Eli Lilly, Tencent ink smart medical partnership

US-based pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly reached an in-depth strategic collaboration with Chinese internet giant Tencent in Shanghai on Monday.

The deal will see both parties empower medical services with cloud technology, big data analysis, and artificial intelligence and build a patient-centric, smart medical ecological system.

The collaboration will cover disease areas such as tumors, immunological diseases, pain, and neurodegenerative diseases, and help such patients in terms of seeking medical advice and receiving therapies, said Julio Gay-Ger, president and general manager of Eli Lilly China, at a media briefing.

"The technologies will help better chronic disease management and disease education for these patients as well as improve their medication compliance," he said.

The two partners said that they will also explore applying innovative digital technologies in medical health and pharmaceutical industries to facilitate doctor-patient communication and optimize medical service procedures to boost efficiency and productivity.

"We look forward to constructing better smart medical service platforms and more application scenarios through this collaboration which would ultimately elevate the health management level of the public," said Zhang Meng, vice-president of Tencent Medical.

Smart medical services will be a future trend as it can assist with medical tests, improve the accuracy and efficiency of diagnosis, and promote the equal accessibility of good medical resources, said industry experts.