Alibaba Health, Berry Oncology Expand Scale of Early Cancer Detection in China

Cancer has been one of China’s biggest challenges in healthcare. According to statistics, cancer patients in the country are expected to reach around 5.7 million by 2030. To address this issue, China released the Healthy China 2030 plan in 2016, hoping to increase the overall five-year survival rate by 15% and expand the cover rate of early cancer detection in high-risk areas to 55% by 2030.

As part of the solution, Alibaba Health, on June 21st, shook hands with Berry Oncology and established the groundwork for building an ecosystem to facilitate early cancer diagnosis.

Deliver NGS Liver Cancer Tests to High-Risk Areas

Alibaba Health will help deliver Berry Oncology’s NGS-based liver cancer test, Lai Si Ning, to people in high-risk areas. According to a Cell Research publication, the test has a specificity of 95.7% and a sensitivity of 95.7%. Besides, it can detect liver cancer 6 to 12 months earlier.

The tool can also be purchased on Alibaba’s e-commerce platform so that everyone can get easy access to early cancer detection. Patients can also receive China’s first hepatopathy medical insurance and consultant services with early cancer test products.

“Alibaba Health and Berry Oncology have unique advantages in their respective fields, and this partnership will bring results greater than the sum of its parts,” said Zhou Jun, CEO of Berry Oncology

“For Berry Oncology, the establishment of a Chinese program for early cancer screening and prevention must integrate all aspects of the business, including commerce, clinical work, technology, and the industrial chain,” he added.

Early Cancer Screening

Berry Oncology, founded in 2017, is a subsidiary of Berry Genomics, a genetic testing firm in China. It currently focuses on three types of cancers; liver cancer, lung cancer, and gynecologic cancer. Furthermore, it has manufacturing, supercomputing, and R & D centers in Fuzhou and Beijing.

In 2021, the firm teamed up with Twist Bioscience to develop NGS products to screen cancer and genetic diseases.

Related Article: Chinese Oncology Drugmaker to Raise over 600 Million in Hong Kong IPO

Author

Tyler Chen

"Never go to a doctor whose office plants have died."- Erma Bombeck