Renxue Health Files IPO Prospectus: Enhancing Organ Transplant Supply and Building a Specialized Health Management Platform
When it comes to organ transplantation, the questions that first come to mind for the general public are: Where do scarce organs come from? Who decides how organs are allocated? Why are surgical costs so high when donation is free? How can ordinary people find high-quality hospitals for organ transplantation? And how should post-operative health management be conducted? With these questions in mind, a reporter from VCBeat (WeChat ID: vcbeat) interviewed Zhou Lanjun, General Manager of Shanghai Renxue Health Management Co., Ltd. Renxue Health is a healthcare management company specializing in the field of organ transplantation.
Renxue Health, established in January 2016, is an innovative “healthcare + internet” company. Focusing on the field of organ transplantation, it aims to serve transplant patients and medical professionals by building a health management platform in the niche transplantation sector with mechanisms for doctor-patient communication. It assists physicians in efficiently managing transplant patients, leverages internet capabilities, reduces intermediary links, through “Transplant Specialist"An integrated online and offline service platform provides patients with high-quality, efficient, and cost-effective professional healthcare services throughout the entire care continuum."
Zhou Lanjun, the company’s founder, majored in Information Engineering at university. He previously worked in pharmaceutical sales at C&H Group in Hong Kong and Buchang Pharmaceuticals, and is a strategic partner of Staidson (Beijing) Biopharmaceuticals. He established Shanghai Chuanqi Pharmaceutical in 2013. Liang Jiarui, the technical lead, graduated with a degree in Computer Science from the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China. He has many years of experience in mobile software development, project management, and technical team leadership.
Dr. Li Yuzhuo, Head of Medicine, holds a Ph.D. in Surgery from Fudan University and is a multidisciplinary talent with expertise in healthcare, the internet, and product design. The Head of Marketing is Chen Yanlong, who brings 10 years of experience in the pharmaceutical market. He has worked at multinational pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer and served as the National Marketing Head for nearly eight years in the field of core supportive devices for organ transplantation.
Reporters learned that before January 1, 2015, the primary source of donors for organ transplantation in China wasOrgans from Executed Prisoners, in fact, it is not just China; in most countries around the world, transplanted organs have come from executed prisoners. While this was indeed a subject of controversy in the past, by 2015, a heavy chapter in the history of “organ transplantation in China” had already been turned.Effective January 1, 2015, China strictly prohibited the use of organs from executed prisoners, establishing voluntary organ donation by deceased citizens as the sole legal source for organ transplants..
To better carry out organ donation and transplantation work, just nowChinese Hospital Association OPO AllianceOfficially Upgraded toWorking Committee on Organ Donation and Allocation Management, Chinese Hospital Association, the Committee will promote organ donation and allocation in China within legal and ethical frameworks, while the National Health and Family Planning Commission and the Chinese Red Cross Society will provide oversight and witness services for donation, allocation, and process management to ensure fairness and impartiality.
The Organ Donation and Allocation Committee’s working organization is responsible for conducting medical evaluations of voluntary organ donors and implementing institutional procedures that comply with legal and ethical standards, as well as entering the information into the system located atShenzhen's China Organ Transplant Response System, after procuring and preserving the organs, transport them to the hospital where the matched transplant recipient is awaiting surgery, in accordance with the allocation results.
The establishment of Organ Procurement Organizations (OPOs) alliances is key to expanding organ sources and standardizing the industry. Meanwhile, since 2015, the National Health Commission and the Red Cross Society of China have launched public awareness campaigns on organ donation, encouraging eligible individuals to donate organs. The results have been significant. In 2015, there were over 2,000 voluntary organ donors, and more than 11,000 transplant procedures were performed.
October 17, 2016China-International Organ Donation ConferenceThe First International High-Level Symposium on Organ Donation and Transplantation was successfully held with great prestige in the Golden Hall of the Great Hall of the People. Organizations and experts in organ transplantation from around the world gathered together, signaling that China’s organ donation and transplantation sector is poised for significant qualitative and quantitative growth. From January to September 2016, there were nearly 3,000 organ donations, and the number of transplant surgeries is expected to reach 16,000. Although the surgical volume may increase by 50% compared to the previous year, hundreds of thousands of patients remain on the waiting list for transplants.
The second reason for founding Renxue Health is that organ transplantation is a special type of chronic disease. Completing the transplant surgery is merely the first step in a long journey; post-operative medication, regular follow-up examinations, and communication with physicians are essential, high-frequency needs. After transplantation, patients experience immune rejection of the donor organ and therefore require lifelong immunosuppressive therapy. For example, while the surgical cost for a kidney transplant patient is approximately RMB 400,000, the medication expense amounts to around RMB 60,000 in the first year after surgery, decreases to RMB 40,000–50,000 in the second year, and remains at this level thereafter.
In addition to medication, patients need to undergo regular hospital follow-ups to monitor various physiological indicators, enabling physicians to provide guidance on drug therapy. These activities are high-frequency and essential needs, making them well-suited for internet-based models to improve efficiency and reduce costs.
The third reason is that the trust between doctors and patients in organ transplantation is very strong, and patient compliance is high; patients tend to return to the same hospital and physicians for postoperative care as where they underwent the surgery. In addition, although China has established a Human Organ Allocation and Sharing System, some hospitals are reluctant to use it because they have opportunities to acquire organs independently and prefer to allocate them to their own patients. Therefore, patients exercise extreme caution when selecting a hospital in the early stages.
There are 169 hospitals in China qualified to perform organ transplants, which significantly reduces the workload for promotion. Renxue Health has entered all hospital information and partial data on doctors with organ transplant qualifications into its system to help patients select suitable hospitals.
Renxue Health provides a range of services to address issues arising from the increasing volume of organ transplants.
Provide Comprehensive Medical Information to Patients: There are 169 hospitals in China qualified to perform organ transplants, making it difficult for ordinary patients to determine which one best suits their needs. Renxue Health has entered all hospital information and details of some physicians with organ transplant qualifications into its system to help patients select the most appropriate hospital.
Establish Efficient Communication Channels: Currently, doctor-patient communication following organ transplantation surgery is primarily conducted through face-to-face consultations, telephone calls, and WeChat. Face-to-face visits consume patients’ time and impose various inconveniences, particularly on those from other regions. During telephone and WeChat communications, patients must verbally report their physiological parameters, which prevents physicians from visually assessing the data. By using the Renxue Health APP to input their health metrics, patients enable physicians to view the data intuitively, thereby improving communication efficiency.
Establish Comprehensive Patient Health Records: Currently, patient health records in the field of organ transplantation are incomplete. By using the Renxue Health APP, patients can record data such as examination results, health reports, daily metrics, and medication regimens, thereby establishing comprehensive health records.
Providing Professional, Comprehensive Health Services: Currently, organ transplant recipients lack comprehensive health services throughout their care journey. Renxue Health provides them with personalized, integrated post-operative services, including hospital matching, offline support, home blood testing, health assessments, and patient education.
Organ transplantation is a complex niche sector, so few companies focus on this area. The reporter has compiled a list of relevant websites and companies in China.
China Organ Transplant NetworkIt is a PC-based non-profit organization that provides a platform for patients undergoing liver transplantation, kidney transplantation, and other types of transplants to connect, support each other, and communicate. It also offers detailed information search and answers for preoperative patient consultations.
Wanda Transplant ManagerThis is an app dedicated solely to kidney transplantation, developed by Wonders Information Co., Ltd. It provides kidney transplant patients with consultative services on health, diet, exercise, medication, and dialysis.
Haodf Online: The Haodafu Online Consultation Platform also features a department for organ transplantation, providing a physician-patient consultation platform, with 67 relevant hospitals currently listed. This is merely one area of service offered by Haodafu.
Renxue Health’s initial revenue model involved charging service fees to patient users. Ordinary patients were charged a nominal annual fee of RMB 100, which primarily covered basic services such as health record management, doctor-patient communication, and health assessments. VIP patients were charged an annual fee of RMB 50,000. In addition to the basic services, this tier provided comprehensive personalized post-operative care, including home blood testing and access to VIP hospital wards.
In the future, Renxue Health will also collaborate with pharmaceutical companies on patient education programs and medical conferences.
Renxue Health is a newly established company this year. Its current partner hospitals include Huashan Hospital, Tongji Hospital, and Zhongshan Hospital, among other organ transplant-related hospitals in East China. The mobile apps for transplant experts, patients, and physicians have just been launched. The company plans to register 2,000 physicians and acquire 20,000 sticky users by June 2017, and will gradually initiate collaborations with pharmaceutical manufacturers.
The company has recently participated in succession at the 2016 Chinese Medical Association Organ Transplantation Conference, the Inaugural Meeting of the Organ Donation and Allocation Management Committee under the Chinese Hospital Association, and the China-International Organ Donation Conference. It is currently undergoing Pre-A round financing.