Recently, Qingdao Baheal Medical INC. (Baheal Medical, 301015.SZ) announced the signing of a strategic cooperation agreement with Astrazeneca Investment (China) Co., LTD. ("Astrazeneca China"). Under this agreement, Baheal Medical will acquire the commercial operation rights of Astrazeneca's hypoglycemic drug Onglyza® (saxagliptin tablets). Both sides expect that through this cooperation, the accessibility of drugs will be further improved, so that classic hypoglycemic drugs can benefit more hospitals and patients.

Diabetes treatment has always been one of the major concerns in the global medical field. Especially in recent years, with the acceleration of the global aging process and the change of people's lifestyle, the prevalence of diabetes has grown to certain extent. Data show that the prevalence rate of diabetic patients in our country has reached as high as 12.4%1, of which type 2 diabetic patients account for 90%-95%2. Among drugs to treat type 2 diabetes, no matter used alone or together with other drugs,Dipeptidyl peptidase 4 inhibitor (DPP-4i) is undoubtedly one of the first choice. As a DPP-4i classic hypoglycemic drug, Onglyza® has been marketed in China for more than ten years and has benefited a large number of Chinese patients.

Commenting on the cooperation between the two sides, Lai Minglong, General Manager of AstraZeneca China, said: "Onglyza® has entered the Chinese market for more than ten years and is a classic oral diabetes drug. Based on Baheal’s rich experience of cooperation with multinational companies, we believe that our alliance will be a win-win cooperation. We hope that both parties will work closely on the basis of mutual trust to explore an innovative business cooperation model, maximize the long-term value of the Onglyza® brand, and benefit more diabetic patients.”

Fu Gang, Chairman of Baheal Medical, expressed confidence in the partnership and said, "AstraZeneca is a world-renowned biopharmaceutical company that has been actively exploring innovation in China for many years. As a third-party commercialization platform with omni-channel commercialization capabilities, Baheal Medical will further enhance Onglyza®’s development space in the Chinese market with its professional brand operation and digital marketing capabilities to meet the diverse health needs of patients. We also look forward to the cooperation between the two parties in a wider range of fields in the future to provide patients with more disease treatment solutions.”

In this cooperation, both parties will give full play to the expertise and advantages of multinational pharmaceutical companies and Chinese local third-party commercialization platforms in their respective fields, aiming to provide better medical and brand commercialization platform and services for Chinese patients, and to promote the continuous development of China's health industry.

Reference:

【1】Wang L, et al. Prevalence and Treatment of Diabetes in China, 2013-2018. JAMA. 2021 Dec 28;326(24):2498-2506

【2】Jialun Chen. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology. Shanghai Scientific and Technical Publishers.2015,952-954