IBM Announces Partnership with Baheal to Bring Watson for Oncology to China

IBM announced Baheal Pharmaceutical Group is extending the reach of Watson for Oncology to clinicians across China through a new multi-year strategic alliance. As the primary channel partner for Watson for Oncology in China, Baheal will serve a role in accelerating cancer patients' access to cognitive technology and may also partner to bring Watson for Genomics and other future Watson Health innovation to China.

IBM Watson Health is partnering with organizations like Baheal within China's healthcare and technology community to establish an ecosystem that will bring the benefits of machine learning into clinical practice to serve the needs of doctors and patients while maintaining compliance with local laws and regulations, including data privacy and security requirements.

"Oncologists in China have very little time to spend with each of their patients, and by deploying Watson for Oncology across our network, we aim to give our doctors more time to focus on the best decisions they can make for their patients," Gang Fu, Chairman, Baheal Pharmaceutical Group said. "Watson for Oncology will complement the robust digital health program that Baheal has already implemented in an effort to improve efficiency and quality across China's healthcare system."

With more than 4.3 million cancer diagnoses and 2.8 million cancer deaths in China each year, China is home to one-fourth of all global cancer deaths, and cancer constitutes one-fifth of all deaths in China. An explosion of medical information has created both challenges and opportunities to help improve quality care. Currently, approximately 50,000 oncology research papers are published annually, and by 2020 medical information is projected to double every 73 days, outpacing the ability of humans to keep up with the proliferation of medical knowledge.

Watson for Oncology is a cognitive computing platform that was trained by Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York to provide evidence-based treatment options to oncologists. It identifies individualized treatment options, scales access to oncology expertise, and analyzes massive volumes of medical literature drawing from more than 300 medical journals, 200 textbooks and nearly 15 million pages of text. Watson also ranks evidence-based treatment options, linking to peer reviewed studies and clinical guidelines. Its machine-learning capability means it continuously learns, gaining in value and knowledge over time. Watson for Oncology is currently trained to assist clinicians in developing treatment plans for breast, lung, colorectal, cervical, ovarian, gastric and prostate cancers.