Isolating the active ingredients from traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) in order to develop drugs that meet the Western regulatory definition of a drug compound has long proved challenging. Among the problems is the use of traditional techniques for extraction. To improve the development of such drugs, in 2008, China launched the $1.6 billion Innovative New Drug Development and Manufacturing Projects and the $4.7 million Herbalome project. However, observers note that Japanese researchers have been unsuccessful in applying modern technology to TCM analyses because of TCM’s complexity. TCMs work on multiple biological targets and contain numerous ingredients. Only two successful drugs, artemisinin and arsenic trioxide, have been developed based on TCMs, and each required the development of unique lab techniques. Another problem is inconsistent implementation of Chinese agriculture quality standards for TCM ingredients. In addition, the complexity of TCMs complicates clinical trial measurements. Chinese clinical trials of TCMs totaled more than 100 between 2006 and 2010. Five TCMs are currently in Western-registered clinical trials. China approved 81 TCM products in 2010, accounting for 8% of all approved drugs that year.

Source: Nature