Top institutions of traditional Chinese medicine announced Thursday that they have selected eight prepared traditional Chinese medicine, instant herbal mixture or injections, for the treatment of severe acute respiratory syndrome(SARS) patients.
The remedies, including "banlangen", or isatis root, were selected by a group of 150 researchers from 30 prepared Chinese traditional drugs already used by hospitals in Guangdong Province and Beijing for SARS patients, the Science and Technology Mission under the National Headquarters of SARS Prevention and Control said in a news release.
These medicines have a "probable effect" on improving the symptoms of SARS patients, the Science and Technology Mission said.
Another seven selections were canary creeper granules, Qingkailing injection, cordate houttuynia injectio, Xinxue granules and three other injections made of herbs
The massive research program, headed by the Chinese Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine, also involved experts from the Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, the Institute of Materia Medica of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and the MilitaryAcademy of Medical Sciences.
Over the past 17 days and nights, scientists have conducted 118sets of experiments on 45,000 white rats and 700 domestic rabbits.More than 6,000 biological and chemical tests have been done during the process.
The research has provided a scientific data basis for the treatment of SARS using Chinese herbal medicines and will pave theway for new herbal drugs to treat the disease, medical experts say.Enditem
(Xinhua News Agency May 23, 2003)
