U.S.-China Medical Alliance: Embracing the 'Tale of Two Nations' Trend in Healthcare Innovation

These words come from Steven Rosen, an oncologist and cancer researcher at the City of Hope Medical Center in the United States. What he refers to is the increasingly prosperous medical cooperation between two major countries, which leverages each other’s strengths and is elevating global healthcare standards to a new level.

Three years ago, Rosen assumed a leadership role at City of Hope Medical Center. One of his first actions upon taking office was to convene new colleagues to discuss the strategic direction of its international healthcare services. It did not take long for the team to reach a consensus.

“We have ultimately decided that our overseas operations will focus exclusively on China.“Rosen said in an interview.”

Since reaching this consensus, the company’s 10-member international medical division has gradually formed alliances with several renowned cancer hospitals in China. Through these collaborations, City of Hope has shared high-quality clinical practices and training methodologies with China. In return, Chinese physicians have provided them with extensive access to clinical cases.

At the same time, the two global powers forged a friendship through this alliance and created more job opportunities.

“Due to work requirements, I traveled to China twice and was amazed by the quality of medical personnel from Chinese partner institutions each time.” Humble, intelligent, and talented—these are the words this oncologist used to describe Chinese healthcare workers.

City of Hope Medical Center’s Two Primary Objectives for Collaboration with China, the First of Which IsAdvancing Global Cancer Research, Treatment, and Diagnostic Technologies; secondly,Enable Chinese patients to benefit from the most advanced cancer treatment technologies in China and the United States。

Among the numerous initiatives launched by the China-US Cancer Care Alliance, one project titled “Remote Second Opinion” is designed for patients with hematologic malignancies at Tongji Hospital in Wuhan. In this context, physicians from City of Hope provide a secondary evaluation of the diagnoses made by Tongji Hospital. However, given that U.S. physicians are not licensed to practice medicine in China, they solely perform second-opinion assessments and do not communicate directly with patients.

Furthermore, City of Hope has partnered with a Chinese private enterprise to oversee the cancer care division of a hospital under construction in Shenzhen, China.

“Shenzhen is a relatively young and affluent city,” said Ed McCarthy, Vice President of City of Hope’s International Medical Business Center. “It is a hub for innovation and knowledge, but lacks a strong cancer institution. Therefore, there remains a healthcare gap here.”

An executive stated that the most impactful achievement of the China-U.S. Cancer Care Alliance to date has been its collaboration with the Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine. Physicians and scientists from both institutions have actively engaged in medical exchanges and educational interactions, while also providing additional treatment consultations for patients at the hospital.

Dr. Yuman Fong, Chief of Surgical Oncology at City of Hope and a globally renowned cancer surgeon, described the collaboration with The Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine as “a life-saving endeavor.”

They believe that partnering with China makes sense from multiple perspectives. For City of Hope, one key benefit is gaining deeper insights into their patient population. Reportedly, one-quarter of their patients have Asian ancestry, with the majority originating from Greater China.

The most recent example of overseas hospitals collaborating with China occurred not long ago,April 10,Jiahui Health and Massachusetts General Hospital Announce Official LaunchLong-term strategic cooperation, involvingOverall planning, operational management, and clinical research at Shanghai Jiahui International Hospital, as well as collaborativeClinical CoverageMedical Staff Training, Patient Care, Oncology, etc.

In China, a country with a population of 1.4 billion, the demand for high-quality medical care is as insatiable as a bottomless chasm, and the same holds true for high-quality pharmaceuticals.

Historically, foreign pharmaceutical companies faced numerous restrictions and challenges when introducing their products into the Chinese market, but this landscape is rapidly changing. In recent years, several U.S. biopharmaceutical companies have announced partnerships with Chinese firms to jointly develop clinical-stage drugs or collaborate on launching oncology therapies in the Chinese market and even globally.

2017 had just entered deep spring, yet it already showed that this would be a year of numerous collaborations and high productivity.

In January, California-based biopharmaceutical company Kite Pharma announced the establishment of a joint venture with Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical to jointly develop and promote CAR-T cell immunotherapy.

Helen Kim, Vice President of Business Development at Kite Pharma, told reporters,China represents a “critical future market”, owing to its vast population and the high incidence rates of specific cancer types. She also noted that China demonstrates a considerable openness to innovative medical technologies, with regulatory authorities exhibiting significant flexibility in the market access of new therapies. Meanwhile, major pharmaceutical companies are actively seeking collaborations on emerging technologies.

Image source:LinkedIn

CASI Pharmaceuticals, a biopharmaceutical company based in Maryland, has positioned meeting the healthcare needs of the Chinese market as its primary focus.

This pharmaceutical company is preparing to introduce several drugs into the Chinese market. In 2015, CASI Pharmaceuticals announced a partnership with International Medical (China) Co., Ltd. to commercialize its non-Hodgkin lymphoma drug Zevalin in Hong Kong and strive to expand its reach to the Greater China region.

Ken K. Ren, CEO of CASI Pharmaceuticals, stated that although Hong Kong is a relatively small market, it is sufficient to evaluate the clinical efficacy of Zevalin in Chinese patients and to “achieve early market penetration before the product is approved for entry into the Greater China region.”

Not only that, in recent years, Chinese enterprises and investors have been actively acquiring U.S. healthcare and pharmaceutical companies through capital-intensive transactions, bringing new medical technologies back to China. According to the PitchBook database,214 deals between Chinese and U.S. healthcare companies have been completed in the past five years。

In February, Denovo Biopharma, a precision medicine company with offices in both San Diego and Guangzhou, announced the simultaneous initiation of Phase III clinical trials in China and the United States for its novel drug targeting diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.

The Head of Clinical R&D at Denovo Biopharma in Beijing stated that the company has successfully submitted an Investigational New Drug (IND) application for clinical trials to the China Food and Drug Administration, and that the Chinese side will play a significant role in this trial.

In March, FierceBiotech reported that the colorectal cancer drug jointly developed by Hutchison China MediTech and Eli Lilly and Company has shown preliminary efficacy in Phase III clinical trials. Among more than 4,500 Chinese patients enrolled in the trial, survival rates were significantly improved. It is understood that the collaborative drug could receive approval from China’s National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) within as little as a few months.

The US-China Innovation Alliance is a non-profit organization based in Texas, USA, that is connecting innovative enterprises in China and the United States to explore broader opportunities.

Next month, at the 2017 China-US Innovation Alliance Conference, more than 200 Chinese companies will be in attendance. Notably, over half of these enterprises are either from the healthcare sector or have interests in healthcare operations or investments.

An executive of the China-US Innovation Alliance stated that China’s “healthcare boom” is primarily driven by healthcare reform and population aging. “Healthcare reform has created opportunities for more private enterprises, with particular attention focused on industries integrating healthcare with emerging technologies.” The executive further analyzed that the modern Chinese retired population enjoys greater longevity than in the past, and their demands extend beyond high-quality medicines and advanced medical technologies to encompass a broader need for daily healthcare services.

“China not only lacks technical prowess in ‘treatment,’ but also has limited experience in ‘prevention,’ and is currently seeking case models from overseas. The United States, on the other hand, offers many valuable lessons in both medical technology and digital health innovation.”

Source: healthline.com