The Guangdong-Macao Medical Institution Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Preparation Center was inaugurated at TCM Science & Technology Industrial Park of Cooperation between Guangdong & Macao in Hengqin on Dec 17.

The first cross-border TCM cooperation between domestic medical institutions, the facility scouts, collects, sorts out, and selects pre-compounded prescriptions for Zhuhai Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese & Western Medicine (Zhuhai Second People's Hospital in Xiawan, Gongbei) and other medical institutions in its consortium.

The TCM park and its wholly owned subsidiary, Guangdong-Macao Pharmaceutical, oversee the technological development, production, and quality control of prescriptions processed by the preparation center.

The park's technological R&D is based on high-precision equipment and experienced R&D staff, while the company's production workshops have earned Chinese and European Union Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) certifications. On offer is professional public service with China's most complete facilities in TCM product extracts, and small- and pilot-scale production.

High-precision equipment [Photo by Zhao Zi / Zhuhai Daily]

Every year, the Zhuhai Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese & Western Medicine provides medical treatment and healthcare service for 1 million Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, and Macao patients, resulting in 97 pre-compounded prescriptions that are clinically proven safe and efficient. At present, the hospital has selected eight prescriptions for trial production.

The previous small-scale production of preparations now steps toward to professionalized, large-scale, and high-level production that can be sold to medical markets throughout the province, noted Liu Zhilong, president of the hospital.

Meanwhile, it allows the hospital to focus on academia and medical treatment, and pharmaceutical enterprise to obtain product feedback, according to an executive of the TCM park.

Elsewhere in Hengqin Creative Valley, Hengqin branches of the State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicines established by University of Macau (UM) and Macau University of Science & Technology (MUST), State Key Laboratory of Analog & Mixed-Signal VLSI and State Key Laboratory of Internet of Things for Smart City of UM, and State Key Laboratory of Lunar & Planetary Sciences of MUST were established the same day.

They are committed to the technological innovation and market transformation of lab research results and advancement of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Macao Science & Technology Innovation Corridor. They also constitute an international sci-tech innovation center in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

Meanwhile, the plaque for the Macao sub-center of the Hengqin Advanced Intelligent Computing Center was also unveiled in the valley to realize cross-border fiber optic interconnection and resource sharing. It will provide intelligent computing services for Macao's scientific research.