Page 16 - Sphere No.20 (Nov 2007)

14 SPHERE
of serious funding, modern working conditions and ground-
breaking discoveries. All the work, she stresses, is done in ac-
cordance with international standards, using impartial
and exhaustive tests. “This is not folklore-based
research,” she says emphatically.
The technicians have not yet come up with
a cure for cancer, but tests have shown that
one compound in particular, known by
its code name of HMPL-002, taking the
acronym of Hutchison MediPharma
Limited, Chi-Med’s wholly owned drug
research and development (R&D) sub-
sidiary, can be an enormous help dur-
ing the chemotherapy and radiotherapy
stages of treatment. In tests carried out
in both the United States and China, it has
been shown to help break down the outer
coating of the cancer cells in head, neck and lung
cancer, allowing the chemotherapy and radiotherapy to
be around 30 per cent more effective. That translates into se-
verely ill patients spending less time undergoing the painful,
traumatic and debilitating treatments.
In China, the tests on HMPL-002 are moving towards phase
three, putting them perhaps only a few years away
from going onto the market, while another
compound trial, using the code-name
HMPL-004, is also proving remark-
ably effective. Tests on patients in the
United States suffering from Crohn’s
disease, an inflammation of the di-
gestive tract, are in phase two, while
in China, the same drug showed
positive results on people suffering
from ulcerative colitis and is enter-
ing the crucial phase three stage.
In other words, there is real evi-
dence that certain traditional Chinese
medicines (TCM) can help cure potential-
ly terminal illnesses. “All our efforts are direct-
ed towards discovering and developing innovative
therapies for the global market with the initial focus on cancer
and auto-immune diseases,” says Dr Du. “We are pursuing this
ANY PEOPLE in China do not need the evidence of modern drug trials to convince them of the effectiveness of
traditional remedies. Take Ban Lan Gen for example, a herb widely available in China that helps people suffering
from colds, viral flu, fever and respiratory tract infections.
Hutchison Baiyunshan, a joint venture with Guangzhou Baiyunshan, a pharmaceutical company listed on the Shenzhen
stock exchange, produces the herb in granule form and sells more than 330 million doses a year.
Products derived from the herb were used extensively during the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) out-
break of early 2003 as a preventative measure. As a result of that exposure, Baiyunshan’s Ban Lan Gen granules became
one of the leading herbal brands of its kind in the nation.
Traditionally, herbs needed lengthy preparation by boiling and simmering raw materials according to ancient recipes,
with the medicine consumed in the form of soup, or as pellets. Usually each recipe combined several herbal ingredients
tailored to the individual patient, with each herb performing a specific role.
Modern factory techniques used by manufacturers such as
Hutchison Baiyunshan have speeded up those production and
extraction processes, resulting in a new lease of life for the
medicines. Increasing worldwide interest in homeopathic and
natural medicines has also helped.
Hutchison Baiyunshan’s best-selling products include:
■ Fu Fang Dan Shen tablets: More than 1.6 billion doses are
sold a year; treatment for chest congestion and angina.
■ Kou Yan Qing granules: Annual sales of more than 30 million
doses; for the treatment of mouth ulcers and periodontitis.
■ Xiao Yan Li Dan tablets: 200 million doses sold a year;
promotes the functions of the liver and gall bladder.
HERBAL REMEDIES A BIG HIT IN CHINA
ests show that one of the compounds can be T
M