After being approved by local authorities in Hainan province, the first digital therapy product came on the market on June 23, 2022. Developed by Hainan Aikang Digital Medical Technology Co., Ltd. (hereafter referred to as “Aikang”), the product provides users with services such as exercise capacity tests or videos related to exercise therapies. 

The Health Commission of Hainan Province has taken a leading role in pursuing the development of the digital therapy industry, and has incorporated the “Exploration of Future Digital Therapy” into the “14th Five-Year Plan for Digital Health in Hainan Province.” In order to provide the necessary support and guarantees for the digital therapy industry at all stages of its development, local authorities have taken a series of measures to promote clinical research in this area, to accelerate the registration and approval processes related to new digital therapies, to strengthen the promotion and application of these new technologies, to facilitate medical and commercial insurance payment, to create an industrial cluster of digital therapy, and to enhance the well-regulated growth of the industry. Local authorities have thus taken great efforts to ensure that the digital therapy industry thrives in Hainan province and continue to develop the province into the center of innovation in the digital therapy world.

Located in the Haikou national high-tech industrial development zone, Aikang is a high-tech enterprise that focuses on innovative diagnostic procedures and provides targeted recovery or therapy services. In November of 2020, the first digital therapy product was approved by authorities. Its approval marked the beginning of a new era in China’s digital therapy industry. As a pioneer in this emerging field, Aikang explores the use of digital technologies in treatments for tumours. It has created software that helps patients with tumours recover through exercise. The software standardizes the diagnostic and recovery processes and provides patients with personal, quantified exercise therapies, which gives patients guidance on how to improve symptoms related to tumours through moderate exercise. This guidance can also reduce the side effects of anti-tumour treatments, such as cancer-related fatigue, depression, anxiety, and lymphedema. All in all, the software contributes to improving the lives of patients.

The next step for the Health Commission of Hainan Province and the Haikou national high-tech industrial development zone is to streamline the process of implementing relevant policy measures, to make joint efforts to establish an innovation model of digital therapy in Hainan province, to create a great development space for R&D enterprises and to provide quality health care for patients.