BEIJING – There are more than 500 million insomnia patients in China, more than 20 million of whom suffer from chronic diseases, according to a 2016 report by the China Dream Research Society. In other words, almost all Chinese families are dream-deprivation lairs.
Now, a startup offers a synthetic intelligence solution that it calls “sleeper.”
Zhengan Keji’s virtual therapy, or DTx, prescribes software to patients, just as doctors prescribe medications to patients. Recipes can be made anywhere and anytime and remedies are cheap, the company says.
Insomnia has a major challenge in China, however, medical responses were scarce until recently and the country does not have enough sleep specialists or varied treatments.
As a result, many Chinese insomniacs do not seek medical attention or seek random doctors.
Insomnia causes significant mental and physiological damage. This makes it more likely that other people will spread anxiety, depression, chronic diseases and other diseases. It also has an effect on patients’ daily lives.
Solutions available on the market include reminiscences foam pillows, herbal foods, smart gadgets and sleep tracking apps.
Zhengan Keji’s sleep solution adopts cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia, or CBT-I.
Through the software, virtual treatment attempts to interfere and correct patients’ perceptions, behavior and psychology in the face of chronic insomnia and thus adjust their sleep rate. The formula allows patients to fall asleep gently without taking sleeping pills.
Non-pharmacological treatments are not unusual in specialized hospitals, however, patients will have to stop at those clinics weekly and pay up to 1,000 yuan ($143) at a time.
The sleep solution necessarily creates online sleep clinics. The AI therapist, on behalf of doctors, diagnoses insomniacs on the Internet and provides a fully tailored solution based on the patient’s unique set of factors.
The AI therapist gets to know each patient who uses a chatbot and then evaluates their condition. During follow-up, it also adjusts the remedy plan: a combination of sleep restrictions, stimulation control methods, cognitive therapy, rest techniques, sleep hygiene orders and other prescriptions.
Patients get 15-minute online commands every day, but are not limited by time or location. The remedy costs 499 yuan in total, much less expensive than traditional remedies. A beta verification edition has already been published and users can get a loose solution during the trial period.
In one clinical trial in March, 85% of subjects showed noticeable effects after approximately two weeks of sleep. On average, these patients should reduce the time needed to fall asleep to 30 minutes instead of 60 minutes.
The company plans to conduct a clinical trial with the Peking University Sleep Research Center.
Zhengan Keji is positioning itself as a virtual health company. It now has the approval of the National Medical Products Administration of China.
Somryst of the US medical generation start-up Pear Therapeutics, the first virtual healing app for insomniacs in March to download U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval, providing a positive wind to the Chinese medical industry.
“We are adopting business-to-consumer and business-to-consumer models,” said Liu Xiaogang, founder of Zhengan Keji. “We target other people with insomnia, especially pregnant women, who are likely to suffer from insomnia, women who breastfeed, 70% of whom suffer from insomnia, and dieters, who are more likely to suffer from insomnia.
“Because sleep quality correlates with diseases such as diabetes, coronary heart disease, obesity, anxiety and depression, there is a high demand among others with these diseases,” Liu said. “With virtual treatment asleep, our goal is to locate the corporations of potential spouses who focus on those spaces and participate in income-sharing agreements with them.
Zhengan Keji also seeks to attract retail consumers through promotions that employ popular messaging apps like WeChat and Weibo, video sharing apps like Douyin and Kuaishou, and Zhihu’s Q&A website, as well as looking for engine optimization measures for a website rating in search engine lists.
Many corporate consumers are regular consumers looking for more backup software and hardware. After achieving a critical mass of users, the company is also offering knowledge services.
Liu has 16 years of experience as a generation product design manager. He has worked for Internet giant Tencent Holdings and Kingsoft Cloud, a unit of smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi. At the xiaomi Huami-based smart portable device generation company, he started a medical fitness company and also on the software progression rate for Xiaomi smart bracelets.
Liu has the ability to collect and analyze knowledge of human fitness by using computer devices and leveraging medical and medical resources.
Zhengan Keji is now raising cash as part of an angel trip. It intends to spend cash on product development, approval from the National Medical Products Administration, medical and product management.
36Kr, a Chinese-generation portal founded in Beijing in 2010, has more than 150 million readers worldwide. Nikkei announced a partnership with 36Kr on May 22, 2019.
For the Japanese in this story, click here.
For the Chinese version, here.
Subscribe to our newsletters to get our stories right in your inbox.
You want an Array subscription..