Research in Traditional Chinese Medicine

Chinese Research

Innovative Achievements

Treatment of malaria with artemisinin: Ge Hong of the Eastern Jin Dynasty (317 A.D.- 420 A.D.) proposed that Qinghao (Artemisia Apiacea, sweet wormwood) is an important herb in both the treatment and prevention of malaria, from which Tu Youyou, a Chinese pharmacological scientist, got her inspirations, and innovatively created the new anti-malarial drugs, artemisinin and dihydroartemisinin, for which she was awarded the 2011 Lasker Award in Clinical Medicine in the United States and the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

“Integrative Chinese and Western Medicine”

Breakthrough in the treatment of acute promyelocytic leukemia (A.P.L.): Prof. Chen Zhu and his team used “Integrative Chinese and Western Medicine” by combining the Traditional Chinese Medicine agent known as arsenic agent with Western medicine to treat A.P.L. resulting in the “five year disease-free survival rate” jumping to 95% from the previous 25%. This Integrative Chinese and Western Medicine method has now become a standard therapy for treating APL worldwide, changing this previously deadly disease into a highly curable one. In 2012, Prof. Wang Zhenyi and Prof. Chen Zhu, along with their team, were awarded the Szent-Györgyi Prize for Progress in Cancer Research by the National Cancer Research Fund (NFCR) of the United States. In 2016, Prof. Chen Zhu received the Ernest Beutler Lecture and Prize, conferred by the American Society of Hematology. 

Treatment of SARS

T.C.M. played a significant role during the outbreak of SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) in 2003. It has remarkably improved the clinical efficacy in preventing and treating SARS. For instance, it can shorten the course of the disease, and lower the mortality rate. This valuable contribution to the field of epidemiology has been hailed by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Zi Wu Liu Zhu

Zi Wu Liu Zhu (A theory of circadian rhythms in the human body based on midday-midnight flow of qi and blood): The 2017 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to three American scientists, Jeffrey C. Hall, Michael Rosbash and Michael W. Young, for their discoveries of molecular mechanisms controlling the circadian rhythm. As early as over 2,000 years ago, the concept of “Zi Wu Liu Zhu” appeared in the monumental T.C.M. classic, the Huang Di Nei Jing (the Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine). According to this concept, the functional activities and pathological changes in the human body, to a certain and significant degree, are influenced by the natural world, meaning, in particular, by the climate, season, and the time of day.