Internationalization Of Traditional Chinese Medicine

How many hurdles will Chinese medicine products have to pass overseas?

In Southeast Asia, most Chinese herbal medicines are imported from China, and some proprietary Chinese medicines have been included in the medical insurance catalog; in the United States, acupuncture is expected to be included in federal medical insurance as a non-drug pain therapy... With the continuous advancement of the "Belt and Road" construction, traditional Chinese medicine The pace of "going out" has been accelerating, and the "international style" has become more and more abundant.

Although the prospects are promising, it is not easy thing for traditional Chinese medicine to take root overseas. The Nanfang Daily "Qihuang Haizong - Global In-depth Research on Traditional Chinese Medicine Culture" team found through in-depth visits to many countries in North America and Southeast Asia that traditional Chinese medicine products and services lack quality control and unified standards; Insufficient investment in R&D and innovation, and market competitiveness needs to be further improved... These are the hurdles that Chinese medicine needs to overcome when it comes to overseas markets.

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How to ensure the quality of traditional Chinese medicine?

Develop a unified quality management system

Ensure the quality of traditional Chinese medicine from the source

In Vietnam, a neighboring country connected to my country by mountains and rivers, because the living habits and cultural traditions of the two peoples are similar, there is not much controversy over the "legal status" of traditional Chinese medicine in Vietnam. In recent years, with the development of Vietnam's economy, the trade of traditional Chinese medicine between China and Vietnam has increased year by year, and the quality of traditional Chinese medicine products has gradually emerged, which has become a major obstacle to the further development of traditional Chinese medicine in Vietnam.

"At present, Vietnam imports about 100,000 tons of Chinese herbal medicines from China every year, but only about 10% are actually imported according to Chinese herbal medicines, and most of the rest are imported as agricultural and sideline products through the Sino-Vietnamese border trade." Lv Jiang, secretary-general of the Vietnam-China Chamber of Commerce, said that traditional Chinese medicine Chinese medicinal materials are imported as agricultural and sideline products, and it is not easy to achieve effective supervision of quality and market, which may affect the quality and efficacy of traditional Chinese medicinal materials, thus causing people to have some negative views on traditional Chinese medicine.

In some Southeast Asian countries where Chinese medicine has a good public base, due to factors such as the difficulty in controlling the quality of Chinese herbal medicines, the tightening of local government supervision, and the inconvenience of traditional Chinese herbal medicines, the local Chinese herbal medicine market even shrinks. For example, in some Chinese medicine clinics and pharmacies in Malaysia and Thailand, it is common to use "scientific Chinese medicine" imported from Taiwan and other places, that is, to replace traditional Chinese medicinal materials with processed Chinese medicinal material granules. attention and attention.

In the United States on the other side of the Pacific Ocean, although the "identity" of traditional Chinese medicine is embarrassing, the status of traditional Chinese medicine and the amount of Chinese herbal medicines have been rising in recent years. With the sharp increase in imports, the quality problems of Chinese herbal medicines also follow. According to Liu Yuankai, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Traditional Chinese Medicine, in the past, there were few ports in China with import and export rights for Chinese herbal medicines, and the quality of herbal medicines was relatively guaranteed. Now, there are more than 10,000 companies in Shenzhen alone that have the right to export Chinese medicinal materials.

In fact, in China, the quality of traditional Chinese medicine has been paid more and more attention by people in the industry in recent years. Some experts said that if the quality management of traditional Chinese medicine products is not solved, it will affect the reputation of traditional Chinese medicine and shake the foundation of the existence and development of traditional Chinese medicine.

During the interview, a number of people in the TCM community at home and abroad suggested that China should join hands with countries and regions along the “Belt and Road” and more countries where TCM has been implemented in the standardization, standardization, internationalization of TCM and quality control of TCM materials. Strengthen exchanges and cooperation, formulate a quality control system for Chinese herbal medicines recognized by all countries, strengthen management and monitoring from planting, breeding, collection, storage, production, processing and other links to ensure the quality of Chinese herbal medicines from the source. In addition, the management of the import and export of Chinese medicinal materials should be strengthened, especially the border trade management.

Is Traditional Chinese Medicine a Medicine or a Food Supplement?

"Bao Tuan" Development Promotes Legislation

Clarify the legal status of traditional Chinese medicine

Traditional Chinese medicine has always had a "legal status" dispute overseas, especially in developed countries such as Europe and the United States. It is faced with the embarrassing situation that it cannot be successfully registered as a drug, and it is not willing to be used as a common food, which greatly hampers the use of traditional Chinese medicine in these countries. Landing and development.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (hereinafter referred to as "FDA") has two categories of supervision over traditional Chinese medicine products: the first category, if the traditional Chinese medicine is a natural botanical medicine, it can be treated as a "drug". However, it is not easy to become a "drug" through the approval process. So far, no traditional Chinese medicine or proprietary Chinese medicine has been successfully registered and marketed in the FDA. In the second category, most traditional Chinese medicines and herbal medicines are listed as food supplements, which are equivalent to health care products. Such traditional Chinese medicine shall not contain any harmful ingredients, and shall not have the function of treating and preventing diseases stated on the label.

In some Southeast Asian countries without "identity barriers", registration with the relevant local authorities is also a "stepping stone" for traditional Chinese medicine products to enter the local market.

Without legal status, no matter how big the brand, how high the quality, and how good the efficacy of Chinese medicine products that land overseas, they cannot truly enter the local mainstream society. Song Yuzong, head of Guangzhou Jianqiao Pharmaceutical Technology Co., Ltd., who has been engaged in Sino-Vietnamese traditional Chinese medicine trade for more than 20 years, told reporters: "At present, there are nearly 200 best-selling Chinese patent medicines sold in the Vietnamese market, but a considerable number of them do not enter the Vietnamese market through formal channels. Yes. Once these products are found, they will be treated as counterfeit and shoddy products.”

The reporter's investigation found that at present, associations such as chambers of commerce, associations, and societies related to traditional Chinese medicine in various countries are uniting and jointly promoting the local government to legislate for traditional Chinese medicine in conjunction with traditional Chinese medicine enterprises, so as to protect the legal status and rights of traditional Chinese medicine. For example, on June 30, 2000, the Ministry of Health of Thailand promulgated the "Regulations on Approving the Use of Traditional Chinese Medicine Methods to Treat Diseases", making Thailand the first country in the world to legislate on traditional Chinese medicine except China. There are legal guarantees.

In addition, Liu Yuankai, president of the American Chamber of Commerce of Traditional Chinese Medicine, said in an interview with a reporter from Nanfang Daily that he has always hoped to seek a legal status for traditional Chinese medicine between food and medicine. management work".

How to maintain influence and competitiveness?

Establish a collaborative, efficient, and open

Traditional Chinese Medicine Science and Technology Innovation System

In recent years, while Chinese medicine "goes out" with the help of the "Belt and Road" platform, it also faces challenges such as the rise of local traditional medicine in countries along the "Belt and Road".

Wu Qingshun, director of the Traditional and Complementary Medicine Bureau of the Ministry of Health of Malaysia, introduced that the Malaysian Parliament passed the "Traditional and Complementary Medicine Act" in 2016. The Act applies to all kinds of traditional and complementary medicines, not just for traditional Chinese medicine. demands and balance the interests of all parties.

Thailand is the only country in the world where the three medical systems of Western medicine, Thai medicine and Chinese medicine coexist legally. According to Lin Dangan, member of the Executive Management Committee of Traditional Chinese Medicine of the Ministry of Health of Thailand and President of the Thai Traditional Chinese Medicine Physician Association, there are many similarities between traditional Chinese medicine and Thai medicine. Many traditional Chinese medicine practitioners in Thailand will use Thai medicine in combination in clinical practice. It is not only a manifestation of the localization of TCM in Thailand, but also a challenge to TCM.

Asian countries such as Japan and South Korea have always attached great importance to the development and innovation of traditional medicine. For example, Kampo medicine in Japan and Korean medicine in South Korea have surpassed traditional Chinese medicine in some aspects. part of the market. Zhang Zhongde, a famous traditional Chinese medicine practitioner in Guangdong Province and the vice president of Guangdong Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital, said in an interview with a reporter from Nanfang Daily: "Nowadays, the Kampo medicines such as Poria Soup, Guizhi Soup, Jiuxin Pills, etc. that Chinese people buy from their trips to Japan all come from us. Ancestor's recipe."

Faced with the challenges of traditional medicine in various countries and the constraints of policies and regulations, in order to "go global" and land overseas, Chinese medicine needs to be supported by more scientific research achievements and innovation capabilities in addition to its curative effect. According to Huang Baoguo, president of the Malaysian Federation of Traditional Chinese Medicine Physicians and Acupuncturists, Chinese medicine cannot rely on its own capital. In addition, "going out" Chinese medicine can also take advantage of domestic scientific research and talent advantages to increase investment in research and development, so that traditional Chinese medicine can continue to innovate on the basis of inheritance, and launch more and better new results and new products.

If traditional Chinese medicine wants to "open new flowers from old trees", the only way out is to innovate, so that the art of Qihuang will continue to flourish. In 2017, the Ministry of Science and Technology and the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine jointly issued the "Thirteenth Five-Year Plan" Special Plan for Scientific and Technological Innovation of Traditional Chinese Medicine, which pointed out the direction for accelerating the modernization and international development of traditional Chinese medicine. The plan proposes that by 2020, a more coordinated, efficient and open TCM scientific and technological innovation system will be established, and a research model and technology system that is more in line with the inheritance and innovation characteristics of traditional Chinese medicine will be constructed, and the technological innovation capability of traditional Chinese medicine will be significantly enhanced.

Li Chuyuan, Chairman of GPHL:

Make traditional Chinese medicine more "popular"

I believe that China's standard should be the world's standard in the formulation of Chinese medicine standards. As Deng Tietao, a master of traditional Chinese medicine, said, the problem of integrating Chinese medicine with the world should be that the world should integrate with traditional Chinese medicine, rather than blindly transforming traditional Chinese medicine with theories and standards of western medicine.

On many occasions in China, I advocate the formulation of the "Orange Book of Traditional Chinese Medicine" and the establishment of a Chinese medicine review and approval mechanism that conforms to the characteristics of traditional Chinese medicine. In recent years, the number of new Chinese medicines that have been reviewed is not optimistic. Both the speed of approval and the number of approvals are significantly lower than those of new chemical drugs. Without new Chinese medicines, there is no future, and it is difficult for the Chinese medicine industry to develop well.

In addition, we believe that in order to promote the great development of the traditional Chinese medicine industry, we must be fashion-forward, adhere to the principle of serving the past for the present, keep the truth and open up the new, and make traditional Chinese medicine more "popular", so as to more effectively promote the integration of the excellent traditional culture and products of traditional Chinese medicine. The production and life of ordinary people.

Zhang Zhongde, Vice President of Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine:

Keeping the profession but not the inheritance will hinder the overseas development of TCM

What is the biggest drawback of traditional Chinese medicine? If you don't pass it on and just keep it, then the generation will be inferior to the next.

How can overseas Chinese medicine be inherited and developed locally? It is necessary to have charitable organizations, enterprises, governments, etc., to help sort out the representative Chinese medicine characters and characteristic therapies of Chinese medicine in various countries and regions, and help them sort out the good things. Many second and third generations of overseas Chinese have no longer engaged in the traditional Chinese medicine business of their ancestors. To pass it on, we need domestic support to help overseas Chinese medicine practitioners form a system and re-develop, so as to achieve a better landing.

For example, the Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine has spent a lot of manpower and material resources in the past ten years to excavate more than 300 characteristic treatments from domestic folk, which is a good demonstration.

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