In the second round of investigations of Zhongguancun frontier innovation and technology enterprises, the Zhongguancun Administrative Committee visited VIRIOM China and Huayi Mobile Medical Technology Innovation Research Institute on March 8. New therapeutic and preventive drugs for HIV-1 and hepatitis B virus, as well as the intelligent diagnostic platform will enter the market and deliver benefits to patients.

Elpida, developed by VIRIOM, is a potent and highly selective NNRTI. [Photo by Ling Xiao/chinadaily.com.cn]

"This is Elpida. One bottle holds 400 capsules. Patients are advised to take it once a day, 20 mg each time. It is the best non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI) in the prevention of HIV replication," Zhang Miao, representative of VIRIOM China, noted.

As of November 2018, there are 850,000 AIDS patients, and over 100 million hepatitis B virus carriers and hepatitis B patients in the country. These figures are still on the rise. VIROIM is committed to developing a new generation of antiviral and anti-infective drugs that are safe, efficient and affordable.

Medicines of VIRIOM fall into three categories, including oral medicines, sustained-release drugs and vaccines. In terms of fighting HIV drug resistance, one of VIROIM's main products, elsulfavirine (aka ESV, under the brand name of Elpida®), is a potent and highly selective NNRTI.

Distinguished from Cocktail therapy, which puts huge burden on the liver and kidneys, Elpida has less side effects on the human body and has been approved for marketing in Russia. It is now applying for new drug approval in markets around the world.

The establishment of a subsidiary in China originated from the cooperation agreement signed between Skolkovo and Zhongguancun Science Park during the inspection of the Zhongguancun Administrative Committee in Skolkovo in 2012. VIRIOM considers setting up factories and independently financing in China after obtaining approval from the Chinese market.

"More than 700,000 people from across the country come to Beijing to consult with doctors on a daily basis. The number of people makes it hard to line up in first-class hospitals and causes repeated wastage of medical resources, Liu Fengmei, secretary general of Zhongguancun Huayi Mobile Medical Technology Innovation Research Institute (hereinafter referred to as Huayi Institute) mentioned.

Zhongguancun Huayi Mobile Medical Technology Innovation Research Institute provides imaging (cardiac) equipment, intelligent hardware systems, software systems, medical services and standardized training for grassroots medical institutions by setting up a three-level diagnostic platform for township, country-level and higher-level medical institutions.

The overall solution has formed a three-level diagnostic network of “inspection at grassroots health care centers—diagnosis at county hospitals—miscellaneous diseases supported by Beijing experts”, which not only saves hospitals costs, but also facilitates people to seek medical treatment.

Liu Fengmei, secretary general of Huayi Mobile Medical Technology Innovation Research Institute introduces structures of the intelligent diagnostic platform. [Photo by Ling Xiao/chinadaily.com.cn]

The staff of Huayi Institute demonstrated the operating procedures of the intelligent diagnostic platform on the spot.

The doctors at the township hospitals upload the examination results to the Huayi platform and submit the diagnosis application. Doctors at country hospitals will receive the patient's information within a few minutes for diagnosis. In special cases, the doctor can choose to communicate with patients face-to-face through video calls.

A staff of Huayi Mobile is demonstrating how to operate on the platform. [Photo by Ling Xiao/chinadaily.com.cn]

"Last year, a 69-year-old woman living in Huaibin, Henan province, had a myocardial infarction. Her family sent her to the township health centers, but doctors in the center could not figure out where the problem was."

"In such case, that doctor used our intelligent diagnostic platform to send the inspection results to the county hospitals. After consulting with other doctors in the county, they judged that the old lady had an early heart attack, and informed the township health center to send her to the county immediately."

"When the patient arrived at the county, the hospital opened a green passage and was fully prepared for the rescue. The myocardial infarction has a golden rescue period of four hours. Due to not having any delays, the old lady already had stable vital signs after two hours," Liu added.

In addition to filling the gaps in the lack of diagnostic mechanisms in grassroots hospitals, HuaYi Mobile can also realize "data sharing and mutual recognition of medical results", combining medical treatment, production, study, research and application together.

In the next step, the Zhongguancun Administrative Committee will carry out investigations on more frontier science and technology innovation enterprises, collecting the needs of enterprises on the spot, and providing timely guidance and help.