Tencent and AstraZeneca Forge Strategic Partnership to Combat Pharmaceutical Counterfeiting with Big Data, Advancing 'Healthy China' Initiative

On February 1, Tencent and AstraZeneca officially signed a strategic cooperation memorandum in Beijing, joining hands to create an innovative big data-based model for combating counterfeit medicines. This partnership aims to strengthen intellectual property protection, fully safeguard the public’s medication safety and legitimate rights, and serve as China’s first example of collaboration between an internet platform and a pharmaceutical company in anti-counterfeiting efforts. It will also further accelerate the realization of the “Healthy China” initiative.

(AstraZeneca China General Manager Feng Ji and Li Xuyang, Head of Tencent Security’s Anti-Fraud Laboratory, jointly sign a strategic cooperation agreement)

Mr. Wang Lei, Executive Vice President of AstraZeneca and President of International Business and China, stated, “Smart healthcare serves as a robust support for achieving the ‘Healthy China’ initiative, while safe medication use forms the cornerstone of smart healthcare. Adhering to a ‘patient-centric’ approach, AstraZeneca has partnered with Tencent, a leading Chinese internet giant, to leverage cutting-edge big data and internet technologies. Through proactive governance, we aim to provide Chinese patients with safe and reliable medicines, thereby effectively safeguarding their medication rights and interests. Our comprehensive collaboration with Tencent will further enhance AstraZeneca’s contributions to intellectual property protection in China and promote the sound and orderly development of smart healthcare in the country.”

Ma Bin, Vice President of Tencent, stated, “Big data has permeated every aspect of smart cities, driving the intelligent transformation of urban life. Tencent’s technical solutions in cloud computing, the Internet of Things (IoT), and big data play a pivotal role in smart city development, continuously creating convenience and new possibilities for public welfare, commerce, and philanthropy. By leveraging the robust big data capabilities of Tencent Security Joint Laboratory’s Anti-Fraud Laboratory and combining them with AstraZeneca’s expertise in the healthcare sector, we will capitalize on our respective strengths through close collaboration. Together, we will establish and deepen mechanisms for anti-counterfeiting cooperation, information sharing, case consultation, expedited authentication channels, and liaison with law enforcement agencies. This joint effort aims to effectively combat the manufacture and sale of counterfeit medicines, protect intellectual property rights, and safeguard patients’ health and medication rights, thereby providing strong support for the ‘Smart City’ initiative.”

Mr. Pascal Soriot, Global CEO of AstraZeneca, stated, “China holds significant strategic importance for AstraZeneca. With a 25-year presence in China, AstraZeneca has achieved extensive and substantial growth in innovation, commercialization, and manufacturing. As AstraZeneca’s second-largest market globally, China plays an increasingly vital role in our global landscape, driven by proactive healthcare policies and growing demand for innovative medicines. We collaborate with the Chinese government and leading local enterprises to engage in diversified partnerships in R&D and digital technologies, committed to accelerating innovation capabilities and better serving patients in China and worldwide, thereby jointly shaping the future of healthcare in China. I am pleased to contribute, as a member of the UK Business Delegation, to seizing the tremendous opportunities for both the UK and China, exploring world-class healthcare technologies, and developing coordinated healthcare policies and systems to better meet patients’ healthcare needs.”

It is understood that, as one of China’s largest comprehensive internet service providers, Tencent has accumulated 18 years of extensive experience in data operations. Leveraging the core capabilities of the Tencent Security Joint Laboratory, Tencent Security’s prevention and protection scope covers six key internet domains: connectivity, systems, applications, information, devices, and cloud. Meanwhile, in response to the new surge in the production and sale of counterfeit food and drugs following the widespread integration of the internet into daily life, Tencent Security has focused its efforts on the most critical regulatory links for food and drug safety. Based on the situational awareness system independently developed by the Tencent Security Anti-Fraud Laboratory, it has built an Internet Food and Drug Big Data Regulatory Index Platform. This platform conducts rule learning, association mining, and early warning and disposal for food and drug products, counterfeit cosmetics, and counterfeit manufacturing and sales activities, thereby forming the capability to proactively monitor nationwide food and drug sales and issue early warnings regarding major counterfeit manufacturing and sales organizations.

Leveraging the Internet-based Big Data Regulatory Index Platform for Food and Drugs, Tencent Security has assisted food and drug regulatory authorities in carrying out special rectification campaigns and providing collaborative support, achieving significant results. In 2017 alone, Tencent Security helped solve major cases involving counterfeit and substandard imported foods, fraudulent Maxim’s mooncakes, and “resurrected” fake pharmaceuticals. The cumulative value of cases assisted by Tencent Security in collaboration with food and drug regulatory authorities exceeded RMB 80 million. Currently, it conducts 24/7 nationwide monitoring of more than 50 types of non-compliant products involved in counterfeiting and illicit sales, with the capacity to block one million counterfeit-related websites and prevent ten million visits to fraudulent food and drug websites on a daily basis.

Upholding an attitude of openness, collaboration, and sharing, Tencent continuously empowers key areas of public concern. Currently, national government agencies such as the China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) and the Wuxi Food and Drug Administration have successively integrated Tencent Security’s big data capabilities to jointly build a more efficient Internet-based big data regulatory index platform for food and drugs. Through this collaboration with AstraZeneca, Tencent will further explore “smart” governance models for food and drug regulation, thereby enhancing safeguards for public food and drug safety.