Pharmaceutical companies sign deals with China's tech giants

Participating multinational pharmaceutical companies at the ongoing 3rd China International Import Expo have lined up to sign collaboration agreements with domestic digital health giants as part of their efforts to ride the wave of the country's smart medical development.

On Saturday, Novartis Oncology, Servier China and Pfizer signed their collaboration agreement with Alibaba Health at the CIIE.

Some of these collaborations were designed to provide full-cycle digital healthcare solutions for patients with multiple types of chronic diseases throughout diagnosis, treatment and long-term disease management process, and some others were intended to create innovative models of getting vaccination.

On the same day, the United States-based Bristol-Myers Squibb also signed a collaboration agreement with JD Health to establish a comprehensive, technology-driven platform for liver disease patients, from getting early diagnosis to long-term disease management.

The strategic cooperation between Novartis Oncology and Alibaba Health is aimed to build an innovative digital healthcare model that combines the former's strength in precision medicine and the latter's in digital technology, providing patient-centric, one-stop services to cancer patients from online prescription, online drug purchase, medication compliance and payment, according to Novartis Oncology.

"With shared vision and goals, we hope our strategic partnership will enable more convenient access to high-quality medical services for cancer patients through digital solutions, thereby improving their quality of life and alleviating disease burden," Zhu Shunyan, chairman and CEO of Alibaba Health, said.

Servier China hopes to rely on the Alibaba Health Pharmacy Platform to carry out online education about chronic diseases to improve awareness of disease and standard treatment, and to rely on the Alibaba Health Online Hospital for follow-up medical services through the internet.

The company said that within the coming three years, both sides will continue to optimize processes and replicate online education and treatment programs in chronic diseases to more disease areas.

The partnership also may explore e-commercial models, including debuting a therapy through the internet, to deliver medical products to a wider range of patients.

Pfizer's cooperation with Alibaba Health focuses on building complete and full-chain vaccination service online. Availing of the latter's platforms, Pfizer will carry out publicize information about vaccines and try to promote the realization of online closed-loop service. This includes education, consultation and making an appointment, Pfizer's representative said.