2019年，全国药品流通市场销售规模稳步增长，增速略有回升。大型药品批发企业销售加速增长，集中度继续提升；零售行业集中度、连锁率进一步提高；医药物流向智慧物流迈进，专业化服务能力显著提升；医药电商进入快速成长阶段。2020年，受整体经济环境和各种因素影响，药品流通行业增长将承受更大压力。

本文通过对2019年中国药品零售市场发展概述、主要特点的分析，揭示出药品零售行业适应形势变化不断进行变革、调整、发展的轨迹。未来，在政策和市场的驱动下，药品零售行业格局将会加速重塑，行业集中度持续提升，龙头企业优势凸显，借助大数据大力发展“互联网+”的服务模式，预防保健、治未病等健康服务将成为零售药店的重要服务内容。专业化服务水平、创新服务模式和提质增效的管理手段等将成为行业转型升级的重要路径。

随着药品集中采购等政策的实施以及大数据等新技术的应用，我国药品流通行业实现了多重转型。本文对药品流通行业转型的政策及社会背景进行梳理，归纳了当前药品流通行业转型的主要方式与表现，包括商业模式转型、行业集中度提高、供应链整合以及“互联网+药品流通”等新业态发展，并指出了转型过程仍存在价格管制未实现预期效果、“4+7”药品带量采购的价格形成机制需要进一步完善等问题。在转型方向预判的基础上，提出未来药品流通行业转型的管理对策。

本文介绍了中国仓储与配送协会、中国中药协会在商务部等部门的指导下，继续贯彻落实《国务院办公厅关于转发工业和信息化部等部门中药材保护和发展规划（2015—2020年）的通知》，认真组织企业开展中药材现代物流体系建设，以及在2019年取得的有关进展情况。

Diagnostics is an important and integral part of healthcare that is used both for medical examinations and for planning and monitoring the treatment of sick patients. Hematology is one of the basic specialties that forms most tests performed in a routine medical laboratory operation. Hematology tests are one of the most performed diagnostic tests across the globe. The increased research and development have resulted in various diagnostic insights from studying blood. Blood components are seen as markers for various healthcare conditions. This scope is increasing, and many rare blood-related disorders also can be identified using simpler hematology tests. This is driving the demand for new hematology innovations in the market.

Immunotherapy, a non-traditional treatment, has become a prominent approach for treating many diseases, especially cancer, because it provides superior efficacy and safety. During this era of precision medicine and effective immunotherapies, the necessity for rapid and efficient antineoplastic development has never been greater. Biologics or biologic drugs are derived from living organisms and have proved to be a cure for several chronic conditions that were previously considered untreatable.

Cybersecurity is a continuously developing industry, and it impacts all the sectors across the globe. Organizations are moving from integrated security teams to communicating the responsibilities with the application teams, and the industry has put added focus on partnership and the communication of information in the community to make certain the highest level of possible efficacy. Today, ransomware, fileless malware, and nation-state attacks dominate the cybersecurity conversation. Companies are shifting from previously reactive stances to more proactive ones. Real-time threat analysis, breach detection, and predictive modeling signal a significant shift away from information security toward intelligent security.

Healthy sex life is a human aspect that has a massive impact on one’s overall wellness. Continuous efforts are being made to spread the awareness of sexual wellness. With end-users getting more educated, along with incremental advancements in technology enabling people to explore the healthy aspects of their sexual life, the concept of sexual wellness has started to achieve significant recognition worldwide.

In the 1840s, the introduction of ether, a surgical anesthetic, made surgical procedures more common. Initially, general anesthesia was given through a device that covered the nose and mouth of the patient. The concern for aspiration of gastric content was not appreciated, and postoperative pneumonia became a common problem. Trendelenburg (1869) designed the first inflatable cuff, a thin rubber bag that was fitted over the end of a tracheostomy tube. It created a tight seal to prevent aspiration during anesthesia. As an alternate method for tracheostomy, Macewen (1880) suggested passing an oral tube into the trachea to relieve an obstruction. Later, anesthesiologist Franz Kuhn used metal tubes and preferred the oral route over tracheostomy and popularized orotracheal anesthesia.

Personal protective equipment (PPE) includes various products like gloves, face masks, surgical gowns, and more. There is always a huge demand for PPE materials across the globe due to the developing healthcare infrastructure in developing countries and the increased requirement for safety measures in healthcare setups. In a few cases, the demand for PPEs is due to exceptional factors like disease outbreaks, pandemics, and epidemics. The world is exposed to multiple outbreaks and other disastrous infections. One such event occurred in 2019, which started as a simple respiratory infection, and later spread to more than 190 countries and killed millions of people across the globe. The COVID-19 pandemic is driving the demand for various PPE materials in healthcare settings. An important PPE material that is largely in demand during the pandemic, pre-pandemic, and post-pandemic, is medical face masks. This is one of the most essential materials used in various healthcare settings from hospitals, labs, research centers, ambulatory surgical centers, long-term care facilities, clinics, and more.

Over the past few decades, the pharmaceutical packaging panorama has seen a lot of changes and transformations. The launch of new technologies has lined the way for pharma packaging companies to discover more advanced solutions, enhance their procedures, and drive proficiencies across the supply chain. In the early days, glass medical and drug bottles were common and less costly to manufacture. However, plastic bottles were effective but very costly to produce on a mass scale. Eventually, with innovations, plastic became less expensive. As the production costs of these materials went down, they became the standard options for pharmaceutical packaging. At present, plastic bottles are everywhere in the pharmaceutical field, offering tamper-proof, child-safe options and resilience against water, heat, and impact.

Technology plays a very important role in the healthcare and medical fields. Several technological equipment and devices such as digital thermometers, insulin pumps, smart inhaler pulse oximeters, blood glucose meters, wireless brain sensors have been designed for better healthcare. In the medical field, over 500,000 technological devices are being used in hospital settings and various other healthcare facilities. With growing technology in healthcare, there have been advancements in Internet of Things (IoT) and sensors that improve patient safety, information accuracy, and critical quality control. Healthcare technology has the potential to improve the use of sensors in the medical sector.

AI in healthcare has enormous and far-reaching potential, from mobile training solutions to drug discovery, which fall within the realm of machine learning. Artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare refers to the use of complex algorithms that are supposed to perform certain tasks automatically. When researchers, doctors, and scientists input data into computers, newly developed algorithms can review, interpret, and even suggest solutions to complex medical problems.

Intravenous (IV) therapy helps to deliver medications, fluids, and other nutrients directly into the body through veins. IV therapy is used during lifesaving therapeutic treatment and in wellness treatment. Since ancient times, blood therapy has been around, and blood has been viewed as a therapeutic substance. However, lack of proper understanding of blood types, infectious agents, and the absence of ideal materials such as plastics held back IV therapy for centuries. Later, IV therapy became the fastest way of delivering blood products, medications, vitamins, or other vital fluids. IV therapy is usually provided to the patient with the help of an intravenous catheter, either through an injection with a syringe or infusion.

Some of the latest medical technologies are fostering the development of new healthcare models that will benefit insured patients and the healthcare insurance sector. New technologies can improve disease prevention, diagnosis, and treatment and enhance patient safety and health system coordination. Also, advanced medical technologies optimize the use of resources, ensure sustainability, and reduce waiting times and errors. Rapid and reliable Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have emerged as vital components in improving the quality of human health.

Respiratory masks (RM) are protective devices covering a part of the user’s face. They are designed to protect both the person who wears them and the immediate environment from breathable pollutants (respiratory poisons or bacterial/viral pathogenic organisms). Face masks can be classified as full masks, half, and quarter masks. While a full mask covers the whole face, a half mask fits from under the chin to above the nose, a quarter mask fits from the top of the nose to the top of the chin. The breathing resistance varies proportionally to the density of the mask material used.

Oral health is a vital part of overall general health, and therefore, good oral health is indicative of overall wellness. Most diseases start from the oral site and spread to the entire body. Although some of these oral infections are preventable, some are not, and therefore, taking care of oral health is of paramount importance. The lack of proper oral hygiene accelerates the growth of microbes and causes various dental disorders, such as halitosis and dental caries.

The prevalence of several chronic diseases worldwide and the launch of sophisticated technologies and treatments have contributed to a rapid increase in healthcare expenses. Additionally, patients nowadays expect high-quality care at an affordable cost. Thus, it has become imperative for players in the healthcare industry to reduce the cost of their healthcare services while providing high-quality care to patients. Efficient healthcare logistics services provide a remarkable opportunity for controlling healthcare costs through the implementation of best practices.

Disinfecting is a procedure that uses chemicals/disinfectants to kill germs on surfaces and objects. Some common disinfectants include bleach and alcohol-based solutions. Disinfectants are usually left on target surfaces and objects for a certain period to kill germs. Also, the task of sanitizing can involve either cleaning or disinfecting or both. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), sanitizing refers to lowering the number of germs on the surface to a safe level. The safe level depends on public health standards or requirements at workplaces, such as healthcare facilities. Some common ways of disinfecting and sanitizing include mopping a floor using a mop with disinfectants and water, disinfectant wipes or hand sanitizers, and others.

Some of the latest medical technologies are fostering the development of new healthcare models that will benefit insured patients and the healthcare insurance sector. New technologies can improve disease prevention, diagnosis, and treatment and enhance patient safety and health system coordination. Also, advanced medical technologies optimize the use of resources, ensure sustainability, and reduce waiting times and errors. Rapid and reliable Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have emerged as vital components in improving the quality of human health. The use of several healthcare technologies has contributed to the development of different applications in various health coverage programs, such as electronic health records, telemedicine, e-prescription, and revenue cycle management.