AstraZeneca Unveils Its Mobile Health Strategy and 3D Innovation Framework

As the wave of digital healthcare sweeps across the globe, what initiatives has pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca undertaken in this trend? What results have been achieved, and what is its strategic path forward? To explore these questions, VCBeat was honored to invite Ms. Xu Jing, Vice President of the Information Technology Department at AstraZeneca China, to participate in a VB Group interview. She shared her insights on the mobile health industry, as well as AstraZeneca’s strategic layout and planning in the field of mobile health.

Xu Jing

Why Is AstraZeneca Entering the Mobile Health Sector?

AstraZeneca entered China in 1993, with sales in the country exceeding RMB 2.6 billion in 2015. In the domestic market, AstraZeneca’s product portfolio covers therapeutic areas including cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, gastrointestinal disorders, respiratory conditions, and oncology.

Xu Jing believes that Chinese patients currently need more than just high-quality medicines; they require a comprehensive disease management solution covering all aspects, including prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation.

In the process of providing whole-course disease management for patients, AstraZeneca has found that it cannot achieve this goal on its own. To this end, since 2015, AstraZeneca has been exploring how to realize whole-course disease management for patients through innovative business models.

“The 3D Innovation Strategy” Emerges at the Right Time

Comprehensive disease management for patients hinges on precise medication, which in turn relies on accurate diagnosis. Throughout the entire process of disease diagnosis and treatment, both physicians and patients require relevant devices to assist in diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. Furthermore, the Internet, as an innovative force, can significantly reshape existing diagnostic and treatment workflows, making healthcare delivery more convenient and efficient.

In response to the needs in the aforementioned areas, AstraZeneca pioneered its “3D” innovation strategy in 2015. The “3D” refers to Diagnostics, Device, and Digital.

Through its innovative 3D concept, AstraZeneca aims to connect the various stages of disease diagnosis and treatment—transforming isolated silos into an integrated continuum—to create end-to-end, whole-disease-course solutions for patients, thereby meeting their needs at every step of the diagnostic and therapeutic journey.

Achieving this goal requires leveraging the strengths of external partners. AstraZeneca has already made some beneficial attempts by collaborating with internet healthcare companies across different fields, integrating their respective resources and technological advantages, and identifying areas of mutual interest around AstraZeneca’s key disease areas to facilitate in-depth discussions and cooperation.

For example, AstraZeneca partnered with WeDoctor Group to launch the “China Tiered Diagnosis and Treatment Platform for Digestive Diseases,” providing education and standardized treatment for digestive disorders in primary care hospitals; collaborated with DXY, Apricot Forest, and Haodf.com to establish the “China Respiratory Alliance,” implementing long-term patient management programs for individuals with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD); and in the cardiovascular field, worked with Chunyu Doctors to support the Chinese Health Promotion Association’s “Heart Relay Initiative,” aiming to improve medication adherence and self-disease management among cardiovascular patients.

Although AstraZeneca is not currently considering investing in or incubating mobile health projects, it has already collaborated with several healthcare innovation enterprises, such as Beike She, Jianmeng, and Archimedes. Xu Jing introduced that last year, AstraZeneca cooperated on approximately five projects through incubation platforms, some of which indeed provided tangible benefits to patients. This year, they will consider expanding their collaboration with external incubation platforms.

Previously, AstraZeneca sought companies capable of developing point-of-care testing (POCT) for the early blood-based detection of prostate cancer and issued an open call via VCBeat to invite relevant enterprises to apply. The selection process received nearly 100 collaboration proposals, and partners have now been selected, with pilot programs expected to launch this year.

How Does Mobile Healthcare Implement Chronic Disease Management?

From the perspective of the role played by mobile health, it can be broadly categorized into two types: one focused on effectiveness and the other on efficiency. AstraZeneca places greater emphasis on the role of mobile health in specific areas, such as chronic disease management.

The population of individuals with the “three highs”—hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and hyperglycemia—has been continuously expanding. How to effectively manage this large patient population and better meet their needs has long been a challenging issue.

From a diagnostic perspective, the majority of patients receive their diagnoses at tertiary hospitals. However, with the national expansion of tiered diagnosis and treatment systems, how to achieve initial primary care consultations for chronic diseases has become a hotly debated topic within the industry; in terms of managing patients with chronic conditions, patient education and adherence are key.

Patient adherence actually encompasses three dimensions: it includes physicians’ support and coaching for patients, peer-to-peer communication among patients (i.e., patient communities), and patients’ self-management as an important component. The process of patient self-management involves both clinical indicators and certain environmental factors.

In the era of information explosion, patients can access disease-related information through various channels. At this point, their primary need lies in discerning the reliability and professionalism of such information, which presents a significant opportunity for mobile health to make its mark. Furthermore, mobile health can explore areas such as disease education, pre-consultation appointment scheduling, referrals, optimization of treatment plans, and recurring medication purchases.

Xu Jing stated that mobile healthcare cannot replace all aspects of medical services, and a combination of online and offline approaches—namely, the O2O model—is a more effective strategy.

How Can Mobile Health Achieve the Leap from 0 to 1?

In terms of patient experience or user experience, mobile health still has a long way to go to reach its goal. The journey of innovation proceeds from 0 to 1, then from 1 to 10, and finally from 10 to infinity.

First, transforming an initial concept for a business model into a formal business plan constitutes the “zero to one” phase. This process requires placing patient needs at the core and continuously refining your solution. Next, it is essential to rapidly validate the feasibility of both the concept and the business model. Finally, once the model has demonstrated preliminary success, the subsequent challenge lies in how to replicate this business model quickly and at scale.

Many mobile health companies currently lack a clear understanding of their business models. In fact, by truly adopting a patient-centric approach and striving to maximize patient benefits, viable business models can be identified, with pharmaceutical companies, diagnostic firms, and medical device manufacturers along the industry chain willing to pay for such value.

For instance, a significant portion of the population addressed by chronic disease management consists of elderly individuals, who face certain limitations in using smart devices. How to provide more suitable products for this group is currently a challenge faced by companies in the field of chronic disease management.

Xu Jing stated that mobile healthcare should have clear boundaries regarding what it does and does not do. “In my personal opinion, mobile healthcare plays only a minor auxiliary role in initial consultations and the diagnosis of complex or rare conditions, with its impact being negligible. The areas where mobile healthcare can be more effective include follow-up visits after the initial consultation, postoperative rehabilitation for patients, and long-term disease management.”