The UK plans to ban the sale of Chinese patent medicine and a large number of foreign traditional Chinese medicine from next year

2013-09-06 source: Guangzhou daily, August 20 Today, the UK Drug Administration issued a warning on its website to remind people to carefully select some traditional Chinese medicines that have not been officially registered in the UK, saying they contain high levels of harmful toxins, including lead, mercury and arsenic The products warned include Niuhuang Jiedu tablet of Beijing Tongrentang, Baifeng pill of baolingtang and FA Bao of henglongchang Later, a staff member of Tongrentang responded that the "named" Niuhuang Jiedu tablet met the national security standards The problem was that the drug standards of the two countries were different Recently, local media reported that the UK drug administration has informed the Chinese Medicine Societies and some large Chinese medicine stores to report the inventory of Chinese patent medicines The FDA said it plans to ban the sale of Chinese patent medicines in the UK from the beginning of next year It is understood that traditional Chinese medicine has been repeatedly warned and banned in the UK due to quality and safety problems Reporters with high market threshold in Europe and the United States learned that at the beginning of this year, the Ministry of health of Canada issued a circular warning the public not to buy and take a number of Chinese patent medicines containing excessive heavy metals such as mercury and lead, including Tianma headache pill, Dendrobium night light pill, Neizhang Mingyan pill, Tianma pill, Baifeng pill, etc A staff member of a large domestic pharmaceutical enterprise told our reporter that because of the different standards and the strict requirements for drug quality testing when entering European and American countries, many domestic products with good reputation and large sales volume can only exist as health food, or simply be banned "Companies applying for registration must provide evidence of the effective and safe use of herbal products in EU countries for at least 30 consecutive years, and at least 15 years of use in EU countries and 30 years of use outside EU countries, which basically blocks domestic pharmaceutical companies." For this reason, he said, many domestic pharmaceutical enterprises began to "save the country by curve" and adopted various channels and models such as cooperation with local pharmaceutical enterprises to avoid these harsh conditions It is worth noting that a large number of "foreign traditional Chinese medicine" have been returned for sale According to the statistics of China Chamber of Commerce for the import and export of medical and health products, in the first half of the year, the export amount of Chinese traditional medicine reached 1.491 billion US dollars, an increase of 22.49% year-on-year The increase comes from the substantial increase in the export of plant extracts and Chinese herbal medicines In the first quarter of 2013 alone, the export volume of plant extracts reached US $330 million, an increase of 11.2% year on year, accounting for 47% of the export volume of traditional Chinese medicine "In recent years, China's export of plant extracts has been increasing year by year, but many of them have been processed into 'foreign traditional Chinese medicine' or health care products, cosmetics, etc with higher added value, and then sold back to China in large quantities." An industry observer told our reporter According to media reports, Japan's Jiuxin Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd develops Jiuxin Pill according to the traditional Chinese medicine Liushen Pill, with annual sales of hundreds of millions of dollars, and the biggest contribution to it is China; Germany imports a large number of Ginkgo leaves from China every year, produces products and sells them back to China "Many countries in Japan, South Korea, Europe and the United States are much higher than domestic traditional Chinese medicine enterprises in terms of patent and technology R & D, so the reality is that it is difficult for our products to go abroad, and it is easy for foreign traditional Chinese medicine to enter the Chinese market." He said Experts say that drug safety is a weak point Recently, the Ministry of Commerce and the State Administration of traditional Chinese medicine launched a key project of service trade of traditional Chinese medicine They hope to explore the development mode of service trade of traditional Chinese medicine, establish service standards of traditional Chinese medicine and cultivate international famous service brands through three years of efforts "Easier said than done." According to long Muheng, director of the otolaryngology research center of the Armed Police Hospital, recently relevant departments have been vigorously rectifying the main Chinese herbal medicine market in the country As a result, a large number of fake and fake Chinese herbal medicines have been found "If we want to enter the international market, it's not only the raw materials are excellent and the technology is up to standard In many countries, the pesticide residues and microbial pollution are much higher than the domestic standards Once a case is found, it may be stopped in an all-round way." Experts said that the "trust crisis" of traditional Chinese medicine overseas has always existed and even has a growing trend, so if traditional Chinese medicine enterprises want to go abroad, they should not only "unite vertical and horizontal" In addition to other practical methods, the focus is also on improving the quality to adapt to international or local standards, especially focusing on the clear ingredients and labeling of adverse reactions, because these are the most important and easily questioned drug safety issues (painted with jade)