The "strictest guidelines" for online retail of prescription drugs have been introduced, putting JD Health, Alibaba Health and others under strict constraints.

On May 25th, the National Medical Products Administration issued the "Compliance Guidelines for Online Retail of Prescription Drugs". The guidelines consist of four chapters and forty-two articles, with the core requirements summarized in eight words: dispense by prescription, conduct strict reviews, ensure traceability, and control risks.

There's no need for much explanation about the background of this issuance. In 2024, the online retail sales of drugs exceeded 70 billion yuan, and in 2025, it exceeded 80 billion yuan. The online market has become the main battlefield for growth. However, behind the prosperity lies loopholes: some platforms sell drugs without prescriptions, prescription reviews are just a formality, and AI is used to issue prescriptions instantly. The purpose of the guidelines is to plug these loopholes.

What's more noteworthy than plugging the loopholes are the boundaries drawn by the guidelines. Some practices are completely prohibited, and some are redefined. Behind each boundary is a redistribution of interests.

01

Eliminating AI from Prescription Review

The most attention - grabbing provision in the guidelines is the "elimination of AI" from prescription review. Prescription reviews must be carried out by licensed pharmacists and cannot be conducted by other staff or AI. The average daily number of prescriptions reviewed should be controlled within a reasonable range. Compared with the draft for comments, the official version further tightens the requirements for personnel qualifications. The original draft allowed "pharmacists or other pharmaceutical technicians who have passed the qualification recognition in accordance with the law" to conduct the review, while the official version strictly limits it to "licensed pharmacists".

This is not a rejection of technology but a re - confirmation of boundaries. The regulatory authorities do not require platforms to reject technological means, but the final review power must rest with humans.

Those directly affected by this provision are JD Health and Alibaba Health.

In 2025, JD Health's sales revenue from pharmaceutical and health products reached 60.9 billion yuan, the number of annual active users exceeded 218 million, and it launched over 100 new drugs for the first time, with a year - on - year growth of over 200%. Alibaba Health's revenue in fiscal year 2025 was 30.6 billion yuan, and its net profit increased by 62.2% year - on - year.

The prescription drug business of these two platforms is huge, with tens of thousands of prescriptions reviewed daily. In the past, AI handled a significant portion of the work. Now, licensed pharmacists must review each order, and the number of prescriptions reviewed is restricted by the "reasonable range". The larger the business scale, the greater the manpower shortage, and the steeper the growth of compliance costs. This is not a small expense. The supply of licensed pharmacists is not unlimited, and both recruitment costs and salary expenditures will rise.

More crucial than the cost is the change in the efficiency model. AI can process multiple tasks in parallel, while pharmacists can only work serially. Once a manpower bottleneck forms in the prescription review process, it will directly drag down the conversion efficiency of prescription drug transactions. JD Health's self - operated pharmacies have covered the individual medical insurance accounts in 29 cities, and Alibaba Health's self - operated business covers 80 to 100 dual - channel pharmacies. The channels for prescription circulation have been widened, but the caliber of the prescription review process has been artificially narrowed.

02

Promotions Banned, Prescription Drugs Are No Joke

The guidelines tighten marketing practices almost comprehensively.

Before a prescription drug passes the review, information such as indications, usage, and dosage should not be displayed; the packaging and labels of prescription drugs should not be shown on the home page or the store's main page. Prescription drugs cannot be given as gifts to the public, such as by buying one and getting one free. There should be no disguised promotions through quiz games, prize - winning sales, or combined sales. More importantly, it is strictly prohibited to induce consumers to buy drugs that do not match the treatment purpose through short - videos, live broadcasts, or private social groups.

This directly cuts off one of the most relied - upon growth paths for medical e - commerce. The weakening of prescription drug information display will directly affect conversion efficiency. The strategy of driving new customer growth for prescription drugs through high - frequency promotions has basically failed. Marketing methods such as full - amount discounts and buy - one - get - one - free offers for prescription drugs promoted by JD Health and Alibaba Health during major promotional events will directly cross the red line.

The guidelines strictly separate the marketing innovation of prescription drugs from sales. Marketing activities must be completely decoupled from prescription drug sales, and resources should be directed towards public welfare services such as health science popularization and medication monitoring. The core message is clear: prescription drugs are special commodities, not consumer goods, and cannot be treated lightly.

03

Physical Pharmacies, Rediscovered

Prescription reviews must be signed by licensed pharmacists for each order, marketing activities must be decoupled from prescription drug sales, sales vouchers must be marked with traceability codes, and prescriptions, review records, and sales data must be recorded throughout the process. For offline chain pharmacies, most of these requirements have already been internalized in their operating systems.

The value of physical pharmacies has been re - calibrated. They are not old species to be eliminated by the new technology era but natural holders of compliance capabilities. When online platforms are forced to slow down in the prescription review process, the integrated capabilities of offline pharmacies in "prescription review + service + delivery" are highlighted. Pharmacies are no longer just windows for selling drugs but have become physical nodes for community pharmacy services: prescription reviews are completed here, medication guidance is provided here, and chronic disease management is continuously carried out here.

Data also supports this judgment. The total online sales of Laobaixing increased from 2 billion yuan in 2023 to 3.12 billion yuan in 2025, and the proportion of online sales in total revenue increased from about 9% to about 14%. Yifeng's online business sales revenue in 2025 reached 2.993 billion yuan, including 2.094 billion yuan from O2O and 0.899 billion yuan from B2C. The proportion of online business of each leading chain is continuously rising. Their O2O model is naturally compliant. There are licensed pharmacists in offline stores, and the prescription review process remains the same, only the delivery radius is expanded.

This forms a structural contrast with the situation of JD Health and Alibaba Health. Pure online platforms are facing increased costs and reduced model space due to the new regulations, while offline chain pharmacies are using the "physical + online" hybrid model to undertake the incremental volume of prescription outflow. Yifeng has connected to more than 10 provincial and municipal medical insurance and health - related prescription circulation platforms and directly or indirectly connected to nearly 200 hospitals. Laobaixing has 13,411 stores with medical insurance qualifications, 4,511 stores with overall planning qualifications, and 317 stores with dual - channel qualifications. These assets were severely weakened in the past competition driven by traffic, and the new regulations have brought them back into the pricing system.

In the past decade, the core narrative of pharmaceutical retail has been onlineization, focusing on traffic, efficiency, and GMV, leading to increasing involution. The answer given by the guidelines is: prescription drugs are not consumer goods, prescription review cannot be replaced by AI, and sales cannot be driven by promotions. When the rules are re - leveled, those who are in the lead are not the ones with the most capital or the most traffic, but those who are used to strict rules. Anti - involution does not rely on slogans but on making the bottom line the starting line for everyone.

This article is written based on publicly available information and is only for information exchange purposes and does not constitute any investment advice.

This article is from the WeChat official account "Medical Glory", author: Zhang Zhe, published by 36Kr with authorization.