Pfizer partners with Shanghai Guoda Pharmacy to explore innovative retail service models, with a dedicated migraine category zone launched in Shanghai

February 3, 2026 — Pfizer, in partnership with Shanghai Guoda Pharmacy, officially launched a dedicated headache category zone at their Nanjing West Road store. Mr. Li Guanglai, Head of Retail Business at Pfizer China, Mr. Qi Lei, Party Secretary and General Manager of Guoda Pharmacy Shanghai Region, and Ms. Wang Yan, Deputy General Manager of Guoda Pharmacy Shanghai Region, attended the opening ceremony as representatives. This zone leverages the retail pharmacy as a key touchpoint for patient health services, promoting the upgrade from traditional drug displays to a comprehensive disease management model that integrates disease awareness, risk screening, medication guidance, and follow-up management throughout the entire treatment process. The goal is to improve access to standardized diagnosis and treatment for headache patients and explore pathways for nationwide promotion of this model.

Headaches Are Still Underestimated

Real-World Challenges and Patient Management Difficulties

In China, headaches are still underestimated, and their diagnosis and treatment face multiple practical challenges. Lack of disease awareness, insufficient understanding of standardized medication use, and limited recognition of the advantages of innovative treatments are the main barriers in current patient management. Headaches are often simplistically viewed as “unilateral pain,” but in reality, they are recurrent neurological disorders commonly accompanied by nausea (79.9%), vomiting (29%), photophobia (53.8%), phonophobia (54.5%), and other symptoms [i]. Globally, they rank as the second most common neurological disability disease [ii].

For a long time, many people have held the misconception that “headaches are minor ailments that don’t require medical attention,” leading a significant proportion of migraine sufferers to self-medicate and self-treat, with limited awareness of long-term management, preventive therapy, and innovative drugs. Improper or excessive use of traditional medications like broad-spectrum analgesics can trigger medication-overuse headache (MOH). Data shows that approximately 9.1%-12% of migraine patients develop MOH due to non-standard medication use [iii], creating a vicious cycle of “pain relief causing more pain.”

To improve the current situation of headache prevention and treatment, Pfizer is not only committed to academic development and standardized discipline building but also aims to benefit patients through systematic science popularization and promotion of scientific diagnosis and treatment concepts. On one hand, Pfizer continues to promote industry standards and pharmacist training systems, supports the development and implementation of the first “Pharmacological Service Standards for Headache Treatment Drugs in Retail Pharmacies,” and, relying on headache clinics, is gradually establishing about 200 standardized service points nationwide. On the other hand, Pfizer is extending high-quality headache management services into communities through a series of comprehensive measures, including pharmacist training to enhance disease and product awareness, optimizing online and offline (O2O) integrated services to meet emergency medication needs, and co-developing CRM headache management systems with chain pharmacies to provide professional screening, education, and medication guidance at patients’ doorsteps.

Full-Chain Management in Retail Pharmacies

Implementation of the Headache Category Zone

As a vital touchpoint in the patient health journey, retail pharmacies play an increasingly prominent role in headache management. This time, Pfizer further collaborates with Guoda Pharmacy, combining its expertise in disease management with Guoda’s community retail network advantages, exploring the creation of a headache category zone at retail outlets, transforming the full-chain management concept into tangible in-store service scenarios.

The zone aims to shift headache management from “neglected pain” to “recognizable, treatable, and manageable,” helping patients receive more timely, standardized, and sustainable treatment. It also serves as a demonstration and experience-sharing platform for enhancing the professional service capabilities of retail pharmacies in chronic disease management.

As a key outcome of this partnership, the headache category zone systematically integrates headache-related knowledge, symptom recognition, and standardized treatment information around the core category of headache. It combines drug displays with disease education areas, systematically presenting relevant knowledge, key symptom identification, and treatment guidelines to help patients use medications scientifically and focus on long-term management. Additionally, leveraging Guoda’s daily follow-up, science popularization activities, and medication guidance services, a closed-loop service system covering “awareness—treatment—follow-up” is gradually being built. This innovative model offers patients a clearer, more convenient, and systematic health service experience and provides a replicable example for exploring new pathways in headache and chronic disease management at the retail level.

Systematic Presentation of Headache-Related Knowledge, Symptom Recognition, and Treatment Guidelines in the Headache Category Zone

Advancing Innovation in Headache Management Practices

The collaborative creation of the headache category zone is expected to be gradually promoted within Guoda’s retail network in the region. In Shanghai, multiple stores under Guoda, including brands like Fumei and Yanghetang, will support the model’s expansion; nationwide, Guoda has established over 10,000 stores since its founding in 2004, providing a solid foundation for broader implementation.

It is reported that this partnership will further enhance store professional service capabilities, offering more patients a systematic and standardized service experience, and serve as a reference model for nationwide headache management. The collaboration not only aims to improve medication accessibility and service quality for patients but also promotes continuous upgrades in retail professional services in the field of headache and chronic disease management.

New Practices in Headache Management,

Supporting a Healthy Future

The launch of the headache category zone marks an active exploration of retail participation in headache management. Through systematic service practices, patients can receive timely guidance during attacks and long-term management and follow-up support, completing the entire disease recognition, standardized treatment, and ongoing management cycle. This innovative model helps improve treatment compliance and medication experience for patients and supports the overall health improvement of residents, further embodying the development principle of “people-centered health.”

Looking ahead, this model is expected to be replicated and promoted in more Guoda stores, helping to build China’s headache management system, achieve dual improvements in disease management quality and patient experience, and provide a sustainable, professional demonstration pathway for retail chronic disease management and public health.