Back to the future in Quality Control of Chinese Herbal Medicine

Speaker: Prof. Xie Peishan (a) Guangdong Union Scientific Co. Ltd. Guangzhou, China b) Macau Institute of Chinese Medicine, University of Macau, Macau SAR, China)

Time: 2:30 pm - 4:00 pm, Apr. 25(Wednesday), 2012

Venue: B303

Abstract:

Quality of Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) is the fundamental priority for Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) modernization. When herbs of questionable origin or unreliable quality are used in a research project for any chemical analyses, pharmacology or clinical observation, it is highly unlikely that the results can be repeated and scientifically validated, the vain efforts would certainly not only waste time but also mislead to the other investigators, let alone curing effectively disease. Therefore CHM standardization should be a crucial task. Standardization means species authentication, consistent ingredients composition as well as safety, consequently the proper efficacy could be ensured. A figurative argument had it that the western medicine using one single chemical substance to attack disease, like silver bullet whose potency pinpointed the pathogenic agent; Contrarily, Chinese medicine often administered a group of agents (herbal medicines) like shotgun to tackle the problem of human body. CHM was nurtured by Chinese ancient philosophy and long historical accumulated practice formed its unique features, simply, integrity in therapeutic principle, flexibility in composition of herbal formula. The question is: how to effectively assess the quality for such complex herbal entity? An overview on the status quo and perspective on quality control of Chinese herbal medicine was recounted in this presentation.