China has launched a new funding program that will have a
special focus on the safety of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM)
injections, the Ministry of Science and Technology announced on
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 per
cent 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."
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 program 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 program 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
license of another drug company, Qiqihar No 2 Pharmaceutical Co
Ltd, for a bogus drug for gastric disorders that killed 11
people.
(China Daily October 20, 2006)
