Alibaba Health Invests RMB 225 Million in Wanyun to Expand Medical Imaging Platform

On the evening of March 28, Alibaba Health issued an announcement stating that it would inject RMB 225 million into Wanliyun, a subsidiary of China Resources Wandong. In addition, Alibaba Health will hold a 25% stake in Wanliyun and secure the right to nominate two of the five members on Wanliyun’s board of directors.

What is Wanli Cloud?

According to available information, Wanli Cloud Medical Information Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd. was established in 2009 and focuses on the development and operation of telemedicine imaging services. Its parent company, Wandong Medical, founded in 1955, is China’s earliest medical imaging company and the world’s second-largest manufacturing base for imaging products. Its product portfolio covers various categories, including medical X-ray diagnostic and therapeutic equipment and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) systems, with sales extending to more than 50 countries and regions worldwide. Notably, its conventional X-ray products hold a domestic market share exceeding 60%. Over the 61 years since its establishment, Wandong Medical has provided more than 80,000 sets of medical imaging diagnostic equipment to healthcare institutions both in China and abroad. To date, over 30,000 X-ray machines manufactured by Wandong remain in use across healthcare facilities at all levels, serving more than 150 million patient visits annually.

CR Wandon stated that its Wanli Cloud business, having undergone preliminary exploration and validation, has entered a phase of rapid development, with a swift increase in the number of connected clients and the volume of uploaded imaging data. The current collaboration between the company and Alibaba Health represents a significant initiative to leverage complementary strengths and achieve strategic synergies. In addition to securing development funding, Wanli Cloud will receive multifaceted support from both shareholders in areas including technology, operations, services, marketing, equipment, and branding.



Leveraging Wanli Cloud Technology, the “Cloud Hospital” Business Model Is Becoming Increasingly Refined

Alibaba’s Perspective: This equity investment in Wanliyun underscores Alibaba Health’s strategic considerations behind its layout in the healthcare industry, adding the segment of remote imaging diagnosis to its increasingly comprehensive “Cloud Hospital” blueprint. Leveraging the resources currently held by Alibaba Health and Wanliyun, the two parties are highly likely to develop B2B, C2B, and C2C business models on their medical imaging platform in the future. The B2B model refers to Wanliyun’s ongoing development of a “Remote Imaging Center,” which will provide grassroots medical institutions with services including managed hosting, report verification, and consultations for complex cases. Meanwhile, Wanliyun will also establish professional “Third-Party Imaging Centers” to help divert imaging workloads from large hospitals. The C2B and C2C models enable patients to initiate personal remote imaging requests via the Alibaba Health App, seeking secondary diagnostic opinions from “Expert Studios” affiliated with the centers or physicians practicing at multiple sites. In this way, patients can not only consult experts for image interpretation and diagnosis through offline medical institutions but also access expert advice through multiple online channels.

Alibaba HealthIt was restructured from CITIC 21st Century, a Hong Kong-listed company acquired by Jack Ma in January 2014. In April 2015, the Tmall Pharmacy business was transferred under Alibaba Health. Also in the first half of 2015, Alibaba Health launched a dual-app strategy: the Alibaba Health app focused on O2O pharmaceutical e-commerce, while the Yidiegu app concentrated on a full-chain cloud hospital platform. At that time, Alibaba Health still treated pharmaceutical e-commerce and cloud hospitals as two separate business segments. Moreover, its cloud hospital initiative bore considerable resemblance to Alipay’s Future Hospital project, both aiming to build an online platform that integrates comprehensive medical resources across the entire healthcare system and value chain to deliver all-around medical services.

Alibaba Health’s series of moves reveal its determination to build a platform-based service network in the internet healthcare and pharmaceutical industry. Industry insiders believe that Alibaba Health’s strengths lie in its capabilities in internet and data technologies; therefore, collaborating with traditional industry partners that provide professional healthcare and pharmaceutical services to achieve complementary resource integration is the optimal path for its deeper penetration into the healthcare and pharmaceutical sector.