On November 6, AIER Eye Hospital Group, a global chain ophthalmic medical institution, officially signed a strategic cooperation memo with Novarti, the world's pharmaceutical giant on the occasion of the second China International Import Expo. Both AIER and Novarti will make full use of their resources and advantages in ophthalmic clinical diagnosis & treatment, ophthalmic technology innovation, innovative drug research and development and digital medical treatment to establish internationally advanced standards for eye disease diagnosis & treatment, and focus on integrating a system of eye disease prevention, screening, diagnosis, rehabilitation and education for eye health diagnosis & treatment and management, which is expected to create an innovative mode for Chinese eye disease diagnosis & treatment. Besides, two company plan to push the implementation of new technologies represented by "5G Internet + Application" and "Artificial Intelligence Application for Fundus Diagnosis & Treatment" to truly improve the eye health of Chinese patients.

Mr. Li Li (right) and Mrs. Zhang Ying (left) represents two sides to sign the memo.

Photographed after the sign of the memo.

The event attracts many people.

Relevant data show that more than 4 million elderly people in China currently suffer from age-related macular degeneration, and about 30 million elderly people have diabetic retinopathy. ① However, due to the initial symptoms of the disease are not obvious, patients generally lack of cognition and awareness to the disease. Hence, once the disease is found, it often has entered the middle and late stages, causing irreversible visual damage to patients. Eye health is an important part of national health, nevertheless, China is one of the countries with the largest number of blind and visually impaired patients in the world (according to the National Eye Health Plan of the 13th Five-Year Plan 2016-2020).

Therefore, the key point of AIER & Novarti's cooperation is to take the lead in establishing a comprehensive management system of eye disease prevention, screening, diagnosis, rehabilitation and education. AIER & Novarti will join together to set up an eye disease communication platform for scientific research and diagnosis & treatment relying on AIER's clinical strength (more than 500 hospitals that covers Asia, the United States, and Europe, more than 5,000 ophthalmologists, over 10 million-strong clinical case data, as well as 10 National Drug Clinical Trial Institutions across the country) and Novertis' leading position and advanced resources in pharmaceutical industry, and further promote the ophthalmic clinical trial for original new drugs, thereby, providing Chinese patients with better treatment and services. Mr. Li Li, President of AIER, said.

Mr. Li Li, President of AIER, delivers a speech.

Mr. Li Li emphasized that this cooperation will establish comprehensive management system for every single disease, achieving early screening and treatment of eye diseases to reduce the blindness rate of eye diseases in China via digital tools. In addition, taking the fundus disease as an example, combining Novartis's advantages in new drug research and development with AIER's precise and comprehensive patients big data, jointly exploring opportunities for cooperation in the field of fundus disease prevention, which can enable early intervention of high-risk groups and delay the occurrence of fundus disease. This exploration will hopefully achieve a transition from eye disease treatment to eye health management, benefiting more patients and their families.

With the increasing popularity of big data application technology in the medical and health field, the eye disease treatment model will undergo a huge transformation: from the original point-to-point eye disease screening treatment to the whole process and life cycle of single eye disease management and health management. The combination of early screening of eye diseases, mid-term diagnosis & treatment, and management of the later rehabilitation will form a complete data link, building a new closed loop of prevention & treatment of eye diseases in China, truly realizing early detection and treatment of eye diseases. The cooperation between AIER and Novartis will strongly promote the acceleration of this mode.

AIER has been committed to bringing in advanced ophthalmic technology and medical management philosophy and has taken specialization, scale, and scientific as our developing strategies to promote the comprehensive development of China's medical treatment cause in ophthalmology. It not only has far-reaching significance for solving long-term problems in Chinese ophthalmology, but also has the opportunity to challenge global medical problems and open cooperation between Chinese Phylaxiology and biopharmaceutical companies that AIER and Novertis develop big data together to research eye disease regulations and realize accurate assessment to eye disease. AIER will take quality and innovation as the key to provide a more optimized life cycle solution for the majority of patients with eye diseases, realizing our mission of 'enabling everyone, whether rich or poor, has the right to eye health'. Mr. Li Li said.

Mr. Zhang Maosong, Vice president of Novartis and Head of the Ophthalmology department, said: "Cooperating with AIER is another beneficial attempt in promoting China's diagnosis & treatment capacity. We are not only work on joint scientific research and drug research, but also the innovation of diagnosis and treatment mode, artificial intelligence, and professional personnel training. In the future, Novartis will continue to introduce more innovative drugs and programs into China and contribute to 'Health China 2030'!"

①  新华网：我国超过400万老人罹患年龄相关性黄斑变性：https://finance.sina.com.cn/roll/2016-07-27/doc-ifxunyyf6026861.shtml
Xinhuanet: More than 4 million elderly people in our country suffer from age-related macular degeneration.