Medical giant in deal with bank to explore health industry

An agreement worth of 10 billion yuan has been signed between WuXi AppTec and Ping An Bank to jointly explore the health industry.

According to the deal, signed in Shanghai, Ping An will provide an all-around credit line for WuXi AppTec in the next five years to promote the pharmaceutical platform company's development in the domestic market, especially in Shanghai, Tianjin, Wuhan in Hubei province, and Suzhou, Wuxi and Changzhou in Jiangsu province.

At the same time, Shenzhen-listed Ping An will support WuXi AppTec's efforts in expanding its customer base and boosting its research and development service.

"This strategic cooperation in the health industry will combine Ping An's advantage in financial service, investment financing with WuXi AppTec's competitiveness in medical research and development," said Li Ge, chairman and CEO of WuXi AppTec.

WuXi AppTec is a pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical and medical device open-access capability and technology platform with operations in China and the United States.

An industrial investment fund was also launched by the two parties to assist WuXi AppTec's investment and integration in biopharmaceutical industry.

"It is WuXi AppTec's specialty area, and Ping An will try to exert its advantage in financial investment and management to promote the development of China's health industry," said Shao Ping, president of Ping An.

WuXi AppTec has also launched its first health management service product. Using just 2 ml of saliva from a user, the product provides a detailed health report, and a wearable device consistently tracks the user's health condition, and provides advice on health management, diet and exercises, according to Niu Lihua, vice-president of operations at Wuxi HealthNet.

There is a trend that more attention is put on health issues in China, especially among the aging population. Rising mortality is led by diseases caused by worsening environment, and there was

a 14.91 percent of growth in Chinese people's medical and healthcare expenditure in 2014, much higher than that of consumer products and disposable income, according to a report from Minsheng Securities.

The market size of the health related industry grew at 16.03 percent year-on-year between 2011 and 2014, and reached 2.5 trillion yuan in 2014, the report said.