Healthcare Group Banks on HK's Advantages to Unlock New Opportunities in GBA

27 August marks the 3rd anniversary of the Measures (Measures) of using HK registered drugs and medical devices used in HK public hospitals in Greater Bay Area (GBA). As of Mar 2024, 59 types of drugs and medical devices have been approved for urgent clinical use, supporting 19 designated hospitals that helped more than 5,000 patients*. With the organisation’s mission to make healthcare more accessible, Christian Eberle, Managing Director of Hong Kong & Macao, Zuellig Pharma, is optimistic about the in-depth integration of the GBA healthcare industry. Built on the company’s end-to-end supply chain services, it plans to connect the GBA region’s supply chain, while leading the industry in sustainable development by forging ahead with digitalisation, a green agenda, and corporate governance.

The Measures were promulgated by the Central Government in the Work Plan for Regulatory Innovation and Development of Pharmaceutical and Medical Device in the GBA, allowing designated healthcare institutions in the Mainland cities of the GBA to use Hong Kong-registered drugs and medical devices used in Hong Kong public hospitals with urgent clinical use. 

Go GBA

As a leading healthcare solutions company in Asia, Zuellig Pharma has seized the opportunity to open the Zuellig Pharma Hong Kong Nansha Guangzhou Office and set up GBA HK & Macao Medical Products Information Centre with partners. “With our extensive network across Asia, we hope to become the preferred partner of Chinese pharmaceutical, medical device, and clinical research organisations,” said Christian Eberle.

Besides “northbound flow”, Zuellig Pharma welcomes the HKSAR Government’s initiative named '1+' mechanism, a new drug approval mechanism to enhance and accelerate R&D and introduction of new drugs into Hong Kong. This is expected to drive the demand for more clinical trials from across the GBA, developing HK into a Health & Medical Innovation Hub by establishing a Drug Approval Authority based on “Primary Evaluation” in the long run. 

Today, Zuellig Pharma works with over 50 multinational pharmaceutical companies and local manufacturers in Hong Kong & Macao, connecting them with over 56 hospitals and 6,100 clinics in the cities. The company distributes over 5,000 products, including prescription and OTC medication, vaccines and medical devices.

“Aside from distribution, we also work across the pharmaceutical supply chain and support clinical trials product supply, commercialisation, market access, patient care, technology and data analytics, and other value-added solutions that support the entire healthcare ecosystem.” 

Innovation DNA

Zuellig Pharma has two distribution centres in Tuen Mun and Tsing Yi, spanning a total of 517,000 sqft. With its flagship distribution centre in Tuen Mun utilising the latest technologies like goods-to-man pick-and-pack system and cold chain storage with 24-hour monitoring, as well as an extensive delivery fleet equipped with air-conditioned storage, Zuellig Pharma has the ability to support end-to-end supply chain needs from the receiving, storage, and GMP repackaging, to the dispatching of essential medical products and equipment.

“We have embraced digitalization through and through – investing in a digitally-orchestrated supply chain with innovative features like mobile apps to support the delivery of healthcare products and a production-grade supply chain traceability solution for pharmaceutical companies – all for enhanced efficiency, traceability and medication safety, ultimately bringing extra protection to patients and healthcare institutions.” 

Since 1996, Zuellig Pharma has been using GS1 HK’s ezTRADE, a B2B e-commerce community platform, to exchange tens of thousands of electronic POs and invoices with partners every month. Its senior executive Mr. Andrew Wong has been a member of ezTRADE User Committee since 2008, a board that aims to improve ezTRADE service quality and bring enhancements to the community, promoting e-commerce in the local market.

“Digital solutions like ezTRADE are key to the future of the healthcare industry: not only to streamline documentation processes and improve data accuracy by reducing manual errors, but also to simplify our partners’ procurement and payment processes. We are able to introduce an auto-replenish feature where the system can automatically restock fast-moving drugs on a daily basis, ensuring that we remain agile and responsive to the evolving needs of patients.”

The company also adopted the GS1 DataMatrix standard to enable the tracking and tracing of medicines and healthcare products across the supply chain, and also aid shelf-life management up to and including the point of dispensation. “It helps our partners like hospitals, clinics, and pharmacies to capture important data such as GTIN, expiration date, and batch number automatically, eliminating any human error. At the same time, it manages their inventory efficiently, which is essential to their operational efficiency and patients’ medication safety.” 

Digitalised Healthcare Barriers

For more than 25 years, Christian has been in various leadership roles in healthcare in Korea, Indonesia and the Philippines. He saw multiple challenges involved when it comes to embracing digital capabilities across the industry; for example, there is no one unified standard or technology established for the use of digital solutions, especially within the pharmaceutical supply chain, which could be difficult to ensure patient accessibility across the globe especially when organisations operate regionally or globally.

Data privacy and security are now also critical concerns in the sector. He notes that organisations should uphold the highest levels of ethics and compliance when implementing digital solutions, and adds that greater collaboration between the private and public sector will also be a key success factor to unleash the power of a digitally-enabled value chain.

Stationed in HK since 2 years ago, Christian observed that the local healthcare industry faces numerous challenges, such as an increasingly aging population, healthcare staff shortages, growing calls for a more sustainably-run industry, etc. Zuellig Pharma continues to invest in the quality and integrity of its supply chain to ensure products are distributed to its customers and partners in a timely manner, and in their intended condition, while keenly pursuing its sustainability goals.

Top 1% in Sustainable Development

For the third consecutive year, Zuellig Pharma has been ranked within the top 1% of organisations worldwide receiving an EcoVadis Platinum medal for their performance in environmental efforts, labour and human rights, ethics, and sustainable procurement. The company has reduced 38% of direct and indirect carbon emissions across operations, with more than 57% of energy generated from renewable sources.

Zuellig Pharma is also the first and only organisation in APAC in the industry group to receive an A- rating on Climate Change by the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), a global disclosure system and the gold standard of environmental reporting in the world.  

“Locally, we have achieved energy savings and better efficiency by installing smart lighting systems and upgrading our air-conditioners, deploying battery-operated vehicles and high-speed roll-up doors across our facilities. Besides paperless, digital trade, we have implemented water-saving initiatives and paper/cardboard recycling programmes, using reusable packaging for all our shipments between Hong Kong and Macao. These are all aimed at building a more sustainable, greener world for our future generations.”