In November, Beijing will host an international meeting on the development of traditional medicines, initiated by the World Health Organization. Minister of Science Wan Gang has proposed the creation of a global alliance focusing on R&D for traditional Chinese medicines.

Additionally, a dozen projects financed by the central government have started. These include the establishment of incubators to modernize TCM, the development of new herbal medicines and research into the use of TCM for infectious diseases.

About 202 herbal plants have established sound agricultural practices and standard operating procedures, according to the Ministry of Science.

Although there are no tax breaks tailor-made for the drug industry, herbal medicine makers could get preferential rates on corporate income tax if they are officially classified as "high-tech" and innovative."

Analyst Li Jinsong of Industrial Securities said that renowned local brands such as Tongrentang, Qianjin Pharmacy and Kanon Pharmaceutical, with cutting-edge herbal medicine R&D, would have more to gain from the upcoming policies to "support" the TCM industry promised by Premier Wen Jiabao in the March government work report.

At a forum themed "Sharing Traditional Chinese Medicine With the World" held in Tianjin last month, deputy chief Fang Shuting of the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicines said that emerging external demand and domestic modernization would give TCM "powerful stamina and broad prospects."

Hurdles ahead; optimism too

Many TCM enterprises see rosy prospects, but the cold hard facts demand some dispassionate analysis. With nearly 1,500 manufacturers, the entire TCM industry's production was only 150 billion yuan last year. Western medicine production was nearly three times as much. And of the 1 billion U.S. dollars in exports, the lion's share was composed of simple herbal plants and extracts, with TCM accounting for only a small proportion.

Two gigantic hurdles are the mysterious workings of herbal medicines and lack of support from overseas governments, according to Zhang.

Modernization vanguard Yan is a strong believer in having technology replace, at least partly, the human component in the four traditional diagnostic methods: observing, hearing and smelling, asking questions and touching.

For example, there's the process of taking the pulse, part of the touching component of TCM exams. Yan said Tasly researchers are exploring the possibility of using instruments to classify the pulse beat based upon the stress received by blood vessels.

"It's too early to talk about an industry, but we are moving ahead," Yan said.

Zhang and Yan agreed that the best solution was not to seek ways to substitute Western medicines and TCM for each other but to fuse them appropriately. In China, even herbalists have learned to make diagnoses from X-rays.

Ama Busia, a member of the Council of State of the Republic of Ghana and also a user of Tasly's products, said that TCM had already become a part of his government's strategy to explore all the possibilities for creating a healthier population. TCM not only helped relieve symptoms and cure diseases, she said; it also restored imbalances and returned harmony to bodily systems and promoted wellness.

"Medical insurance is an awful headache for many countries," said Yan. "Using aggressive, pharmaceutical-based therapy and radiotherapy to treat diseases will impose a heavy fiscal burden. Traditional Chinese medicine, by contrast, can maintain health and cope with the changing spectrum of disease more effectively."

(Xinhua News Agency May 14, 2008)