Multinational pharmas in Pudong help patients with chronic diseases

Many multinational pharmaceutical companies in Pudong New Area recently cooperated with Chinese e-commerce giants Alibaba and JD to sell over 1,000 drugs online to patients with chronic diseases who depend on them but cannot obtain them at hospitals during the outbreak of the novel coronavirus.

The move followed two announcements by the National Health Commission of China on Feb 5 and 8 encouraging online follow-up visits and drug delivery services for patients with common or chronic diseases so as to avoid cross-infection.

Boehringer-Ingelheim is selling 10 types of drugs on Alibaba and JD for patients with chronic pneumonia, cardiovascular diseases, endocrine disorders, and central nervous system diseases.

“We are happy to cooperate with domestic e-commerce companies to help patients obtain drugs easily,” said Dong Bowen, Boehringer-Ingelheim’s general manager of its China operations.

Roche (China) recently launched a public-welfare project to provide authoritative healthcare information for cancer patients in cooperation with the Health Times newspaper, the Cancer Rehabilitation Society of the China Anti-Cancer Association, the Beijing Love Book Cancer Foundation, and cancer-focused news outlets. Patients can also consult doctors online.

“The project provides essential medical information for patients and reduces their risk of being infected by people at hospitals,” said Shi Anli, chair of the management committee of the Beijing Love Book Cancer Foundation.