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Zen Soo

Iris Deng

Alibaba Health Information Technology plans to expand its investments in artificial intelligence and launch a range of new services, as growth in sales and e-commerce services lifted its revenue in the 12 months ended March 31.
The Hong Kong-listed health care flagship of Alibaba Group Holding reported late on Wednesday a 414.2 per cent increase in revenue to 2.4 billion yuan (US$376.5 million), up from 475.1 million yuan a year earlier. Its losses narrowed to 109 million yuan from 208.6 million yuan the previous year.
The company’s shares jumped 26.13 per cent to close at HK$5.60 on Thursday.
Shen Difan, the chief executive at Alibaba Health, attributed the improved financial results to a significant rise in health care product sales and the firm’s e-commerce business, which includes the provision of outsourced and value-added services for the pharmaceutical categories on parent Alibaba’s Tmall retail platform, according to the company’s regulatory filing late on Wednesday.
Artificial intelligence use poised for rapid growth in Chinese hospitals
It estimated an adjusted net profit of 8 million yuan after excluding share-based compensation expenses from its loss for the year to March.
Growing profitability “will enable the group to increase investment in artificial intelligence-related medical fields, as well as the launch and deployment of cutting-edge and innovative products, including intelligent medicine, internet-based medical services and personal health management”, Shen said in the company filing.
That broader commitment to artificial intelligence (AI) further intensifies the development of this field in China, which has made the technology part of national strategies since July last year.
Chinese premier Li Keqiang said in his work report earlier this year that the Chinese government will step up research, development and application of AI, and promote the Internet Plus model, which aims to integrate internet into traditional offline industries including medical care and elderly care.
Alibaba ties up with GlaxoSmithKline for online HPV vaccine appointment service
Alibaba Health last year partnered with three leading mainland hospitals to launch its first AI medical laboratory, as an ageing China looks to advanced technology to alleviate what has become an acute imbalance in medical resources distribution. This project includes setting up a public platform to support smart diagnostics and assist clinical decisions.
China has seen explosive growth of chronic diseases in recent years, with about 110 million Chinese suffering from diabetes, and another 330 million dealing with hypertension, or high blood pressure.
AI has the potential to improve the outcomes of medical treatment by 30 to 40 per cent, and reduce costs by as much as 50 per cent, according to consultancy Frost & Sullivan.
Here’s what China is doing to boost its artificial intelligence capabilities
As of March 31, nearly 23,000 medical practitioners, pharmacists and nutritionists had signed up with Alibaba Health to provide online health consultation services, providing an average of more than 50,000 consultation sessions daily. There were 28 million active users on the company’s “My Health” service through parent Alibaba’s Taobao mobile app.
The vaccination platform of Alibaba Health covered more than a thousand service points across more than a hundred cities, where about 200 million people received vaccination education.
As of March 31, more than 7,500 enterprises from the drug, food and nutritional supplement industries had signed up with Alibaba Health to join its Ma Shang Fang Xin platform, which tracks the full life cycle of their products and help fulfil their regulatory compliance obligations.
A look at how China is using technology to improve rural access to quality health care
The number of pharmaceutical manufacturers which had signed up with the company reached 2,865, which made up more than 80 per cent of the total number of such firms in China.
Still, competition in the health care sector has heated up the AI race among Chinese internet giants Baidu, Tencent Holdings and Alibaba, also the parent company of the South China Morning Post.
Tencent launched its first AI-driven medical product Miying in 2017, which is used for speedy endoscopic examinations and disease and cancer detection in more than 100 hospitals across China.
Baidu, China’s largest online search service, uses the capabilities of its Baidu Brain – a compendium of the company’s AI assets and services – in the medical field, where the firm has launched a chatbot that assists doctors in their communication with patients.


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Alibaba

Alibaba Health to expand AI investments on improved sales, e-commerce services growth

Alibaba Health Information Technology had signed up nearly 23,000 medical practitioners, pharmacists and nutritionists as of March 31 this year to provide online health consultation services. Photo: Handout

Alibaba ties up with GlaxoSmithKline for online HPV vaccine appointment service

GSK’s deal with Alibaba comes at a time when China’s health care market is projected to grow at a compound annual rate of 12 per cent by 2020. Photo: Reuters

Artificial intelligence use poised for rapid growth in Chinese hospitals

A nurse adjusts intravenous drips for patients of all ages, at a hospital in Suining in Sichuan province. Photo: Reuters

(FILES) This file photo taken on July 23, 2013 shows a robot retrieving medicines in the pharmacy of the Argenteuil hospital, in Argenteuil, a Paris suburb. Technology has long impacted the labor force, but recent advances in artificial intelligence and robotics have heightened concerns on automation replacing a growing number of occupations including highly skilled or "knowledge-based" jobs. / AFP PHOTO / Fred DUFOUR / TO GO WITH AFP STORY by Rob LEVER, US IT lifestyle labor robots

(110227) -- SHIJIAZHUANG, Feb. 27, 2011 (Xinhua) -- A nurse refills a bottle with medical fluids for cleaning a miner's poisoned lungs during an operation on a black lung disease sufferer at a hospital in Beidaihe, north China's Hebei, Feb. 25, 2011. Sixteen miners from Gulang County, northwest China's Gansu Province, who contracted pneumoconiosis, commonly known as "the black lung disease", are now receiving treatment at the Beidaihe resort for Chinese coal miners, a medical facility for the treatment of pneumoconiosis. Each of the 16 miners has applied for a subsidy of 1,000 yuan (150 U.S. dollars) to the China Coal Miner Pneumoconiosis Treatment Foundation, a government agency affiliated with the State Administration of Work Safety. (Xinhua/Yang Shiyao) (ljh)

Here’s what China is doing to boost its artificial intelligence capabilities

The development of AI, seen as one of the key drivers of economic growth in the new economy, has been one of China’s national priorities since July 2017

Investments in AI

US President Donald Trump’s AI conference will draw on the insights from around 40 US tech companies including Amazon, Facebook and Google, as well as a selection of leading academics. Photo: AFP

A look at how China is using technology to improve rural access to quality health care  

Internet technology is helping reduce the need for rural residents to travel long distances to big cities to have their routine tests done 

The portable all-in-one diagnostic device designed by internet healthcare start-up WeDoctor.

Villagers in Henan undergo medical tests. Photo: Handout

For the next generation of China’s technology giants, bet on electric cars and health care, banker says

Companies investing in electric cars and health care will see exciting long-term growth potential, says an investment banker from JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Interview with Chairman of Asia Pacific Investment Banking of J.P Morgan, Brian Gu, at the Chater House in Central. 15DEC17 SCMP / Jonathan Wong

Attendees look at the Polestar 1 during its unveiling in Shanghai, China Tuesday Oct. 17, 2017. Volvo Cars' performance electric car brand, Polestar, unveiled a four-seat coupe in lightweight carbon fibre as its first model Tuesday, adding to competition in a market dominated until now by Tesla. Photo: Chinatopix via AP.