Future Envisioned by Docshiru
– GEKKA WORKS' Efforts to Create a World in Which Everyone Can Receive the Optimum Healthcare –

Under the philosophy of creating a world where everyone can receive the optimum healthcare, GEKKA WORKS Co., Ltd. was established as an in-house venture of Alfresa Holdings Corporation in July 2022 and is presided by Shigeki Ohashi, Director, Vice President and Executive Officer of Alfresa. Believing that better connection and deeper partnership between doctors will help provide optimum healthcare to patients and solve regional disparities in medical care, GEKKA WORKS develops and operates the communication service for doctors, Docshiru^*1, to help doctors find necessary information and expand their network of people. At GEKKA WORKS, which welcomed its third year in July 2025, we interviewed Takaya Tabata, Director and Vice President who leads overall supervision and development of Docshiru, and Masaaki Kuwana, Head of Sales and Planning who supervises sales and makes coordination with Alfresa Group, regarding Docshiru, which has been updated with the new Open Community function.

*1 Reference: Docshiru | Communication service dedicated to doctors to help diagnosis, operational efficiency, and networking

Born from Earnest Voices of Doctors

Tabata, who has worked as MS^*2 and administrator at Alfresa Corporation for 21 years and visited medical institutions across Japan, repeatedly heard doctors say in earnest that they wanted to refer patients to specialists but did not know details of the specialties, or that they wanted to cooperate with other medical institutions to develop a regional medical care system but cooperation did not work well. Tabata began to think that the situation must change for cooperation in regional medical care to advance, and whether a digital tool can solve it. He therefore decided to establish an in-house venture, which led to the birth of Docshiru that connects doctors.

Docshiru allows users to search doctors and medical institutions, exchange business cards, message each other, receive nationwide notifications, and build open communities, among other functions. For example, doctors can share timely information with each other in case of outbreaks of infectious diseases to provide more effective care to patients, or search the field of expertise of other registered doctors to find and connect with the best one to refer or refer back patients to. Such networking function enables smoother treatment of patients and better cooperation on the sites of medical care, and also contributes to improving operational efficiency of doctors.

*2 MS (Marketing Specialist): Sales personnel who have special knowledge about products and services in the pharmaceuticals wholesaling business

To Support Medical Care in Case of Disasters

Docshiru, which welcomed its third year this year, has been evolving with numerous updates in response to feedback of doctors, its main users.
To figure out how Docshiru can contribute when more people than usual require medical care in case of disasters such as earthquakes, tsunami, and heavy rain, GEKKA WORKS conducted a survey targeting about 250 doctors working in clinics, regarding their disaster preparedness, as well as the actual conditions of medical care system during disasters including related challenges, and published the result in June 2025.
Regarding the disaster medical care system, the survey revealed that, while tangible preparation such as stockpiling and emergency power sources is advancing, intangible measures such as development of internal communication networks, disaster response manuals for staff, and business continuity plans (BCP) are left to be desired. About 30% of the respondents said that they had no particular source of information regarding disaster prevention and disasters, which suggests that Docshiru can contribute to improving access to necessary information.

Preparation Against Disasters Is "Not Urgent but Important"

Kuwana, who conducted and summarized the survey, analyzes, "The survey revealed that doctors recognize the need to prepare against disasters, and they need to secure means of sharing disaster-related information." Kuwana, who began his career as programmer, worked in healthcare for over 15 years and also interacted with doctors as MR^*3, witnessing the strenuous work condition of doctors on site. "It may be difficult to prepare against disasters while working under such tight schedule," he says.
Based on the survey result, Tabata says, "It may not be urgent, but it is extremely important to prepare against disasters, besides sharing information at the time of disasters. We hope Docshiru will come in handy for doctors to do that."

*3 MR (Medical Representative): Person in charge of pharmaceutical information at a pharmaceutical company who provides, collects, and communicates information on pharmaceutical products to doctors and pharmacists

Providing Open Community as Place of Preparation Against Disasters

In response to such challenges, Docshiru has been updated with the Open Community function. Among several communities for different diseases and other themes, the Disaster Medical Care and Disaster Prevention Forum is set as one of main communities to allow users to freely share opinions on issues of disaster medical care, as well as necessary actions and preparations. The traditional private community implemented in Docshiru is normally on an invitation basis, but the Open Community is available to all Docshiru members. "We also have communities dedicated to doctors or MS, as well as the dementia-themed Dementia Cooperation Platform. We will continue to expand communities with themes relating to challenges faced by doctors. To gather wisdom from various fields, we also welcome pharma and theme-related companies and organizations to join the Open Community. We hope to connect people on Docshiru so that they can get optimal solutions based on practical knowledge of such participants," Tabata says.

Importance of Imagining On-site Disaster Medical Care

"In a disaster medical care setting, even internal medicine doctors who usually treat chronic diseases may need to deal with patients who require surgical treatment. But normally, these internal medicine doctors should continue to treat chronic diseases which they specialize in. DMAT^*4 dispatched in case of disasters plays the commander role by conducting recovery works, organizing the environment, coordinating beds with core hospitals, and collecting information, to help on-site doctors focus on providing care in their specialized fields. However, I hear that such division of roles is not understood sufficiently in some cases. By understanding the division of roles before disasters, doctors can make mental preparation and work functionally during disasters. We will create content that helps doctors imagine the situation of their local area and clinics in case of disasters and reflect on what's lacking in their preparation, and provide it in Docshiru's Open Community. After opening the Disaster Medical Care and Disaster Prevention Forum, we were surprised by the huge response it received, including participation of dozens of emergency doctors whom MR and MS usually have little chance to interact with," Tabata says.

*4 DMAT (Disaster Medical Assistance Team): Medical team of doctors, nurses, and operational coordinators (medical professionals other than doctors and nurses, and administrative staff) who received specialized training, with mobility to be active in the acute stage (roughly within 48 hours) of large-scale disasters and mass-casualty accidents.

Philosophy that Supports Evolution of Docshiru

Kuwana says, "As I interacted a lot with doctors as MR in the past, I learned in depth that lifestyle-related diseases cause cardiovascular diseases and serious complications, and I became strongly aware of the importance of preventing such aggravation." Such experience inspired him a strong will to support people's health extensively, which resonated deeply with Alfresa Group's philosophy of creating and delivering a fresh life for all. This led him to join GEKKA WORKS, and remains the driving force behind Docshiru today. Based on his experience in developing an app for treatment of high blood pressure, Kuwana emphasizes, "Introduction of digital technology alone does not move people. It is indispensable to combine digital and real, upon understanding the real situation including the insight of MS who are familiar with sites of medical care, as well as behaviors of doctors who use Docshiru." Docshiru will continue to evolve daily to "create a world where everyone can receive the optimum healthcare" which GEKKA WORKS aims for based on Alfresa Group's philosophy.

What We Can Do to Contribute to Sustainable Regional Medical Care as Pharmaceutical Wholesaler

Tabata clearly defines that the role of a pharmaceutical wholesaler is to create an environment where medical institutions can provide appropriate medical care to patients. "Only those working at medical institutions can examine and treat patients, and we, pharmaceutical wholesalers, do not directly interact with patients. However, we take pride in supporting an environment where medical care workers can provide appropriate care any time. The keyword of our pharmaceutical wholesale work is to 'connect.' Our Group's MS have opportunities to meet and talk directly with many doctors. Only we, pharmaceutical wholesalers, can work to connect doctors, using this strength of face-to-face interaction with doctors. By combining offline activities of MS and the complementary digital tool Docshiru, we will tackle and solve potential issues of regional medical care and contribute to realizing sustainable regional medical care," says Tabata, sharing his strong vision for the future.

Notice: This document is a translation of the original Japanese document and is for reference purposes only. In the event of any discrepancy between this translated document and the original Japanese document, the latter shall prevail.