China has launched a new funding programme that will have a
special focus on the safety of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM)
injections, the Ministry of Science and Technology announced
Thursday.
"TCM injections have serious safety problems," said Ye Zuguang,
a professor at the Chinese Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences.
A 10-year study by the professor found that more than 70 percent
of negative responses in TCM are from injections. And about 80
percent of these responses are due to allergies, Ye said.
"The problem is that we've consistently failed to find a good
methodology to help with a better transfer of animal test results
to human trials," the professor said.
Qian Zhongzhi of China Pharmacopoeia Committee said the root
cause of the problem was the complicated make-up of TCMs. "There
are a slew of components, each of which may cause allergic
reactions for different people," he explained.
These injections are mostly used for cardiovascular diseases and
inflammation. "Their efficacy in anti-virus treatment has proven to
surpass western medicine," Qian said.
Wang Hongguang, director of China National Centre for
Biotechnology Development, said the programme would enable domestic
scientists to investigate causes of two or three negative responses
related to TCM injections in the next five years.
But TCM is just one target of the funding programme in the next
five to 10 years. "We will try to solve about 10 pressing technical
problems during the period," Wang said.
These include establishment of several world-level drug quality
control standards and laboratories.
"We will complete a set of medicine safety technology standards
within five years, covering 10 to 20 TCMs," Wang said.
The ministry said substantial research would begin by the end of
this year.
The problem of drug safety has been in the spotlight in recent
years. In July, an antibiotic injection called Xinfu caused six
deaths in the country. And in the same month, China revoked the
licence of another drug company, Qiqihar No 2 Pharmaceutical Co
Ltd, for a bogus drug for gastric disorders that killed 11
people.
(China Daily October 21, 2006)