AstraZeneca and AliHealth Forge Strategic Partnership to Co-create an Intelligent Healthcare Service Model

As UK Prime Minister Theresa May visited China, British companies also came to China to seek more cooperation opportunities.

VCBeat (WeChat ID: vcbeat) has learned that on February 2, AstraZeneca, one of the top ten global pharmaceutical companies, signed a strategic cooperation memorandum with AliHealth, a subsidiary of Alibaba Group, in Shanghai. Driven by new technologies such as the internet, artificial intelligence, and the Internet of Things (IoT), both parties will co-create new models of healthcare services to benefit more patients in China.

Information disclosed on the day revealed that the two parties signed a strategic cooperation agreement to fully integrate Alibaba and AliHealth’s technological advantages in areas such as drug traceability, e-commerce, health management, and artificial intelligence (AI) with AstraZeneca’s patient-centric, integrated innovative diagnosis and treatment solutions in disease areas including cardiovascular and metabolic disorders, respiratory conditions, gastrointestinal diseases, and oncology. The collaboration will gradually expand into pharmaceutical and healthcare services, focusing on patient disease education, prevention and control of chronic diseases, chronic disease management, and AI research and development.

Taking drug traceability as an example, following the collaboration, patients will be able to scan the Ali Health traceability code on drug packaging to access more disease prevention and control knowledge and extended health services. This partnership is expected to serve over 1 million Chinese patients in 2018, with a gradual expansion within three years into therapeutic areas including cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, respiratory conditions, gastrointestinal disorders, and oncology.

Furthermore, Alibaba Health’s AI R&D capabilities will serve as a key cornerstone of the partnership. The two parties will jointly develop an intelligent auxiliary screening and diagnostic engine for chronic disease management, aiming to enhance clinicians’ diagnostic efficiency, improve the standard of chronic disease management, and raise public health awareness.

Alibaba Health has achieved remarkable results in its deployment of medical artificial intelligence. Last July, “Doctor You,” a medical AI system developed by Alibaba Health, was officially launched. Currently, Alibaba Health has partnered with various external institutions, including local governments, hospitals, and research universities, to develop intelligent auxiliary diagnostic engines for 20 common and frequently occurring diseases, covering areas such as chronic disease management, lung cancer prediction, psychological assessment, and fundus screening. Furthermore, Alibaba Health has made progress in collaboration with certain medical institutions in building platforms for medical research data, simulated medical education scenarios, and medical consortiums.

Wu Yongming, Chairman of the Board of Alibaba Health, stated, “We are delighted to serve as a representative of Chinese technology enterprises and forge a strategic partnership with UK-based AstraZeneca during the UK Prime Minister’s visit to China. Alibaba Health has been committed to leveraging technologies such as mobile internet and artificial intelligence to provide users with equitable, inclusive, and accessible pharmaceutical and healthcare services. Meanwhile, AstraZeneca has innovatively proposed an integrated diagnosis and treatment solution in the medical field based on the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT). Both parties share a common vision of building smart healthcare through innovative technologies, optimizing end-to-end healthcare services, and jointly contributing to the ‘Healthy China’ initiative.”

Thanks to the long-standing friendly relations and booming trade between China and the United Kingdom, China has become AstraZeneca’s second-largest service market globally. Pascal Soriot, Global CEO of AstraZeneca, was invited to join Prime Minister Theresa May’s visit to China as a member of the UK Business Delegation and the China-UK Business CEOs’ Council, helping to drive and witness a “smart” step forward in healthcare collaboration between the two nations.

Pascal Soriot, Global CEO of AstraZeneca, stated, “As a leading pharmaceutical innovator rooted in China for 25 years, AstraZeneca is committed to becoming China’s most trusted healthcare partner. With the deepening development of the ‘Golden Era’ of UK-China relations, AstraZeneca actively promotes UK-China friendship and mutual trade benefits. We engage in extensive collaboration with various stakeholders in China through innovative R&D and business models to support China’s key health objectives. The partnership between AstraZeneca and AliHealth fully demonstrates the vast potential for cooperation between the UK and China in the life sciences sector. Together, we will create opportunities to advance smart healthcare, enhance the accessibility and efficiency of health services in China, and make more significant contributions toward achieving the ‘Healthy China 2030’ initiative and benefiting Chinese patients, striving to set a benchmark for UK-China collaboration in life and health.”

Alibaba Health(00241.HK)As the flagship platform of Alibaba Group’s “Double H” strategy (Health and Happiness) in the healthcare sector, it is one of the companies invested in and controlled by Alibaba Group. Leveraging Alibaba Group’s strengths in e-commerce, big data, and cloud computing, Ali Health adopts a user-centric approach to provide comprehensive internet-based solutions for the pharmaceutical and healthcare industry. This aims to achieve cross-regional sharing and allocation of existing societal medical resources, significantly improving the efficiency of medical consultations and medication purchases.

Alibaba Health’s mission is to “make health within reach,” and its vision is to “leverage big data to empower healthcare, transform health through the internet, and provide equitable, inclusive, and accessible pharmaceutical and health services to one billion people.” Currently, Alibaba Health’s business operations are primarily focused on pharmaceutical e-commerce, product traceability, smart healthcare, and health management.

AstraZeneca is a global, science-led biopharmaceutical company focused on the research, development, and commercialization of prescription medicines. Its business priorities are centered on three core therapeutic areas—Oncology, Cardiovascular, Renal & Metabolism, and Respiratory & Immunology—with additional involvement in immunology, neuroscience, and infectious diseases. Operating in more than 100 countries worldwide, AstraZeneca’s innovative medicines have benefited millions of patients globally.

Since entering China in 1993, AstraZeneca has adhered to a science-led approach and prioritized innovation to meet the country’s growing health needs, fulfilling its ambitious vision of “pioneering innovation to benefit patients and becoming China’s most trusted healthcare partner.” Headquartered in Shanghai, AstraZeneca employs 10,800 people across China. The company has invested in manufacturing bases in Wuxi and Taizhou, and established its China logistics center in Wuxi. In China, AstraZeneca focuses primarily on therapeutic areas of greatest need for Chinese patients, including respiratory, cardiovascular, metabolic, oncology, and gastrointestinal diseases.

In 2017, AstraZeneca China’s Commercial Innovation Center was established in Wuxi, with the aim of exploring innovative integrated solutions for whole-disease management that combine Internet of Things (IoT)-enabled healthcare with diagnosis and treatment. In the same year, AstraZeneca and SDIC Innovation formed a joint venture, Dizal (Jiangsu) Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., to accelerate the local research and development of new drugs and benefit patients in China.