Jianke, Zelgen join forces in cancer fight

Technology startup Jianke has established a strategic partnership with Suzhou Zelgen, a STAR-listed innovative drug company, on new drug treatments and chronic tumor disease management.

Both sides will offer digital and customized services for patients, covering online diagnosis and treatment, chronic disease management, drug services and insurance.

It's the third time in six months Jianke has partnered a leading pharmaceutical firm – and the first time it is cooperating with a domestic innovative drug researcher.

It will partner more new Chinese drugmakers in the future, said Xie Fangmin, Jianke's chairman and CEO. 

Sheng Zelin, Zelgen's chairman and general manager, said digital and online health-care services offer "transparent and fair" platforms for patients and doctors.

They have become new distribution channels for innovative Chinese drug makers like Zelgen.

In June, Zelgen won approval to offer an innovative drug for liver cancer patients. It's also available on Jianke's platform.

In 2020, the number of new cancer patients in China reached 4.57 million, 24 percent of the global level. 

Drugs and services for chronic disease management and improving cancer survival are urgently needed in China.

They help to improve life expectancy as a target of the national Health China 2030 strategy, the companies said.

Health care digitalization is trending with the development of AI and 5G and the increasingly ageing population. 

Founded in 2009, Jianke has established an online health-care platform that connects more than 300,000 doctors with over 100 million people across China. It raised US$130 million in a round of financing in 2018.