Capital accumulation, risk lurking: mobile medical "Growing Pains"

Alibaba, Millet, Kyushu Tong, Cambe, Bai Yang Medicine, these are the industry's leading enterprises, now has a common interest intersection-Internet medical. This borderless cross-sectoral hot spot is becoming more and more of a topic of capital concern.

In the first 10 days of December 2014, mobile phone manufacturers Millet cross-border investment can wear health equipment, pharmaceutical companies to kill through mergers and acquisitions drug dealers, Health Asset Management Group hundred foreign Medicine announced to create a comprehensive solution for online medical treatment, a number of major events, the "finger on the medical" ushered in hot heat.

Mobile informatization in the consumer goods industry after the shock, is the most special attributes of the commodity-medicine and medical services in the form of subversion. The internet is in full bloom in the three major areas of drug sales, hardware manufacturing and medical services.

Recently, Bai Yang Pharmaceutical Group chairman Shang in the 21st century Economic Report reporter interview, said the Internet rules are integration, optimization and cooperation, the volume of funds is not the Internet's most important indicators of medical care. "To build this industry is a time-consuming process, internet enterprises and medical enterprises are facing different thresholds, have to break through." ”

In Internet enterprises and traditional pharmaceutical companies, medical providers of the camp, on the one hand constantly have "new players" into, there are new products to launch, on the other hand, but there is not enough successful profit model and a wide range of solutions available for reference, the uncertainty here, but also become the investment community and industry to promote Internet medical treatment of great resistance.

Medicine retail End: Policy door will open

The new deal, which is seen as one of the industry's most blockbuster events of the 2014, will eventually hit the ground. This landmark event also means that China's drug sales policy is showing an unprecedented relaxation trend.

According to a variety of sources confirmed that the new network of drug regulations, "Internet Food and drug management measures" is very likely to be fully implemented on January 1, 2015, not only will the OTC (over-the-counter) and health-care products, which have already been marketed in the electricity business, become more formalized, it would have been strictly controlled online sales of prescription drugs or the lifting of the ban.

The policy has already reached, more and more large listed companies are eager to sell new channels for water test.

Following Kyushu Pass (600998. SH), Shanghai Pharmaceutical (601607). sh;02607. HK), Sig pharmaceutical industry (600518. SH) and other pharmaceutical enterprises, the domestic plant Medicine Enterprise Cambe (600572. SH) also earlier this month joined the power of the army, through the cost of 271 million yuan to purchase drugs to Shang medicine 30.81% of the equity, with the latter to create a "medicine online" sales platform and cover a large number of medical institutions of the information-based medical logistics distribution system.

Not only is the sales side because the new deal boils, even the drug marketing front has spread from offline to the Internet. Hundred Yang Medicine is one of the earliest "people who eat crabs".

As one of the first online pharmacies in China, hundred foreign Medicine, the existing dedicated team of about hundred people specializing in pharmaceutical information applications. According to its chairman Shang revealed that, like the hundred Foreign medicine so every year on the online research and development invested billions of dollars, the industry is very few. The step is radical because the group believes that "the change of information technology to industry, can make them such a manufacturing area ' junior ' to find the chance to overtake."

At present, the distribution of pharmaceutical manufacturers in the pharmaceutical industry is mainly two: one is to do precision marketing online to improve the efficiency of the spread of the brand, this practice in the field of rapid elimination, but in the advertising marketing control a lot of drug areas are rarely tried; second, the development of drug O2O system, trying to create a "doctor online drug, patients under the line to take medicine" Such an integrated distribution model.

In the past five years, with the transformation and precipitation of the electric business State, the domestic pharmaceutical electric business channel has also been exploring a variety of platform structure and profit model. Representative enterprises mainly include the day Cat Medicine Museum and the Beijing-East Medicine city, such as Third-party platforms, Kyushu Tong and the heart of the tong and other pharmaceutical circulation enterprises to build their own platform and a network such as the vertical medical and electronic business.

The problem of profitability: Growing Pains

However, the rapid development of China's top medical and pharmaceutical companies, the sales of the record year after year, but also "growing pains."

2013, as platform class consumer website, the day Cat Medical Museum transactions scale of about 2.04 billion yuan, exclusive domestic medicine electricity quotient 47.89% of the share. By contrast, all of the independent operators of the company's website, the total annual transaction size of 1.68 billion yuan, accounting for 39.44% of the market. But under the high market growth, the profit rate in the end geometry?

Tisu, executive director of UBS Securities, said the prospects for the rise of pharmaceutical electricity dealers were clear, but the process was long. 2013, a number of pharmaceutical business enterprises sales scale reached 300 million yuan level, a small number of enterprises have achieved profits, the top ten pharmaceutical companies to sell the sales of enterprises are breaking the billion mark, but the scale of the conversion to profit will take time.

In this high-risk market critical period, the pharmaceutical companies face the operational risks, but also not limited to the pressure of profit. Previously, the media has published survey data, said: "In the pharmacy network, Golden Elephant nets, Shanghai pharmacy Network, Cat, Amazon and other types of drugs operating in the shop, only 36% of enterprises to support drugs and medical equipment without reason to return, the same commodity in different electric platform on the existence of a very different return rules, after the disorderly image of the sale of the irregular can be seen. ”

In this regard, mobile medical experts, Guangzhou Express Electronic Commerce Co., Ltd. Chairman Liao in the 21st century Economic report of the interview, said: "Today many enterprises swarmed to do internet medical treatment, and did not really understand the characteristics of the Internet." Whether it is the Internet enterprises or traditional pharmaceutical companies, it is necessary to maximize the advantages through multi-level cooperation, and grasp the core medical resources is kingly. Medical industry is a matter of life-related industries, regardless of medical and how the Internet, quality and service of the bottom line to hold. ”

A taste of medicine in the ocean: doctors as the core

In the capital accumulation of this round of Internet medical tide, the physical drug sales outside the medical services and information sales are also highly praised. But like the policy uncertainty facing the sale of drugs, the online business of medical services is also in the groping period of chaos.

Because of the current medical personnel's job establishment, income and welfare and other aspects still binding with the public medical institutions, doctors in the medical institutions more practice of innovation, although the trial for several years, but has not been fully recognized and wide range of promotion.

After the decision to make the future policy more and more lenient, a group of enterprises, such as hundred foreign medicine, began to build up the integrated business of medical resources in the Internet mobile end. Shang told the 21st century economic reporter, and Alibaba represented by the competition has been the value of different drug channels, the focus of the medicine is "doctors for the health industry's core driving force."

According to the 21st Century Economic report reporter, based on the medical staff's academic needs and the status of the diagnosis, hundred foreign medicine launched the "Hundred Yang Health Network (with the member end and Doctor end two versions), handheld medical information, medical letters, medical communication, such as a number of app (intelligent Terminal application software)", are around the medical service and information platform built.

In the case of the "hundred-Yang Health Network", the app is a software that is used by the Pak Yang Pharmaceutical group to manage disease in a large number of chronically ill patients. such as diabetes, hypertension and other chronic diseases need to take long-term medication, the continuation of prescriptions and regular review, is the common needs of hundreds of millions of of patients, but the long registration line and can not be fixed with the appointment of doctors to see the actual difficulties, so that the hundred foreign medicine saw the business opportunities.

"Given the prescribed permission, the app, launched by the Pak Yang, will be able to extend the new prescription only through the app, eliminating the cost of queuing for registration, after the patient gets the first prescription for slow treatment through actual interrogation," he said. And after passing the prescription to the patient through the handset, the patient may choose the pharmacy to carry on the distribution in the Hundred Ocean Medicine own pharmacy storehouse and a series of pharmacy cooperation suppliers, forms the service closed loop. "Shang said.

The 21st century economic reporter learned that the profit model is based on the doctors in the information system with patients after the renewal of the service, can negotiate the interests of service costs. This kind of service fee from a few dollars each time to dozens of yuan can, according to the patient's own acceptance level. In the design logic, the doctor side increases the extra income, the patient reduces the queuing time cost.

Shang told the 21st century economics reporter that the first phase of the new app would select 2000 physicians to open a prescription. In the pharmaceutical logistics distribution link, the company will integrate partners and their own existing 170,000 pharmacy resources, from which 10,000, in large cities and urban areas pushed away.

"Starting with the patient after discharge from the hospital, our next app focus will focus on sub-health groups and help them configure a high level of health care for their doctors." We have invested in a genetic testing company that will be part of our future business linkage. "he said.

Mobile medicine: A feast for the capital

At present, the online connection between the doctors and patients of the communication of a number of app, including good doctor, East Soft Hee Kang, Spring rain doctor, fun medical net handheld hospital, hundred Yang Health Network, but a few unprofitable.

As with almost all Internet products at the beginning of the dilemma, the long incubation period and the attendant burning money to promote the pressure, also reflected in the Internet medical products. The serious dependence on the capital pushing hands has aroused high concern of the industry.

This September, the fun medical net just got from the Hong Hui capital, led by the nearly million dollars a round of financing, and the Doctor in August, the company won CICC, such as mountain venture investment, such as a 50 million U.S. dollar C-round financing, and plans to enter the capital market in 2017. Prior to that, the doctor has obtained from the Blue Venture investment (Bluerun) a round of 3 million U.S. dollars investment and from Bertelsmann Asia investment fund 8 million U.S. dollars in the B-round investment, the company's cumulative financing has been more than 61 million yuan.

This is only the tip of the iceberg of the industry's capital feast. In only 2014 years, there are more than 85 financing projects in the domestic Internet medical field.

According to incomplete statistics, this year, including the East Soft group's Hee-kang platform, Neusoft medical access to 3.7 billion yuan investment, Bai Bangda Technology launched the pocket pharmacy to obtain 5 million dollars a round of venture capital, telemedicine company Vaudicamps Worldcare and Tai Mei medical treatment has been 10 million yuan a round of investment, Cancer specialist app anti-cancer defender gets 2 million dollars a round investment, the telemedicine enterprise excellent Gali obtains tens of millions of renminbi level investment, the mobile medical Enterprise Hui Ma Medical technology obtains millions of renminbi angel investment, and so on.

In view of this phenomenon, the hundred foreign medicine said that does not use the external investment blood transfusion, turns to diversify the business profit to hatch the app project, in order to control the operational risk as far as possible.

According to Shang, the company now has a "hundred Yang Health brand online fund", the pool of funds reached 200 million yuan. To the quality of online brands to provide project financing, online sales and equity investment, so that a number of segments of the network cluster of potential stocks for its use.

At the same time, brother companies in the hundred foreign investment has also been a number of IPOs in the future, the annual sales of billion enterprises to participate in the drug companies. In addition, the pharmaceutical business of hundred foreign medicine and the hundred-ocean real estate to the pharmaceutical logistics, pharmaceutical production base, medical service centers and health community four areas of investment, a diversified source of profits, will become a new business in the Hundred-Ocean App Fund security.

Road resistance and long: medical hardware groping

The prevailing view in industry is that the successful landing of mobile medical apps relies heavily on the maturity of Internet medical intelligence terminals. And the pan-Internet enterprise's enthusiasm for the innovation hardware of mobile medicine is no less than its input to build software platform.

Earlier this month, a number of Chinese companies, including Jingdong and millet, made a C-round investment in the U.S. wearable equipment manufacturers and health and fitness platform provider Misfit, raising 40 million dollars. About One-third of Misfit's current business composition comes from China. Blushes, the company's head, sees China as a strategically important market.

The layout ambitions of Chinese companies are also beginning to show. According to the financing agreement, Millet and Jingdong will become misfit strategic partners. The move also contributed to Millet after the independent research and Development launched 79 Yuan Wisdom ring, and has another high-end pricing of the smart Hand Ring series.

Traditional drug companies also unwilling to fall behind the people. This August, le Pu Medical (300003. SZ) to 14 million of the cost of intervention in the field of wearable medical equipment, followed by nine health care (002432. SZ) pace. Liao, who reports to the 21st century economic reporter, said the competition for mobile medical devices will continue for years to come, with great opportunities and returns. But you need to be wary of the risks lurking in the industry's bustling scenes.

"At present, the development of hardware device is still in the initial stage, user experience and profit model, there are still problems, and people's health philosophy is more traditional, mobile products use not much." Some companies spend a lot of money research and development of equipment, not the most urgent needs of consumers, so the process of conversion to profitability will be very long, the enterprise will also be very dangerous. "he said.

One of the prominent contradictions lies in the "ambiguous" attitude of the regulatory authorities on the identity of hardware equipment.

August this year, by the Network Technology Co., Ltd. of the development of diabetes can wear detection management equipment "U Sugar 2.0 Products" formal pre-sale. But at the end of the 20-day pre-sale period, the product was removed overnight from the official web site.

According to the News of the 21st century Economic Report of the network, the non-invasive blood glucose testing equipment is difficult to pass through the state Food and Drug Administration's approval and registration, and can not be put into clinical use. Such products should be attributed to the second category of medical device products obtained regulatory approval, as the product standards and technical references in the few precedents can be referred to, not only in China, Europe and the United States and other markets are often blocked outside the door to access.

However, December 18, the network of excellent Iraq released the upgraded version of the blood Glucose monitoring app, and announced that the U-sugar-free blood glucose detection equipment had been removed in the EU CE certification, and began to China's Food and Drug Administration to apply, is expected to become China's first successful examination and approval of noninvasive blood glucose testing equipment.

In addition, in the galloping of hardware and software investment behind, professionalism and homogeneity of the problem is increasingly serious. Many people in the industry have said that mobile medical equipment can not replace professional medical care, its function is still outside the medical industry, the relevant departments need to follow up the corresponding regulatory mechanism. At the same time, so many similar functions, pricing similar products how to achieve differentiation and continuous innovation, or will lead to the next few years of industry elimination tide.

(Responsible editor: Mengyishan)