China’s online pharmacy: its regulatory policy and a future research agenda for the emerging AI age

In recent years, China has witnessed a remarkable digital health movement, wherein online pharmacies or drug e-commerce have emerged as disruptive business models. In 2019, China amended the Drug Administration Law to permit the online sale of prescription drugs to customers, albeit with certain limitations. This marked China's first national congress-level regulatory policy on online pharmacy regulation. The policy comprises two sub-policies: one targeting third-party online platforms involved in drug sales and another aimed at controlled drugs and other drugs under special administration that are prohibited from being sold online. However, this regulatory policy has sparked legal and ethical debates. The first revolves around whether or not online platforms engaged in drug sales can enjoy liability protection and to what extent; while the second centers on an ethical dilemma concerning access to controlled drugs due to their blanket ban on online sales. This article thoroughly examines the aforementioned regulatory policy. Moreover, during the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, there was a surge in artificial intelligence (AI) applications within China's healthcare sector, leading to phenomenal growth of AI-driven online pharmacies staffed by so-called AI doctors and pharmacists. The article outlines a future research agenda for regulating emerging AI-enabled online pharmacies in the post-pandemic age before concluding.