Naysayers might call it voodoo. Skeptics question how it works, feeling much safer to keep it at arm's length. Proponents laud its efficacy, although they can't explain its mysterious ways in scientific language that appeals to Western ears.

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), often a complex mixture of herbs and animal products, has found it tough to enter the territory dominated by Western pharmaceuticals, despite its 2,000-year-old strength on its home turf.

But there is a glimmer of hope from this northern Chinese port city.

One drug has dispelled at least a bit of the foreign stereotype that Chinese herbs are basically dietary supplements, by consolidating its position in the African market in just five years.

Fufang Danshen Diwan, a cardiotonic pill totally composed of herbal extracts, is available in some 16 African countries. It is used for the emergency treatment of coronary disease, and sales were US$80 million last year, compared with less than US$100,000 in 2002.

The South African government has added the flagship pill, produced by the Tianjin Tasly Pharmaceutical company, to the list of government designated drugs for medicare services for civil servants.

Our success "may come in part from African people's tradition of using herbal medicines. But the real launching pad is our cutting edge in deciphering the medicine's molecular formula and ensuring the ingredients' uniform quality," said chief executive officer Dai Biao of the Tasly Group (Africa) Ltd, a subsidiary of Tianjin Tasly Pharmaceutical.

Modernization meets tradition

With domestic sales of more than 1 billion yuan (about US$146 million) last year, the drug was the first Chinese herbal medicine to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration for clinical tests in the United States.

Many Tasly staff here surmised that the reasons for the drug's success include the production and presentation methods, or "modernization," a refrain of Tasly Pharmaceutical president Yan Xijun.

In Tasly's 87 hectare modern Chinese medicine park, out is the tradition of manual production relying on masters to pass on their skills to apprentices. In are digitally-controlled production lines replacing the widely-criticized "subjective and uncertain factors" arising from human interference.

At its 267 ha planting base in Shangluo, Shaanxi Province, which was modeled on European botanic parks, the third-largest herbal medicine maker in China has put into place standards to accurately control and measure the quality of extraction, manufacturing and planting.

"The black box of herbal medicine production is unfolding with our constant research and innovation," said Yan. The veteran and pharmacist receives State Council (cabinet) allowances for achievements in modernizing traditional Chinese medicines.

With 6 percent of annual sales ploughed back into research and development (R&D), Tasly -- whose assets were 7.7 billion yuan last year -- developed more than 50 herbal medicines, mostly for chronic "lifestyle" diseases: hypertension, diabetes, arteriosclerosis, angina pectoris and high cholesterol.

Changing spectrum of disease

Although this product mix is selling beyond Africa in places such as Vietnam, Pakistan, the Republic of Korea, India and the United Arab Emirates, Yan still thinks the US and European markets are promising. "The spectrum of disease has changed substantially, with nearly 60 percent of ailments abroad and 40 percent at home caused by organ degradation.

"Perennial over-nutrition amid rising living standards aggravates the burden of viscera and blood vessels and raises the incidence of cardio- and cerebrovascular diseases," said Yan.

Changing views of Chinese medicine, said Zhang Boli at the Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, have posed a challenge to the aggressive Western medical approach that advocates the use of antibiotics and synthetic pharmaceuticals.

"Traditional Chinese medicine, with a macro or holistic view of disease, strives to achieve the balance of human bodies that can resist most everyday bacteria and viruses in a natural and non-invasive way. It represents a new approach worth thorough exploring," he said.

Tasly isn't waging a lonely battle in the world market. The government, aiming to boost the industry, has stepped in to enhance global recognition of Chinese herbs through high-level talks. It has also supported exporters through preferential industrial policies.

The government has achieved about 90 bilateral and multi-lateral cooperation agreements on traditional medicines and released three guidelines to facilitate the modernization and innovation of TCM and R&D cooperation across the world.

In November, Beijing will host an international meeting on the development of traditional medicines, initiated by the World Health Organization. Minister of Science Wan Gang has proposed the creation of a global alliance focusing on R&D for traditional Chinese medicines.

Additionally, a dozen projects financed by the central government have started. These include the establishment of incubators to modernize TCM, the development of new herbal medicines and research into the use of TCM for infectious diseases.

About 202 herbal plants have established sound agricultural practices and standard operating procedures, according to the Ministry of Science.

Although there are no tax breaks tailor-made for the drug industry, herbal medicine makers could get preferential rates on corporate income tax if they are officially classified as "high-tech" and innovative."

Analyst Li Jinsong of Industrial Securities said that renowned local brands such as Tongrentang, Qianjin Pharmacy and Kanon Pharmaceutical, with cutting-edge herbal medicine R&D, would have more to gain from the upcoming policies to "support" the TCM industry promised by Premier Wen Jiabao in the March government work report.

At a forum themed "Sharing Traditional Chinese Medicine With the World" held in Tianjin last month, deputy chief Fang Shuting of the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicines said that emerging external demand and domestic modernization would give TCM "powerful stamina and broad prospects."

Hurdles ahead; optimism, too

Many TCM enterprises see rosy prospects, but the cold hard facts demand some dispassionate analysis. With nearly 1,500 manufacturers, the entire TCM industry's production was only 150 billion yuan last year. Western medicine production was nearly three times as much. And of the 1 billion U.S. dollars in exports, the lion's share was composed of simple herbal plants and extracts, with TCM accounting for only a small proportion.

Two gigantic hurdles are the mysterious workings of herbal medicines and lack of support from overseas governments, according to Zhang.

Modernization vanguard Yan is a strong believer in having technology replace, at least partly, the human component in the four traditional diagnostic methods: observing, hearing and smelling, asking questions and touching.

For example, there's the process of taking the pulse, part of the touching component of TCM exams. Yan said Tasly researchers are exploring the possibility of using instruments to classify the pulse beat based upon the stress received by blood vessels.

"It's too early to talk about an industry, but we are moving ahead," Yan said.

Zhang and Yan agreed that the best solution was not to seek ways to substitute Western medicines and TCM for each other but to fuse them appropriately. In China, even herbalists have learned to make diagnoses from X-rays.

Ama Busia, a member of the Council of State of the Republic of Ghana and also a user of Tasly's products, said that TCM had already become a part of his government's strategy to explore all the possibilities for creating a healthier population. TCM not only helped relieve symptoms and cure diseases, she said; it also restored imbalances and returned harmony to bodily systems and promoted wellness.

"Medical insurance is an awful headache for many countries," said Yan. "Using aggressive, pharmaceutical-based therapy and radiotherapy to treat diseases will impose a heavy fiscal burden. Traditional Chinese medicine, by contrast, can maintain health and cope with the changing spectrum of disease more effectively."

(Xinhua News Agency May 14, 2008)