AstraZeneca partners with tech giants to reach China market

Feb. 2, 2018

AstraZeneca has negotiated two new deals with Chinese tech giants, Alibaba and Tencent, as the drugmaker looks to expand further into the China drug market.

The partnership with Ali Health, a subsidiary company of e-commerce site Alibaba, is focused on using technologies, such as artificial intelligence, to help with patient diagnosis and treatment. The collaboration may also involve traceable codes on drugs that will give patients more information about the medicine they use.

The Tencent deal involves the development of online tracking systems to fight counterfeit medicines -- a huge issue in the China market.

Currently, the Chinese market accounts for 15 percent of AstraZeneca’s drug sales.

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