Investment 'gold' in China's healthcare sectors, officials say

China has "golden investment tracks" in its healthcare industry with technology development, an aging society, and online chronic disease management sectors, industry officials said.

And Shanghai will be a biomedicine industry investment center in the Yangtze River Delta and nationwide, said consulting firm Morning Whistle, with venture capital firms and tech giants increasing their investment in the city.

The pharmaceutical industry has "golden investment tracks," thanks to multiple factors such as the aging society, increased medical and health expenditure and tech developments like AI, said Zhu Guoguang, Soochow Securities' chief pharmaceutical industry analyst.

Shanghai's Minhang District has set up government-backed investment funds with total volume over 6.2 billion yuan (US$968 million) since 2010, covering several strategic industries including healthcare, local officials said.

In future, online healthcare systems will focus on "people" instead of "diseases." They will allow people to get chronic disease management, remote and AI-powered diagnosis and online drug delivery, said Jianke, an online medical service platform.

The company offers digital and customized services for patients with a new H2H or "hospital to home" ecosystem, said Xie Fangmin, Jianke's chairman and CEO.

In-vitro diagnostic devices (IVDs) offer high growth and golden business opportunities in China. Fueled by surging demand in the epidemic, China's IVD business growth will remain at 20 percent or above, much higher than the international level, said Shanghai-based Liferiver.

Liferiver has developed an automatic nuclear acid test device which can deal with more than 15,000 samples, reducing the pressure on medical inspectors. It was used recently during the fourth China International Import Expo in Shanghai.