Medical herbal therapy preparations

Medical herbal therapy preparations are herbal preparations that have been standardized and extracted through modern pharmaceutical technology and have obtained medical qualifications such as National Drug Approval/Mechanical Brand. In essence, they are neither "skin-changing products" of folk remedies nor "natural panaceas" spread online. Currently, their clinical value in skin inflammation intervention, chronic disease complications management, postoperative wound repair and other scenarios has been supported by multiple evidence-based studies. The safety boundary is clear. The core disputes in the industry focus on the two directions of ingredient quantification standards and formulation mechanism of action.

Last year, during a follow-up visit at the Provincial Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine Dermatology, I met a 24-year-old patient with seborrheic dermatitis who suffered from repeated redness and scaling for more than two years. He used weak hormone ointment three times, but the symptoms rebounded as soon as he stopped. Later, the doctor prescribed a medical cream with artemisinin as the main ingredient, combined with sperm. According to Jian Skin Care, the skin barrier was basically repaired during the follow-up visit after six weeks. During the six-month follow-up, the recurrence rate was 68% lower than that of the control group who only used hormone ointments. This data was observed from a small sample conducted by the department at that time, and the changes in the patient's condition can be seen in real terms.

Oh, by the way, there are still many people who confuse Internet celebrity herbal skin care products with medical herbal preparations. The two are completely different. The former can be sold as long as it does not illegally add banned ingredients, while the latter requires toxicology tests and clinical verification to obtain qualifications. There is a huge difference. I encountered this pitfall before when I was helping my elders after surgery choose healing dressings. I mistakenly mistook the cosmetic-branded herbal repair ointment for medical grade. After applying it for three days, the wound was still extremely red. I later switched to the mechanical-branded astragalus polysaccharide dressing, which scabbed over after four days. Both of them looked "herbal". The only drawback was the extraction process and content control standards.

However, the controversy over this type of preparation has never ended. Scholars from different systems have been arguing for nearly ten years, but they have not yet completely reached a consensus. When attending an industry salon last month, the clinical pharmacy director of a tertiary-level hospital directly mentioned that the batch differences of active ingredients in many herbal compound preparations can reach up to 8%, and even the most basic content stability is not completely unified. It is indeed too early to talk about large-scale promotion. What he said is not unreasonable. After all, the purity of the active ingredients of chemical drugs can reach more than 99%, and the dosage and metabolic pathways are clearly understood. In comparison, the "ambiguity" of herbal preparations is indeed a flaw.

In contrast, there are views from clinical practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine. Many directors of traditional Chinese medicine departments feel that it is a logical misalignment to use the "component purity" standard of a single chemical drug to require herbal compound preparations. For example, in the Compound Danshen Dropping Pills that have been used for decades, you cannot use the single content of tanshinone in it to judge the effect of the entire preparation. It is the result of the synergistic effect of multiple ingredients. The target of action is inherently multi-dimensional. It is unfair to insist on an evaluation system for chemical drugs. According to the follow-up data of the Department of Respiratory Medicine last year, patients in the stable stage of COPD who insisted on taking the approved medical preparation of Cordyceps fungus powder had an average of 1.2 fewer acute exacerbations in a year, and their quality of life score improved by nearly 20 points. This effect is real, and its clinical value cannot be denied just because the mechanism of each step cannot be fully explained.

Many people still have a misunderstanding about this type of preparation. They think that "herbal" means "no side effects." But let's put it down. I once met a patient in the emergency department who secretly took more medical herbal preparations containing tripterygium wilfordii to treat rheumatoid arthritis. After taking it for three months, it was found that the liver enzymes had tripled. If he had come two months later, he might have developed drug-induced liver damage. Whether it is herbal or chemically synthesized medicine, as long as it is a medical preparation, it must be used strictly in accordance with the doctor's instructions. "Natural" is never a synonym for "safe".

Nowadays, the standards of the industry are slowly being adjusted. The quantitative requirements for single ingredients will not be completely stuck, nor will unqualified products be released casually. In the newly released "Quality Control Specifications for Medical Herbal Preparations" last year, new requirements for traceability of formulas and random inspections of batch stability were added, which are much stricter than before. To be honest, patients don’t really care whether it is herbal or chemically synthesized. If it can solve the problem safely and avoid suffering, it is a good thing. The development of medical herbal therapy preparations in recent years is, to put it bluntly, moving in this direction.