China's medical tourism industry is booming. Breakthroughs in Parkinson's treatments help explain why
Bullets:
Industry analysts forecast that China will see explosive growth in its medical tourism industry.
Its largest cities already attract over a million foreign patients a year for treatment, even from countries with advanced medical systems.
Even larger ambitions are intended for Hainan, an island province that is known as "the Hawaii of China". Hundreds of global companies in pharmaceuticals, medical devices, alternative therapies, and experimental treatments have set up facilities in Hainan, to serve patients that cannot access the most advanced and novel drugs and regimens in their home countries.
Breakthroughs in the treatment of Parkinson's Disease is a window as to why: most of the world's clinical testing for PD, and almost everything else, is conducted in Asia/Pacific and China. Most of the API's in drugs themselves are manufactured here. And most of the cutting-edge research and development is here, both in lab testing and across large patient populations.
Report:
Medical tourism is booming in China, and major cities here are already serving as hubs for patients from Asian countries who come here to seek medical treatment. Analysts believe that China’s medical tourism industry will be the fastest-growing in the world, compounding at 16% per year for the next decade, and in a few years will be five times bigger than now. Some of the reasons are here, in this report: The prices are lower here. The most modern technology is here. China is now heavily promoting the industry here. China is also where most of the active pharmaceutical ingredients for drugs are made, at an almost near-zero cost.
Shenzhen is right next to Hong Kong, and hospitals there are quickly expanding to serve foreign patients. 770,000 medical tourists went to Shenzhen for treatment in 2023. Shanghai is also popular, with another 270,000 foreign patients treated. Shenzhen and Shanghai together attracted over a million foreign medical tourists in 2023, then. And while Shanghai and Shenzhen are top destinations now, China’s plans for Hainan are much bigger than anything else that will happen in Mainland China, let alone anywhere else.
Here we see where the patients inbound Shanghai are coming from—Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines. Right off, this is a little bit strange. Singapore is completely modern in every respect, and Singapore’s medical system may be the best in the world. Yet Shanghai is drawing thousands of medical tourists from Singapore. Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines also have world-class hospitals in their biggest cities, so there is something else going on.
We’ll look at what’s happening here in the research for just one disease, Parkinson’s disease. And as we go through, imagine that you or a loved one suffers from Parkinson’s. Then, keep in mind that Hainan Island is going to be one giant pilot zone for experimental medical treatments, open to all the world’s drug companies and medical device manufacturers. What I mean here is that medical tourists going to Hainan will have access to drugs and treatments that are still years away from being approved in the United States or Europe, and probably even here in Mainland China.
This report is from Novotech. They’re a Contract Research Organization for biotech companies, and they’re very active in the Asia Pacific region. They coordinate drug trials and medical testing for drug companies across the world, but most of the research is being done here, in Asia, along with most of the patient trials. In their report on Parkinson’s, they note that China has the largest population of Parkinson’s sufferers. In the past 5 years, biotech companies have conducted 750 clinical trials for Parkinson’s disease, and most of those are done here, in China. There are 3 primary strategies to treat Parkinson’s—Gene therapies, deep brain stimulation, and stem cell research. For the sake of time we’ll look at recent developments in just the last two.
There are a million Americans with Parkinson’s, and rising. Worldwide there are 10 million people with Parkinson’s. Chinese researchers learned last month that nanoparticles injected into the brain can reverse the worst symptoms of Parkinson’s, without surgery. and this piece goes a little bit deeper into the medical science of how the technique works, using a combination of gold nanoparticles, antibodies, and peptides. I didn’t understand much else of that, and here’s the link to the original scientific abstract and I didn’t understand a single word of this thing besides the “National Library of Medicine” banner at the top.
But they’re not testing this on human patients yet. Human trials may be months away. Approvals from the FDA in the US, and regulators in Europe, would necessarily be years after that. And Americans can read above these therapies for ourselves and conclude that this treatment involving nanoparticles injections directly into the brain is going to cost hundreds of thousands of dollars anyway, because that’s how our system works.
So there’s no good news here, because even if you’re rich and can afford that, the clock is ticking, fast: Within 10 years of diagnosis, motor functions break down, and severe instability sets in after that. Anyone with Parkinson’s will read about these breakthroughs in China and they’ll realize it’s not going to be there for them.
In the area of stem cell treatments, China’s researchers are much farther along. This news is from last week, from a hospital at Tongji University in Shanghai. They’ve developed a stem cell therapy and have completed 12 months of clinical trials on live patients. The name of this company is Shize Biopharma, and the doctors report high safety and efficacy in treating the disease, with the potential of even reversing onset symptoms.
So in Shanghai they’ve got stem cell therapies that are ahead of the group that is working with gold nanoparticles. But it’s still not very helpful if you’re in the US or Europe and waiting for the researchers here to test on large populations, then for our regulators to approve it, and then for our local docs to train up on it. And it’s these realities that are driving China’s medical tourism industry, and why these market analysts expect medical tourism in China to grow over 5 times in just 12 years. There is no way for patients in Western Europe or North America to avail themselves of the treatments that are still in the experimental phase, even if you wanted to. But medical tourism in Hainan will make a way, for patients from all over the world who want to give the most novel therapies a try.
This is something we should have in the United States, but don’t. We should have a place where patients can go, sign a paper that says they understand that everything that’s going happen next is experimental and that the risks are unknown, but to them it’s worth a try. Why don’t we have that? Why are investors and companies – these are Western companies and Western investors, by the way-- why are they so confident that patients from all over the world are going to come to China to get the most modern treatment available? They know that in the next few years, hundreds of thousands of Americans and Europeans are going to come back from the doctor after they get a diagnosis that turns their life upside down, then go on Google and learn that the best chance they’ve got at a normal life, or a longer life, is to book a flight to Shanghai, or Shenzhen, or Sanya? Sanya is in Hainan, and Hainan refers to itself as the Hawaii of China. We already have a Hawaii—why can’t we set up a giant medical tourism zone in our own place?
Resources and links:
Parkinson's Disease Reversed by Brain-Stimulating Nanoparticles
Nanoparticle-Based Wireless Deep Brain Stimulation System Found to Reverse Parkinson's Disease
https://english.cas.cn/newsroom/research_news/life/202501/t20250116_898789.shtml
Researchers develop NANO system to treat Parkinson's symptoms without surgery
https://biz.chosun.com/en/en-science/2025/01/16/BDSVZ23MLZFC5DZGHTCVKCNBFY/
APAC leading in Parkinson’s disease clinical trials
https://www.clinicaltrialsarena.com/news/apac-leading-in-parkinsons-disease-clinical-trials/
Parkinson’s Disease- Global Clinical Trial Landscape (2024)
https://novotech-cro.com/reports/parkinsons-disease-global-clinical-trial-landscape-2024
A nanoparticle-based wireless deep brain stimulation system that reverses Parkinson's disease
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39813330/
Stem Cell Therapy Marks Breakthrough in China’s Fight Against Parkinson’s Disease
China Medical Tourism Market Snapshot (2023 to 2033)
https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/china-medical-tourism-market
China seeks medical tourism boost, but lags behind neighbours like Thailand
Hainan’s Free Trade Port: Medical Tourism and the Development of Boao Lecheng Pilot Zone
https://research.hktdc.com/en/article/MTc1Njc2MDAyNQ
Hainan woos travelers with more medical tourism products
https://english.www.gov.cn/news/202501/17/content_WS678a3858c6d0868f4e8eee9e.html
Parkinson’s Foundation, Stages of Parkinson's
https://www.parkinson.org/understanding-parkinsons/what-is-parkinsons/stages
Great report. Thank you, Kevin. My father passed away as an indirect result (a fall) of his advanced stage of Parkinson's disease, so this is a subject of great interest to me. If the Chinese researchers win the race for a cure, great for them. My family would have happily put Dad on a plane if it could have ended, or greatly alleviated his many years of suffering.
Another great article. Many thanks Kevin.