The new regulations of the UK drug administration impact on a large number of clinics or closures in the traditional Chinese medicine industry

According to the Chinese business daily, the UK's Drug Administration recently notified the Chinese Medicine Societies and some large Chinese medicine stores to report the inventory of Chinese patent medicines The agency said it planned to ban the sale of Chinese patent medicines in the UK from the beginning of next year At present, the retail revenue of Chinese patent medicine accounts for about 30-40% of all clinics If this regulation is implemented, it will undoubtedly bring a disaster to the British traditional Chinese medicine industry, and a large number of clinics will be closed down The reporter interviewed Professor Ma Boying, chairman of the British Society of traditional Chinese medicine, and asked him to talk about the difficulties faced by the Chinese medicine community and its future plans British traditional Chinese medicine fell into the valley, Professor Ma said, the current situation can be said to be dangerous The UK Drug Administration (MHRA) recently (9 July) notified TCM clinics to report the inventory of proprietary Chinese medicines The FDA said it plans to stop selling unlicensed herbal products from 2014, mainly referring to Chinese patent medicines There are basically three aspects of the business of TCM clinics in the UK: acupuncture, herbal medicine and proprietary Chinese medicine If this plan is implemented, it will undoubtedly make the British TCM industry worse Reporter: can you tell me why it's worse? Professor Ma: the global financial crisis in 2008 is a watershed for the British traditional Chinese medicine industry More than ten years ago, traditional Chinese medicine flourished in the UK, with more than 2000 clinics in all corners of the three islands A group of chain companies operated the clinic according to the business model and made dozens of Chinese medicine millionaires After the outbreak of the financial crisis, British traditional Chinese medicine began to decline, only one or two years fell to the bottom Reporter: do you have any specific data? Professor Ma: I can give you some examples: herbmedic, whose Chinese name is herb medicine, has 110 clinics at the peak of 2007, only 11 at present; Dr & herbs was the first Chinese medicine company to boldly break into a large shopping center in the heyday, with 60 or 70 chain stores, and now only one is worthy of the name; Dr China was also one of the companies with the most chain stores in that year In 2007, it was planned to go public in Hong Kong, and now its stores and operating revenue are two-thirds smaller than five years ago The era of red and fiery clinic companies has passed, and now most of the traditional Chinese medicine clinics are exclusively operated They only have enough food and clothing Reporter: in the past two or three years, the closure of clinics has been a wave after wave What is the reason for this wave of closure? Prof Ma: first of all, after the financial crisis, the unemployment rate in the UK has increased and people's income has decreased Traditional Chinese medicine is not included in the public national health care system It depends on the patients' own money People's income is low If they are ill, they usually find free NHS (National Health System) western medicine The traditional Chinese medicine clinic companies failed to make ends meet Second, the ranks of traditional Chinese medicine are out of touch In recent years, a large number of middle-aged and elderly doctors of traditional Chinese medicine have left the clinic More than 60 year old Chinese medicine doctors generally come to the UK for some years, have obtained the status and may have tried to open their own clinics After their children's admission to British universities, Chinese doctors in their forties have chosen to return home They know that at this age, they can catch the last bus and find a decent and well paid job in Chinese hospitals In addition, dozens of TCM doctors were poached by medical units in northern Europe and Switzerland after obtaining permanent residence in the UK in the past two years Reporter: is there a lot of traditional Chinese medicine signed by the office now? Professor Ma: with the rapid development of China, the income of doctors is getting better and better, much better than the "foreign team jump" in Britain Now thinking of being a doctor in Britain is not the same as five years ago or 10 years ago There are many young and middle-aged doctors who can speak English, but their clinical experience is less than that of the older generation How can a clinic be maintained without a good doctor? Some clinic companies can't use the quota Reporter: is the EU herbal product law a great blow to the development of traditional Chinese medicine? Professor Ma: Yes, that's the third main reason I want to talk about The EU Herbal Products Act came into force after April 2011 According to the law, Chinese patent medicines can only be retailed after they have been used in the European Union for more than 15 years and in China for more than 30 years and provided with relevant certificates, including safety evidence After April 2011, all imports of Chinese patent medicine must apply for a license, which is based on the premise that each component in the Chinese patent medicine is tested at a high cost For example, six components in Liuwei Dihuang price pill need to be tested separately, with the cost of testing up to 300000 pounds, while most Chinese patent medicines contain more than ten components, with the cost up to millions of pounds There are about 100-200 kinds of commonly used Chinese patent medicines The annual profit of each Chinese patent medicine will not exceed 10000 pounds So no Chinese medicine manufacturer or wholesaler has the ability to pay and make profits Before the implementation of the law, the drug administration promised that the Chinese patent medicines purchased by TCM clinics could continue to be sold until the end of the warranty period Therefore, many clinics took a lot of Chinese patent medicines, many stores still have stocks, and some varieties have been sold out Traditional Chinese medicine is an important part of traditional Chinese medicine clinic Many diseases need herbal medicine and traditional Chinese medicine to have better efficacy Now the lack of proprietary drugs inevitably affects the quality of treatment, and the natural business will be hit With the rent rising year by year, business is in a bad state, so we have to close down Reporter: so how do the clinics that are still in operation operate? Professor Ma: it is estimated that there are no more than 1000 TCM clinics in the UK at present, 60% less than at the peak It can be said that most of the poor management Now many stores are transferring to doctors or front desk managers Bosses want to leave Some companies even claim that they are willing to pay back as long as someone answers When some stores were rented at the beginning, the boss had contractual constraints and could not terminate the contract in advance, otherwise the boss would have to bear the economic losses, so he had to hold on Reporter: what are the specific requirements of FDA? Professor Ma: report the inventory quantity, detailed product name, type, purchase time, supply source, supply invoice, etc It is said that the drug administration sent personnel to some clinics for spot check and found that some stores continued to import Chinese patent medicines through channels other than the original Chinese medicine import companies In addition, there are different views on the shelf-life of Chinese patent medicines within the drug administration, some say three years, some say five years, or even ten years Someone complained that if the shelf life was not clear, the sale of unlicensed Chinese patent medicines would never stop Reporter: as the competent department of the government, it seems reasonable for the drug administration to have objections to the shelf life Professor Ma: the government should strengthen management, which is beyond reproach The key is that there has been a commitment before, leading to a large number of purchases The government should put itself in the place of clinics and businesses, and give everyone a transitional period Reporter: how long is the transition period? Professor Ma: many people in the field of traditional Chinese medicine think that five years is reasonable, that is, from April 2011 to March 2016 Reporter: so how are you going to negotiate with FDA? Prof Ma: Thank you Dr Yan Xiaoping of the British TCM Talent Exchange Center for bringing together the heads of four TCM societies in the UK, including ftcmp, CMC, ACMP and ATCM, as well as the bosses of Kangtai, dr.china and other large companies I think it's mainly up to various organizations to reflect the opposition of their members and stores; members and clinic owners can contact their influential friends, local congressmen and the media to tell the drug administration and the Ministry of health about the difficulties faced by the industry of traditional Chinese medicine Reporter: is there a specific action plan? Prof Ma: our short-term goal is not high, which is to ask the drug administration to give up the plan of banning the sale of Chinese patent medicines in 2014, and hope that the drug administration will abide by its commitment, and once again make it clear that the sale of Chinese patent medicines will be up to the end of the shelf life, at least to the end of April 2016 Reporter: apart from this short-term goal, do you have any long-term plans? Professor Ma: that's TCM legislation As you know, the legislation of traditional Chinese medicine in the UK has experienced three governments and two national consultations The health minister once made a correct decision in 2005, announcing that: Traditional Chinese medicine, together with herbal medicine and acupuncture, has entered the legislative registration; and the title of TCM doctor has been protected This is how the report of the second legislative working group in 2008 was written However, the legislation failed to be implemented as expected, and in 2012, it backed down and gave up the protection of TCM title At the fundraising Party of the Chinese conservative party on July 24 this year, I put forward the importance of TCM Legislation to the current health minister, hunt, and asked for the restoration of the title of TCM practitioners to allow them to continue to use traditional Chinese medicine His adviser replied to me on August 8 that the legislation is too complex and unlikely in the near future The Ministry of health is preparing to set up a new working group, which will be discussed by the ftcmp Mr Ren Guangfeng, chairman of Kangtai pharmaceutical, put forward at today's meeting that, even if the legislation can not be done temporarily, he can propose to give a transitional period and make temporary management regulations We in the field of traditional Chinese medicine can exercise self-discipline; all associations work together to formulate strict and feasible standards for practice If this self-discipline regulation can be accepted by the relevant government departments, TCM practitioners can obtain certain authorization to use proprietary Chinese medicine on the basis of one-to-one treatment The proposal will be discussed at the meeting of the new working group Of course, in the long run, the legislation of traditional Chinese medicine is the fundamental solution Reporter: there is a long way to go in the field of traditional Chinese medicine If your short-term and long-term goals are not achieved, what will be the result? Professor Ma: that would be tragic I appeal to all organizations and stores to inform the drug administration before September 6 and ask for the lifting of the ban plan On August 25, the summer workshop of the British Society of traditional Chinese medicine will appeal to the drug administration through a signed letter If the FDA insists, then I suggest you all join forces to claim from the FDA for the loss of inventory When necessary, we also need to consider preparing a lawsuit to apply to the high court for freezing the FDA's ban Once again, the British medical profession is at a critical juncture Only through unity and cooperation can there be hope of victory.