How to ensure the quality and quantity of Chinese herbal medicines skyrocketing

The business club reported on December 27 that traditional Chinese medicine honeysuckle has risen from six cents to more than six yuan. At present, there are at least 120 kinds of TCM decoction pieces that have been suspended or reduced in production because raw material prices have skyrocketed. Cheap Chinese Herbal Pieces or proprietary Chinese medicines have stalled in the market, causing many doctors and Chinese medicine experts to worry. They are even more worried that the quality problems of Chinese herbal medicines originally hidden under the “water” will be exposed with price increases.

In the wake of a price increase, how traditional Chinese herbal medicines are kept in good condition is related to the lifeblood of the entire Chinese medicine practitioner. A number of experts said that changing the disorder of the Chinese herbal medicine market depends on government regulation and intervention, suggesting that the Chinese medicine monopoly system ensures the safety of medicines from the strict specification and management of the source of medicines.

Drug prices hang upside down

In several Chinese medicine shops in Shanghai, the reporter saw that the price of Chinese herbal medicines such as March 7 and Tianma had significantly increased. In the Medicare designated pharmacy, a Shanghai brand of Qingrejiedu granules was almost absent. Pharmacists said that some cheap Chinese patent medicines have been out of stock for some time.

Chinese medicines are sold out and the roots are "upside down." The prices of raw materials increase with the market, and medicines are limited by the prices of medicines. Herbal medicine companies do not want to lose money, earn money, and naturally stop production or reduce production. According to the member of the Agricultural and Labour Party and the doctor of the Community Health Service Center of Huaihai Zhong Road Community, the Chinese herbal medicines have basically been adjusted once a year before and after the Meiyu season in the past 10 years. The price adjustment often means price increases. The latest price adjustment involved 148 species, with an average increase of 15%. However, after the price adjustment, there were still more than 200 varieties of the purchase price and the price upside down, which led to a decrease in the number of clinically used drugs.

Zhang Hao believes that as the prices of Chinese herbal medicines continue to rise, the price of proprietary Chinese medicines may soon enter the price increase channel. This situation puts a lot of pressure on the economic burden of the patient and also affects the widespread use of Chinese medicine.

Quality problems or will be exposed

The price of Chinese herbal medicines has risen, and many people have raised concerns related to hot money intervention. However, why is it being hyped? The problem pointed to the disorder in the cultivation and circulation of Chinese herbal medicines. Zhu Bangxian, director of the CPPCC committee and Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, proposed that Chinese herbal medicines be cultivated as "agricultural products" before they are acquired by medicinal material manufacturers. Therefore, it can easily encounter hot money speculation like garlic and soybeans.

The problem does not stop there. The production of Chinese herbal medicines in the category of agricultural products not only fails to ensure effective ingredients but also involves pesticide residues and additives. This is one of the reasons why many people complain about the “improved efficacy” of Chinese medicine. Zhu Bangxian, for example, said that for example, Pulsatilla chinensis, there are more than 20 species in each region, only two are effective in treating amoebic dysentery, and some are misdiagnosed as “Pulsatilla”. All these have appeared in the Chinese herbal medicine market. As an “agricultural product”, the effective ingredients and classification standards of Chinese medicine are all under management.

Experts are concerned that with the increase in the prices of Chinese herbal medicines, "pretend goods" that are used to make up for inferior or ineffective use will be removed from the market, and the problem of misregulation of the source of Chinese herbal medicines will be exposed.

The disorderly market situation needs to be reversed

According to reports, in countries such as Japan and South Korea, Chinese herbal medicines have entered a rigorous drug management system from planting to circulation to medicine. To this end, Zhu Bangxian suggested that a monopoly system for Chinese medicine should be established to ensure the safety of drugs from the strict specifications and management of the source of medicine and completely reverse the disorderly situation in the cultivation and market circulation of Chinese herbal medicines.

“The establishment of a green planting base for Chinese herbal medicines will ensure the quality of Chinese medicine decoction pieces, Chinese patent medicines, and health foods from the source of drug safety, so as to achieve the purpose of “real, high-quality, stable, and controllable” Chinese herbal medicines.” Zhu Bangxian suggested that relevant state departments Special management agencies should be established as soon as possible to take the monopoly system of Chinese herbal medicines and its effective management and construction of monitoring functions as a major issue concerning the health of the people and introduce relevant policies and regulations.

As for the current problem of “extension of stock prices” in traditional Chinese medicine, Zhang Xin believes that taxation mechanisms can be used to control, such as reducing taxes on traditional Chinese medicine decoction plants and farmer households growing traditional Chinese medicines, reducing the costs associated with traditional Chinese medicine circulation, and reducing the cost of Chinese patent medicine declarations. Simplify the process to achieve Chinese herbal medicines and proprietary Chinese medicines that do not rise in price or rise slightly. If the individual species actually caused a substantial reduction in production due to natural disasters, the planting subsidies may be given in the year and the following year. In addition, for patients, it is recommended that patients in the same level of hospitals take traditional Chinese medicine or use Chinese medicine to treat diseases. The patient's self-sufficiency rate can be appropriately reduced to promote the use of Chinese medicine treatment for patients to achieve the goal of promoting the healthy development of Chinese medicine.