenzhen, and other cities.

Lei Zhen told reporters that rehabilitation abroad generally adopts a one-on-one approach, particularly in the management of chronic diseases, where exercise and nutritional therapies are prioritized, and pharmacological interventions are reserved for cases where these initial measures prove ineffective. Due to the near absence of Exercise Physiologists (EPs) and a severe shortage of experienced Physical Therapists (PTs) in China, one-on-one exercise-based rehabilitation therapy is hardly implemented domestically. One-on-one rehabilitation consumes significant medical resources and incurs high costs, whereas tele-rehabilitation can effectively reduce healthcare expenditures. With the development of mobile internet in China, tele-rehabilitation has become feasible, and the resulting systematic and massive datasets will enable China to achieve “overtaking on the bend” in sports rehabilitation compared to foreign counterparts.

Shukang is simultaneously conducting five major clinical research projects across 27 Grade A tertiary hospitals in Beijing, Shanghai, and Chengdu. These studies are led by prestigious institutions such as the Chinese PLA General Hospital (Beijing 301 Hospital), West China Hospital of Sichuan University, and Shanghai Tongji Hospital. The principal investigators participating in these clinical trials are predominantly academic leaders and experts, representing China’s top-tier medical professionals. The involvement of these hospitals and physicians underscores their endorsement of remote “exercise therapy + nutritional therapy” and their optimism about the future of tele-rehabilitation.