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Road to Modernization : Chinese Medicine in Hong Kong
With the growing interest in the application and business potential of Chinese medicine around the world, the annual global sale of Chinese medicine is estimated to exceed US$ 16 billion. Hong Kong, because of its cultural bond, unique position and longstanding cooperation with the Mainland, and experience in trading of quality Chinese medicinal products, possesses the competitive edge for development of modern Chinese medicine and to facilitate its wider acceptance and integration into mainstream medicine. The ensuing article gives a brief account on the needs of modernization of Chinese medicine and sums up the government’s efforts in supporting Chinese medicine research and development (R&D) in Hong Kong in the past decade.
Though once eclipsed by the dominance of Western medicine, there is now a rising recognition of the effectiveness and advantages of Chinese medicine over allopathic medicine in treating a variety of major diseases in which surgery and western drugs are insufficient for eradicating or alleviating the symptoms. Nevertheless, advancement and global acceptance of Chinese medicine are dampened by its complex chemical composition, use of unfamiliar terminology, unclear quality standard, and undefined efficacy and possible side effects.
Innovation and Technology Commission
(http://www.itc.gov.hk/en/welcome.htm）
In his 1998 Policy Address, the former Chief Executive set forth his vision of promoting the development of Chinese medicine in Hong Kong. One of the foremost challenges is to modernize Chinese medicine so that it can be objectively standardized, medically proven, scientifically explainable, and effectively regulated. Through the Innovation and Technology Fund (ITF), the Innovation and Technology Commission (ITC) has been providing staunch funding support to nurture R&D of Chinese medicine to facilitate its advancement. By April 2007, the Innovation and Technology Fund has approved 26 Chinese medicine R&D projects with a total funding amount of over HK$70 million. Achievements of these projects include herbal products with evidence-based effectiveness, GAP guidelines, Chinese herbal materials monographs and quality index, mechanism studies of traditional Chinese medicines, novel extraction, processing and formulation technologies, and a wide range of technical platforms for R&D of proprietary Chinese medicines.
In addition, through ITF projects, a number of infrastructures have been established in the local universities and research institutions in the last decade to foster Chinese medicine research and transfer of technology know-how to the industry. Some examples are:
The Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Unit of Hong Kong Institute of Biotechnology
(http://www.hkib.org.hk/structure/tcm.htm)
The unit offers service to the Chinese medicine industry for research, development and manufacturing of high quality Chinese medicinal products in compliance with GMP. Facilities of the unit include a pilot production plant for producing Chinese medicinal extract powder from raw herbal materials, a solid dosage formulation facility capable of manufacturing sachet, tablet and capsule products for test trial and commercial sale, and a quality control laboratory. Several local companies, by collaborating with the unit, have launched herbal products under their respective brand names.
The BRI Traditional Chinese Medicine Center of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST)
(http://www.ust.hk/~bri/tcm.html)
The Center is dedicated to provide support for research on Chinese medicine efficacy and safety; explore new therapeutic potential of existing traditional Chinese medicine; develop new drugs; and provide consultancy and technical advices to the Chinese medicine and health product industry. It has also developed a number of bioassays and innovative gene-chip based technology for characterization of Chinese medicinal products and botanicals.
The High-Throughput Drug Screening Center for Traditional Chinese Medicine of HKUST
(http://www.ust.hk/~bri/HTS.pdf)
This center acquires an integrated high-throughput drug screening capability to discover and identify novel drug leads from Chinese medicines. A collection of vast arrays of molecular targets, proprietary compound libraries and high-throughput screening assays are available for drug discovery research for both in house projects as well as contract services. Its technology platform incorporates the latest industry-standard technologies and equipment to address different needs of the industrial users.
The Quality Research Laboratory of the Institute for the Advancement of Chinese Medicine, Hong Kong Baptist University
(http://www.iacm.hkbu.edu.hk)
Establishment of the basic constituents of Chinese material medica is crucial in quality control of Chinese medicinal products. The laboratory is equipped with a complete repertoire of advanced equipment and instruments necessary for chemical and DNA/protein analysis of complex Chinese medicine.
The Drug Development Centre (DDC) of the Chinese University of Hong Kong
(http://www.ddc.cuhk.edu.hk)
DDC is created to provide a complete spectrum of safety/toxicology, bioanalytical and clinical studies of both western drugs and Chinese medicine. Core facilities consist of six sections: safety/toxicology, clinical investigations, chemistry, pharmacology, formulation/pharmacokinetics, regulatory/quality assurance.
The Hong Kong Jockey Club Institute of Chinese Medicine Limited (HKJCICM)
(http://www.hkjcicm.org)
To further consolidate the foundation of research on Chinese medicine and strategic support for development of evidence-based Chinese medicine, ITC, with generous donation of HK$500 million from Hong Kong Jockey Club, set up the HKJCICM in 2001 to drive the advancement of Chinese medicine and assist the transformation of local Chinese medicine industry into a high value business.
In recent years, the government has also been actively fostering closer cooperation in innovation and technology with the Mainland. The “Mainland/Hong Kong Science and Technology Cooperation Committee” was established with the Ministry of Science and Technology to formulate technology collaboration and exchange programmes between Hong Kong and the Mainland. Owing to mutual interest of both parties and its great development potential, Chinese medicine was selected as one of the technology areas for further collaborative development. A Chinese medicine working group comprising relevant government departments and experts from the two places was formed to facilitate the exchange and coordination in areas critical for development of Chinese medicine.
To strengthen cooperation with Guangdong province, the Guangdong Department of Science and Technology and ITC launched a joint funding scheme in 2004 to encourage closer collaboration between research institutions and technology enterprises in Guangdong and Hong Kong. Research topics are identified each year for solicitation of proposals in Guangdong Province and Hong Kong. Given the emphasis placed by both governments, Chinese medicine has been included as a research theme in almost every round of solicitation since the inception of the scheme. The average successful application rate for Chinese medicine R&D projects under the scheme is about 40%.
A decade of infrastructure and capability building may seem trivial in the thousand years of history of Chinese medicine. However, the developments in the last 10 years have significantly transformed many facets of the Chinese medicine industry and research in Hong Kong. With further integration of resources and strengths from the government, business sectors and research institutions, and a closer tie with the Mainland, it is expected that the local Chinese medicine R&D and industry will continue to excel and contribute a fair share to the modernization of Chinese medicine.
Innovation and Technology Commission
July 2007
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