Looking ahead to the "epidemic" : Five major issues that China's biopharmaceutical enterprises need to pay attention to

In short, biopharmaceutical companies need to have a deep understanding of the changes in the capital pool (including the national basic medical insurance/national medical insurance reimbursement drug list, the self-funded portion or commercial insurance) so that they can fully tap their potential by optimizing their product portfolio.

2. How will patients be shunted? How will old and new channels be affected?

The rise of retail and Internet hospitals is not a new trend. The pandemic has merely acted as a catalyst to accelerate existing trends. Given that the government still needs to overcome some challenges in supervising Internet prescription and reimbursement channels, supporting comprehensive regulatory policy reforms will not happen in the short term, but the momentum will continue. Multinational pharmaceutical companies are already taking advantage of these trends, with some, for example, setting up dedicated Internet hospital teams to design and execute new strategies. Although the number of patients in large hospitals may decline in the short term due to the increasing threshold and psychological factors of patients, it should gradually recover in the future and become the main driving force for market development. Looking back on the trend of SARS, it is not difficult to find that the number of hospital visits at that time quickly rebounded after a brief decline, and then continued to grow. In the medium term, the government will increase investment in primary healthcare infrastructure and introduce policies aimed at attracting patients to primary hospitals, which will increase patient triage. In short, both multinational biopharmaceutical companies and local biotech companies need to improve their coverage models to adapt to an increasingly fragmented and complex market landscape.

Third, the digital "proof of concept" has been established, how will the new Go-To-Market model be presented?

The COVID-19 pandemic has undoubtedly fueled the rise of digitalization across the board. A number of companies have explored digital pilot projects, but progress has been mixed. During the pandemic, all companies have significantly increased their digital activities, including inviting key opinion leaders to participate in large-scale online conferences, holding unprecedented disease education programs, and holding online-only new drug launches. There is no doubt that the digital age has arrived, and this trend is irreversible. However, this does not mean that offline activities will disappear, and they will still play an important role. If biopharmaceutical companies want to remain competitive in the long term, they need to combine online and offline activities as much as possible to provide a true omnichannel interaction model. In a competitive environment, this could be the difference between winning and losing. Winners will acquire new skills, deliver differentiated content and experiences, adapt products and services to the diverse needs and life cycles of the healthcare sector, expand programs that really work, and avoid blindly launching too many "pilot programs."

4. Can China continue to attract healthcare investment and support the development of emerging sectors such as biotechnology and medical technology?

Undoubtedly, the answer is yes. In recent weeks, the healthcare sector has witnessed the following developments: 1, Qiming Ventures raised a new fund of more than $1.1 billion to invest in biotechnology, healthcare and medical technology; 2. Zai Ding Pharmaceutical obtained the Chinese market authorization of CD20xCD3 bispecific antibody REGN1979 from Regenerative Yuan Pharmaceutical Company, and paid US $30 million in advance; 3. Norshing Health China listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in March, raising US $289 million; 4. Kangfang Bio completed its $330 million IPO in April, setting a record for Hong Kong's IPO scale this year; 5, recently, Legendary Biology listed on NASDAQ, raising $424 million; 6, Everest Medicines closed a $310 million Series C funding round, the highest ever.

In other words, the "wave of innovation" that has been in the news since 2016 is once again back. After talking to many people in the industry, I think this trend will continue and will develop rapidly. The government will accelerate the introduction of policies to support the development of the medical industry, funds are still sufficient, and overseas talents will apply their knowledge, continue to carry forward the entrepreneurial spirit and give play to innovative ideas.

5. Will China's global strategic position improve or decline?

This is the most difficult question to answer, and it will have a significant and far-reaching impact on China and the whole world. China's relative attractiveness to multinationals has increased significantly in recent years. This can be seen in the proportion of business in China, investment in hard assets in China, and the external statements of ceos and senior executives. I wrote about this, "Four Trends and Nine Implications: How China is becoming a Priority for multinational pharmaceutical Executives."