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Bloomberg
And just like that, another Internet giant is stepping into health care.
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. said it’s teaming up with AstraZeneca Plc in an effort to improve health services in China, the UK-based drugmaker’s second-largest market. Coming just days after a pledge by Amazon.com Inc., Berkshire Hathaway Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. to collaborate on new approaches to their employees’ health care, the move highlights the enthusiasm for bringing the customer contact and data collection of online retail to the pharma industry.
Alibaba said consumers will be able to scan the health codes on the package of medicines, giving clients more medical information and allowing to improve disease management. The companies aim to serve more than 1 million patients in China this year.
The technology offers the possibility to “demonstrate the value of our products from an outcomes viewpoint,†Astra CEO Pascal Soriot said. Astra will also use Alibaba’s AI research to help diagnose diseases.