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Science Meets Tradition And Identifies Herbal Treatment for Jaundice
Provided by World Health Organization. Bulletin of the World Health Organization on 3/22/2004
by Crabb, Charlene
Back to Healthy News
Originally Published:20040201.
Researchers at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, have shed light on how a Chinese herbal tea used for centuries to treat neonatal jaundice works (Journal of Clinical Investigation 2004;113:23-5). The finding could lead to new drugs for the ailment in infants as well as adults.
Characterized by yellow-tinged skin and eyes, jaundice is the build-up of bilirubin, a yellow-red pigment formed and released into the bloodstream during the natural breakdown of red blood cells in the liver. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, more than half of all infants in the US develop the condition during their first week of life, most often because they have immature livers and a surplus of red blood cells.
The condition is typically remedied by exposing a baby to sunshine for a few minutes a day or, in severe cases, lamps that emit specific wavelengths of light. In China, however, babies are given Yin Zhi Huang, a tea made from Yin Chin (Artemisia capillaris), a relative of wormwood, and three other herbs. "Interestingly," says David Moore, who led the current study, "wormwood is also used in Western traditional medicine for treating liver problems."
Moore and colleagues decided to explore Yin Zhi Huang as a follow-up to earlier work in which they showed that a protein found in liver cells, constitutive androstane receptor (CAR), was activated by bilirubin and regulated its removal. Knowing that wormwood tea also boosted bilirubin clearance, the researchers guessed that an active ingredient in the herbal brew might also "switch on" the protein.
Their hunch proved correct. Yin Zhi Huang and a tea steeped from Yin Chin alone speeded bilirubin removal in normal mice, but not in mice genetically engineered to lack CAR. Furthermore, the researchers found that 6,7-dimethylesculetin, a component of both Yin Zhi Huang and Yin Chin acts on CAR and accelerates bilirubin clearance.
The discovery that the compound activates CAR may lead to new drugs that prevent or treat jaundice by specifically targeting the receptor protein. However, such pharmaceuticals will not necessarily be based on 6,7-dimethylesculetin. "It's not the world's greatest CAR activator," says Moore.
Moore suspects that CAR and its relatives in the nuclear receptor super-family are the targets of active agents in many natural products and herbal medicines, which are biologically active but whose mechanisms are unknown.
However, studies that look to herbal remedies for clues to modern pharmaceuticals are rare. "Despite the fact that years ago all medicines came from plants and natural products, there has been a dramatic change over the last 100 years in the way we discover new medicines," says Moore. "I'd say the dominant theme these days is definitely not searching natural products."
While herbal remedies provide a medley of compounds thought to restore a holistic "balance" to the body, Western pharmaceutical products are increasingly based on purified molecules that act on specific biological targets. In addition, "purified compounds extracted from herbal remedies have a 90% failure rate in clinical trials," says Xiaorui Zhang, Coordinator of WHO's Traditional Medicine programme. "The synergistic effect between the different chemicals in a plant or plants has to be taken into consideration."
However, WHO actively encourages research on the traditional use of herbal medicines, especially those that alleviate symptoms of diseases, such as malaria and AIDS. It has also developed guidelines for the clinical testing of traditional therapies and sponsors several centres worldwide that are compiling a database, in English, of information on natural medicines.
None the less, with the annual global market for herbal remedies estimated to be around US$ 23 billion and growing, many scientists think studies like those conducted at the Baylor laboratory help bridge the gap between traditional and Western-style medicine. "For mechanism-based scientists and physicians ... it is both satisfying and reassuring when a single component of a herbal remedy turns out to function via a defined mechanism," notes Mitchell Lazar of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in a commentary that accompanied Moore's report. "This is a wonderful example of knowledge gained by applying the Western scientific method to an Eastern herbal remedy."
(C) 2004 World Health Organization. Bulletin of the World Health Organization. via ProQuest Information and Learning Company; All Rights Reserved
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Chinese herbal medicine credited with successful lung cancer treatment
Provided by NewsRx.com on 4/8/2004
A regimen of Chinese medicinal herbs has been credited with the successful treatment of a lung cancer patient.
According to published research from Australia, a "51-year-old woman diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the lung (T2N2M0) by cytological tests and a CT scan has survived for 8 years."
"During this period of time, she had been treated with Chinese herbal medicine alone for 4 years," reported H.L.M. Liang and coauthors at RMIT University in Bundoora. "The herbal prescription consisted of nine Chinese medicinal herbs. These herbs have been reported to possess antitumor and immune-enhancing effects."
"Therefore, it is suggested that the herbal treatment for this patient might have contributed to the complete regression of her lung carcinoma," the investigators concluded. "Further research on the actions of these herbs is warranted."
Liang and colleagues published their findings in Lung Cancer (Regression of squamous cell carcinoma of the lung by Chinese herbal medicine: a case with an 8-year follow-up. Lung Cancer-j Iaslc, 2004;43(3):355-360).
Additional information can be obtained by contacting C.C.L. Xue, RMIT University, RMIT Chinese Medicine Research Group, Bundoora West Campus, P.O. Box 71, Bundoora, Vic 3083, Australia.
The publisher of the journal Lung Cancer can be contacted at: Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd., Customer Relations Manager, Bay 15, Shannon Industrial Estate, Co, Clare, Ireland.
The information in this article comes under the major subject areas of Biotechnology, Complementary & Alternative Medicine, Immunology, Oncology, Pharmaceutical & Drug Development and Pulmonary Medicine. This article was prepared by Cancer Weekly editors from staff and other reports. Copyright 2004, Cancer Weekly via NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net.
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Fungus May Boost the Old, Out-Of-Shape - Conference
Mon Apr 19, 5:29 PM ET Add Health - Reuters to My Yahoo!
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Supplements made from a Chinese fungus may help older and out-of-shape people feel a bit more energized, corporate researchers said on Monday.
They said people who took the supplements increased their ability to use oxygen as they exercised -- one way doctors measure fitness -- and were able to walk a mile slightly more quickly than those who took a placebo.
Jia-Shi Zhu and Dr. James Rippe of Pharmanex LLC and the Rippe Lifestyle Institute in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, said their tests on 131 sedentary people aged 40 to 70 showed modest but clear effects.
After 12 weeks of taking Pharmanex's branded supplement, called Cordymax, peak oxygen consumption rose 5.5 percent when middle-aged people who had been sedentary used a treadmill or exercise bike, Zhu said. It rose 2.2 percent in the group that took dummy pills.
The supplement-takers also were able to walk a mile 29 seconds more quickly and the placebo group took 19 seconds longer, on average, after the three months.
This suggests the product can help people get fitter, Zhu told a meeting of the American Physiological Society, part of a larger conference called Experimental Biology 2004.
Other studies have also shown the product can help regulate fat and sugar metabolism, he said.
But it does little for people in peak physical shape. "If you have normal glucose levels, you don't see any difference after taking this product," Zhu said in an interview.
The fungus, scientifically known as Cordyceps sinensis, is used in traditional Chinese medicine as an aphrodisiac and anti-aging agent. Some Chinese athletes use it in a bid to boost performance.
Zhu said the fungus infects a burrowing caterpillar, eating the creature until it dies. In the spring, a grasslike fungus sprouts from the underground corpse.
Zhu said he does not know what the active ingredient in the fungus is. He is also unsure just how it boosts performance, although he speculated it may affect adenosine triphosphate, or ATP, the power source of cells.
In the study of 131 people, Zhu said those allergic to mushrooms experienced a mild rash, and others found the large capsules uncomfortable to swallow, but otherwise side-effects were minimal.
Pharmanex is a subsidiary of Nu Skin Enterprises.
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China turns to traditional medicine to treat AIDS
Mon May 3,11:37 PM ET Add Health - AFP to My Yahoo!
BEIJING, (AFP) - The Chinese province worst-hit by HIV (news - web sites)/AIDS (news - web sites) is turning to traditional Chinese medicine because Western-style drugs proved to have too many side-effects and were too expensive, state media reports.
Central Henan province, which has at least 35,000 HIV/AIDS patients, will kick off a campaign next month to promote traditional medicines as a way to fight the disease, the China Daily said.
Efforts will be targeted mainly at the area's vast countryside, where most of Henan's HIV/AIDS carriers live.
The decision to use traditional medicine comes 10 months after China launched a program to provide free anti-retroviral drugs to thousands of AIDS-stricken farmers.
Health officials have since admitted the drugs are old, less effective versions, and around 20 percent of patients have stopped taking them because of severe side-effects.
Newer drugs are too expensive.
While patent expiration for major AIDS-treatment medicines has lowered the annual treatment costs for an AIDS patient in China to less than 20,000 yuan (2,415 dollars), it is still far beyond the means of the average Chinese.
The report said the new scheme would be launched at selected hospitals in the province. Teams will also be established to explore the potential of treating AIDS and HIV with traditional Chinese medicines.
Lin Ruichao, director of the Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine at the Beijing-based National Institute for the Control of Pharmaceuticals and Biological Products, was cited as saying there was "great potential" for traditional Chinese medicines to help treat HIV/AIDS.
So far though only one traditional medicine -- Tangcaopian -- has won a State Food and Drug Administration (news - web sites) licence to be used to treat the disease.
Most of Henan's HIV/AIDS patients were infected through blood transfusions at illegal blood donor stations.
While the government says 35,000 people are infected in Henan, experts estimate at least one million farmers in the province alone contracted HIV/AIDS in the blood trade.
Fresh Air Blows Cold Germs Away
Tue Jun 8, 4:01 PM ET Add Health - Reuters to My Yahoo!
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The more outdoor air is pumped into office ventilation systems, the lower the inside levels of viruses that cause the common cold -- according to a new report.
Few studies have considered the possible link between the ventilation of buildings and respiratory illness in their occupants, note the authors of the study in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
Dr. Donald K. Milton from Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, Massachusetts, and colleagues sampled the workday air from three office buildings and used molecular techniques to detect and identify rhinoviruses in air samples and in nasal mucus from building occupants.
The concentration of carbon dioxide in the air was used as a measure of exhaled breath and the supply rate of outdoor air.
There was a significant relationship between the detection of airborne rhinoviruses and the amount of stale indoor air, the investigators report.
Also, one rhinovirus present in a nasal mucus sample from an occupant with a cold proved to be identical to a rhinovirus collected on an air filter from the same building during the occupant's illness, the team notes.
"These data suggest that lower ventilation rates and resulting increased carbon dioxide concentrations are associated with increased risk of exposure to potentially infectious droplets," Milton's team concludes.
"Although this study does not provide definitive proof that rhinovirus is transmitted through the aerosol route and is modulated by outdoor air supply rates," they add, "it does provide support for this hypothesis."
"The findings...of increasing virus detection with rising carbon dioxide concentration indicates one possibility for reducing transmission -- increasing exchange of indoor with outdoor air," writes Dr. Jonathan M. Samet from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland in a related editorial.
Samet agrees with Milton's group that other environments, "particularly schools" should be investigated in the same way.
SOURCE: American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, June 1, 2004.
Common practice among Chinese households to open windows, especially during the winter, to bring in fresh air. They also boil vinegar to kill germs in the air. Next study? Maybe?
Cancer Team Studies Chinese Medicine
Americans, Chinese Establish International Center
Western medical professionals, as a whole, have been slow to embrace the practices of traditional Chinese medicine. A new international scientific partnership, however, could now mark a significant step toward greater acceptance of Eastern medical care.
The venture involves researchers at M. D. Anderson and the Cancer Hospital, Fudan University (CHFU) in Shanghai, China. A $263,000 grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) will establish the International Center of Traditional Chinese Medicine for Cancer, which will investigate the benefits of some traditional Chinese medicine for cancer patients.
During the two-year pilot study, funded by the NCI’s Office of Cancer Complementary and Alternative Medicine, the center will investigate three aspects of traditional Chinese medicine:
Herbal and natural treatments that target the disease and cancer- and treatment-related symptoms
Acupuncture for dealing with some side effects of cancer treatment
Bio-behavioral effects of qigong and other mind/body-based interventions
Global milestone
This is the first NCI grant to support the development of an international partnership to study the use of traditional Chinese medicine for cancer treatment. The multidisciplinary team includes researchers from both institutions.
The scientists come from the following disciplines:
Integrative medicine
Traditional Chinese medicine
Radiation oncology
Anesthesiology
Experimental therapeutics
Cancer biology
Surgery
Palliative care and rehabilitation medicine
Epidemiology
Medical oncology
Behavioral science
As a part of the agreement entered into by M. D. Anderson and CHFU, the institutions will collaborate on a range of clinical, educational and cancer research efforts.
“We recognize that innovation and collaboration are key to success in the fight against cancer,” says M. D. Anderson President John Mendelsohn, M.D. “Traditional Chinese medicine has a remarkable history.
By applying Western scientific methodology, we hope this pilot study will help open the doors to important discoveries that will result in better treatment and quality of life for cancer patients worldwide.”
In addition to collaborating on a study of traditional Chinese medicine, both institutions plan to work together in areas of translational and population research, as well as in increasing the educational exchange among faculty.
“There is much that cancer experts in China and the United States can learn from each other,” says Lorenzo Cohen, Ph.D., chief of the section of integrative medicine at M. D. Anderson and principal investigator on the study. “We hope open communication and a free exchange of scientific ideas will allow Western practitioners to learn about concepts of traditional medicine and expose Chinese practitioners to our approach to clinical research.”
Broadening horizons
Interest in complementary and alternative therapies in the United States has increased dramatically in recent years. Mental exercises like relaxation and meditation, physical activities such as yoga and dance, or the use of herbal supplements and vitamins are more accepted today for maintaining good health. Before beginning any new regimen, cancer patients need to know how these therapies interact with or complement treatment prescribed by their doctors.
“Many patients begin some form of complementary therapy without the consent or knowledge of their doctors,” Cohen says, “but it’s important that a therapy complement, not impede, other treatments that their doctors prescribe. With more research and better information about these therapies, physicians and patients can evaluate these options thoroughly and know with more certainty which options are appropriate for their care.”
In traditional Chinese medicine, practitioners attempt to maintain health by restoring the balance and flow of energy in the body – addressing symptoms as they relate to an imbalance of energy instead of treating a particular disease or medical condition. It is a practice dating back more than 5,000 years. However, many of these therapies have not been clinically tested using Western methods of clinical research.
At the same time, some important chemotherapy agents used in conventional Western medicine have been derived from products used in traditional Chinese medicine. More work needs to be done to investigate and document these agents before researchers can understand the role they may play in fighting and treating cancer.
“We hope to plant a seed that will expand our collaboration on evidence-based research of complementary therapies to treat cancer and cancer-related symptoms,” Cohen says.
For more information on complementary therapies and integrative medicine, visit M. D. Anderson’s Complementary/Integrative Medicine Education Resources website.
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Chinese Herbs Hold Little Benefit for Hepatitis C
Mon Jul 5, 9:52 AM ET Add Health - Reuters to My Yahoo!
By Alison McCook
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A Chinese herbal treatment often used to treat hepatitis in Asia does not appear to reduce liver inflammation or improve quality of life in people with hepatitis C, new research reports.
Moreover, after 3 months of treatment, herb-takers who participated in the study did not show any change in the amount of virus in their bodies.
"Unfortunately, our results suggested that the herbal compound was no different than placebo," study author Dr. Jeffrey H. Albrecht told Reuters Health.
"At this point in time, I am aware of no conclusive data that these herbs provide any meaningful benefit in" hepatitis C, added the researcher, who is based at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.
Albrecht noted that the Chinese herbs may have been ineffective either because they simply do not work, or because he and his colleagues used an incorrect dose or combination of herbal agents.
"I think that the long tradition of herbal treatments for viral hepatitis in China and Japan suggest that there may indeed be useful agents that should be tested," he said.
Hepatitis C is a liver disease caused by infection with the hepatitis C virus (HCV), which is spread through contact in some way with contaminated blood. In many patients, the virus is never completely cleared from the body and, after years of infection, serious liver problems, such as scarring and cancer, can occur.
The recommended treatment for HCV -- interferon injections and orally administered ribavirin - is effective in, at most, 60 percent of patients. It also has potentially severe side effects such as nausea, fatigue, depression and, in some cases, suicidal impulses.
As a result, many HCV patients either fail to clear the virus from their bodies or cannot tolerate the treatment.
In the current study, Albrecht and his team investigated whether 12 weeks of treatment with either a combination of 10 Chinese herbs often used to treat hepatitis in Asia or a placebo drug helped 45 HCV patients.
The researcher explained that even though no research supports the use of Chinese herbs in HCV, the treatment likely remains popular due to "positive publicity" from the alternative health industry, which leads people to believe these treatments work.
Alternative medicine is also largely unregulated, Albrecht noted, which makes it easy for people to obtain treatments without the added step of going through a healthcare provider. And many HCV patients are willing to try whatever treatments they can get their hands on, he noted.
"In the case of HCV, many patients can't be successfully treated with pharmaceuticals, and are willing to try unconventional approaches out of desperation," Albrecht said.
He added that the preparation and dosage of the herbs used in the current study were likely safe, but other herbal treatments have been linked to liver problems.
SOURCE: Archives of Internal Medicine (news - web sites), June 28, 2004.
Study finds Chinese remedy eases SARS patients' ills
Fri Jul 23, 1:00 PM ET
HONG KONG (AFP) - A study has found that a Chinese herbal remedy that includes extract of deer antler can ease the pain of people recovering from SARS (news - web sites), researchers at Hong Kong's Baptist University said.
Tests of the herbal medicine "fufang" on sufferers of the bone-degenerating condition avascular necrosis, one of the complaints of people recovering from Severe Acute Respiratory Syndorome (SARS), found it appeared to have a palliative effect, they said.
"The study showed that the 'fufang' could tonify the kidney, strengthen bone and replenish marrow, thus improving patients daily life by relieving symptoms such as joint pain, lack of vitality, poor quality of sleep and insomnia, aversion to cold, depression and frequent urination," an interim report said.
Some 300 Hong Kong people were killed and around 1,600 more were affected by SARS last year in a worldwide outbreak that claimed almost 800 lives.
The English-language South China Morning Post newspaper said about 190 of the recovered SARS patients suffered from the bone problem, mostly as a result of the treatment they were given.
Fufang is a combination of extracts from "deer velvet" -- the fur found on deer antlers, tuber-onion seed, a Chinese lily and various other compounds. More tests were being carried out, the university said.
TCM holds promise in treating HIV/AIDS
Jia Hepeng
2004-11-23 06:05
When Lai Zuqin, a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) doctor in Southwest China's Yunnan Province, tried in the late 1980s to develop a treatment for a strange syndrome which had a combination of symptoms - coughing, headaches, nausea, diarrhoea and hair-loss - he did not expect to become the inventor of China's first authorized anti-AIDS TCM: the Tang Herbal Tablet.
In the early 1990s, he knew the disease was called AIDS and that AIDS was fatal for all.
But to his astonishment, some of his AIDS patients were able to check the development of their illnesses after taking his medicine.
The discovery led Lai to give up all of his clinical work and focus on researching a new medicine based on his prescription.
He was joined by Qi Jieyuan, a Beijing-based pharmaceutical firm, in the medicine's research and development.
It took Lai and the company 10 years to obtain final approval from the State Food and Drug Administration in April 2004.
Like Lai, when TCM doctor teams of the Chinese Academy of TCM were sent to Tanzania to help treat local diseases in the early 1990s, they also thought of TCM.
The only difference is that Lai and the company developed the TCM into a tablet, while doctors from the Academy insisted on using various prescriptions of herbs.
More choices
"Chinese doctors, with little knowledge about AIDS at that time, found many of its symptoms could be treated with TCM. Later, they developed some effective prescriptions against AIDS," said Wei Jian'an, deputy director of the Centre of HIV/AIDS Treatment under the Academy.
Wei joined a Chinese TCM doctor team in Tanzania between 1999 and 2000, and chaired the research into using TCM when he returned to Beijing.
On October 30, a TCM prescription - CATCM-II - developed by Wei and his colleagues and based on their experience in Tanzania, was ranked as a major scientific innovation by the Ministry of Science and Technology.
Yet CATCM-II and the Tang Herbal Tablet are only a small part of nationwide efforts to treat HIV/AIDS with TCM.
In March, SH - another TCM theories-based herbal medicine invented by Chinese researchers in Kunming, Yunnan Province - was approved by Thai drug authorities as a new drug.
She Jing, vice-minister of health and the director of the State Administration of TCM, said at a news conference last month that another two were undergoing clinical trials.
They are TCM, called Ke'aite, literally "the drug that overcomes AIDS," and Qiankunning, produced by the Chengdu-based Enwei Pharmaceutical Co Ltd.
On October 31, Ke'aite reportedly passed the first stage of the trials and was approved by the Drug Administration to launch clinical trial II.
Director of the research centre at Enwei said Qiankunning was in the third phase of a clinical trial and may get the approval from drug authorities within one or two years.
Major advantages
"All the development illustrates that TCM has great potential to deal with HIV/AIDS," Wei said.
The disease is a new one to human beings as far as studies go, but its symptoms are not.
TCM theories are based on the analysis of the whole human body at the onset of the virus or bacteria attacks from the symptoms. The prescriptions are then developed to improve bodily functions to fight attacks and relieve symptoms.
Jin Lu, executive director of the Hong Kong-listed Golden Meditech Co Ltd, said that 200 AIDS patients were treated with TCM during the three clinical trial stages of the TCM, alongside another 200 in five hospitals in Beijing and Kunming.
Golden Meditech acquired Qi Jieyuan in June this year after the latter obtained new drug licence for its Tang Herbal Tablet.
All of the 200 AIDS patients taking the tablet during this trial are still alive, and most of their clinical symptoms have been reduced or even disappeared.
Ninety per cent of them improved their CD4 - a major index used to evaluate immunology against HIV/AIDS - with 51 per cent of them increasing their CD4 by more than 30 per cent.
Wei says one major advantage of using TCM to treat AIDS is its fewer side-effects, early treatment and lower cost.
The commonly used ****tail therapy - using a combination of different AIDS drugs and antibiotics - can control HIV and prolong life for AIDS sufferers.
But doctors say the therapy also has strong side-effects such as anorexia, insomnia and hair-loss.
"In certain cases, some AIDS patients give up the treatments because of these strong side-effects," Jin said.
The ****tail therapy has very strict standards on when to start treatment. If it is too early, the virus might develop strong drug-resistance.
It is often difficult for AIDS patients to know when they contracted the disease, so many of them lose the best chance to receive treatment at the right time. But TCM prescriptions can be used at any time during the disease's development, Jin told China Daily.
TCM researchers say the cost of using CATCM-II and the Tang Herbal Tablet is no more than 3,000 yuan (US$362.32) a year, and it could be lowered further when production costs are cut.
In contrast, using generic chemical medicines - such as Zidovudine, Stavudine, Didanosine and Zalcitabine - produced by Chinese drug makers for ****tail therapy - costs about 10,000 yuan per year (US$1,210), including the drugs and necessary medical checks.
For some poor countries which do not have the capability of producing generic chemical medicine against AIDS at a low cost, the expenditure is much higher.
Thailand's drug authorities are fully supportive of the development of SH in a bid to meet the urgency for inexpensive AIDS drugs, according to Luo Shide, the inventor of SH and a professor at the Kunming Institute of Botany under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Developing SH
Luo has been researching AIDS medicine based on the combination of TCM theories and modern chemical techniques since the late 1980s, after he returned to China from Germany.
His method is to first determine and purify the vital elements of herbal plants recorded by classic TCM books that treat poisons, and then to combine them into dozens of TCM prescriptions. In the end, some of these prescriptions proved effective in significantly reducing HIV levels.
Luo said his research has not been done at the molecular level, however. It is still difficult to make sure exactly what a single herbal plant's chemical content is, let alone a compound consisting of 20 plants.
He did not receive any government or company's financial support on his work for the first eight years.
"At that time, it was widely considered that HIV/AIDS was not a big problem for China. And anyway, no one believed TCM could be really used to treat HIV/AIDS," Luo said.
In 1998, Luo's research made some major progress and the achievement was posted in his institute's newspaper.
"A visiting Thai public health official found the report and immediately contacted me," Luo said.
The Thailand Government decided to finance Luo's research and offer the necessary equipment for clinical trials to take place.
In China, encouraged by TCM's potential to treat AIDS, China's health authorities have launched a programme to offer free TCM-based treatments to AIDS sufferers.
So far, the programme, chaired by Wei, covers 2,300 patients across five Chinese provinces. The number may double over next year.
The Ministry of Health estimates there were 840,000 HIV/AIDS patients in China in 2003. Experts warn that without effective control measures, the number of HIV carriers may exceed 10 million by 2010.
Challenges remain
Despite the promises, David Ho at New York-based Rockefeller University and the inventor of ****tail therapy, said there was no compelling evidence published in internationally recognized journals that TCM actually enhances immunity.
"I see no reason why TCM would not have some benefits for the immune system or for stopping the spread of HIV. But these claims must be supported by scientific studies. Too few of them have been done properly," Ho says.
Wei and Jin say they have not published their clinical reports in international journals, partly because it is difficult to explain TCM in Western scientific jargon.
They also say their medicines are so far better at improving immunity than directly stopping disease progression.
Luo said TCM may not be powerful enough to kill the virus because many vital elements may be lost during the traditional processing methods.
Luo said some purification work has been done in the United States to insure better purification of active ingredients of TCM. Jin said her company has been negotiating with the World Health Organization and another South Asian country to perform wider clinical research there.
"Based on our current very limited knowledge of TCM at the molecular level, it is impossible for TCM to pass the evaluation process of the US Food and Drug Administration and the European Union's drug authorities," Jin said.
There are still few regulations on using traditional Chinese medicine to treat HIV/AIDS. Any search on the Internet for TCM and AIDS will come up with dozens of websites claiming effective treatments. Even Ke'aite is sold online, yet this is still undergoing clinical trials.
Wei admitted there was little national standardization in using TCM to treat AIDS. "To solve the problem, there should be some official indices to evaluate the true effects of TCM," Wei says.
(China Daily 11/23/2004 page13)
Chinese malarial drug raises questions about other undiscovered remedies
Sat Dec 18,10:12 PM ET
GUILIN, China (AFP) - Chinese scientists first discovered the sweet wormwood plant's power in treating malaria in the 1970s after being asked by the government to find a drug to protect soldiers.
They tested hundreds of herbs used for centuries in traditional Chinese medicine until Tu Youyou, now director of the Qinghao Medicine Research Center of the China Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine, found a way to extract artemisinin -- the ingredient in the plant that fights malaria.
China began exporting the drug to a small number of countries, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa, in the 1980s.
Trials later showed the drug could cure most patients within three days when combined with another anti-malarial drug to fend off drug resistance.
But it was not until this year that the World Health Organization (news - web sites), the Global Fund to Fight AIDS (news - web sites), Tuberculosis and Malaria and other health groups recommended the switch to artemisinin-based drugs, ACTs.
The change of heart came after the medical journal Lancet accused the groups of "medical malpractice", criticizing them for continuing to approve and fund the use of older, less effective drugs by poor countries.
That prompted a strong push by health groups this year for a worldwide switch to ACTs.
"WHO had recommended the drug in 2001, but countries did not make the switch until the Global Fund announced this year they will no longer fund old drugs unless their efficacy can be proven," Dr. Andrea Bosman, head of WHO's malaria control team, said.
The herb, named Artemisia annua by botanists, is now in high demand.
Chinese drug experts and doctors see it as the long awaited chance to help traditional Chinese medicine become accepted in the international community.
"In Chinese medicine, this is the only one accepted by the international community," said Tu.
Its success has raised hopes that the drug will lead the way for research into centuries-old Chinese medicines, which are little-known in the world.
"There are many other Chinese herbs, but they simply haven't undergone the chemical processing and scientific studies to see their potential," said Yan Xiaohua, president of Guilin Pharmaceutical Co., which uses the herbs to make malarial pills.
But Chinese drug companies lack the investment and guidance to put their drugs through the rigorous internationally accepted trials before they will receive approval.
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