China has set up a multi-database information system for traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in a high-tech zone in Shanghai.

Hui Yongzheng, director of the Shanghai TCM Innovation Research Center, said the system contained data on about 1,200 common diseases by experts in western medicine and TCM, and all the clinical cases and prescriptions in the TCM journals published in China since 1950.

The system also included comprehensive information about nearly 10,000 plants from which herbal medicines are extracted, including their properties, places of origin, clinical use and chemical compositions.

In addition, data on the chemical compounds of 9,500 TCMs and their structural information in two and three dimensional forms can be found in the system.

Information on the sequences of the proteins relating to 149 diseases and prescriptions is also part of the system, said Hui.

The system was designed to provide knowledge and information for the general public, medical workers, researchers and pharmaceutical companies, he said.

Hui said researchers may use intelligent analytical software to discover more about TCMs in a bid to develop new pharmaceutical products.

The center is cooperating with Phyto Ceutica Company of Yale University in pharmaceutical product development and establishing an English-language version of the system.

(People's Daily May 15, 2002)