TCM hospitals' custom-made medicines popular with patients
Custom-made medications from local traditional Chinese medicine hospitals are taking an important role in medical practice. Some patients travel a long way to the hospitals for a prescription.
Officials from Shanghai 7th People's Hospital said it has a custom-made prescription called the Ningshendanxiang Mixture, which consists of seven herbal medicines with over 40 years of successful effects combating sleep disorders.
"In addition to the elderly with insomnia, young and middle-aged people experiencing poor sleep due to heavy workloads, and fast-paced and unhealthy lifestyles also come here for treatment," said Dr Feng Wen from the hospital's preventative treatment department.
"It's not recommended that young people take sleeping pills too early or for too long but prescribe them the Ningshendanxiang Mixture plus guidance on health management. Most people can see positive effects after two to three months."
The hospital now has six approved custom-made TCM medications including star products such as Shentengyangxue Granules for people with anemia and weak constitutions, and Jiere Granules for cold-like symptoms that works through clearing heat and detoxifying. Each sold more than 10,000 prescriptions this year.
The hospital's custom-made TCM medicines are a development for herbal remedies. It is considered ready-made medicine and must receive approval from the authority and is only available at the exact hospital that came up with the prescription.
Hospital custom-made TCM medicine is a development for herbal remedies.
Gao Xiaoyan, vice president of the hospital, said they had collected 96 TCM prescriptions with precise effects and few side effects and would gradually apply to the local FDA for custom-made medication registration.
"We have established a technology transformation platform between basic research and clinical practice," she said. "An innovative TCM development model from doctors' experience, hospital's custom-made medicine and new drug development have formed to perfect and boost self-made medicine to new drug transformation. To be convenient for patients, custom-made medicine is also available at our Internet hospital and can be delivered to patients' homes. While patients should receive an off-line diagnosis for a first-time prescription for effects and safety."
Custom-made medicine of other TCM hospitals is also popular on their Internet sites and some patients want doctors to prescribe a large quantity for storage.
The hospitals said custom-made medicines usually have simple packaging with limited shelf lives and in small production, and some medicines have temperature requirements for storage and transportation, so doctors prescribe an appropriate amount for drug safety and effect.
An elderly patient receives custom-made medicine from the Shanghai 7th People's Hospital's pharmacy.
