Ping An Good Doctor, China’s one-stop healthcare ecosystem platform announced it has signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Tsumura China Inc. to strengthen the Chinese medicine supply chain via the "Internet Healthcare + Pharmacies" service model.

Tsumura is a manufacturer of Kampo medicines in Japan and predominately engages in the standardized planting of high-quality Chinese herbal medicines and production of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) decoction pieces, alongside general health products. Kampo is a form of Japanese traditional medicine with unique theories and therapeutic methods originally based on TCM.

The parties will cooperate closely in the new retail aspect of the TCM sector, as well as promote the "Healthy China 2030" initiative together.

WHAT’S IT ABOUT

In the area of Chinese medicine services, the two companies will build an online and offline operation model. For the online operation, a team of in-house doctors from the TCM division of the internet hospitals operated by PAGD, along with the TCM masters shared with Tsumura, will provide virtual consultations and TCM prescriptions, Tsumura's decoction pieces and medicine services will then be safely and timely delivered to the patients.

For the offline operation, the consultation process will be carried out by the Pharmacy Cloud of PAGD, with consumers able to enjoy at pharmacies virtual consultation services by online doctors, as well as diagnosis and treatment plans based on TCM products by Tsumura, after scanning a QR code.

31 provincial administration regions, 390 cities and more than 1,500 chain pharmacies and 111,000 offline pharmacies in China are covered by the Ping An Good Doctor Pharmacy Cloud service, and Tsumura's decoction pieces will be promoted in cooperation with this distribution network.

On top of the existing cooperation agreement, both companies will also explore IT technologies and innovative healthcare service models that can benefit patients and industrial development, thus facilitating the development of new retail opportunities for TCM products in China.

THE LARGER TREND

In December 2019, Ping An Good Doctor signed an agreement with Merck to explore integrated health solutions in China, MobiHealthNews reported. During the same period, Ping An Good Doctor also launched a video consultation service with Thailand’s largest private medical group, Bangkok Dusit Medical Services (BDMS).