KARACHI: Sharing promising results of clinical trials pertaining to two famous Chinese herbal medicines, speakers at a programme held at the University of Karachi on Wednesday underscored the need for research to find out how the traditional Chinese medicine system being practiced for over 2,300 years worked.

The trials were conducted at the centre for Bioequivalence Studies and Clinical Research (CBSCR) at the Panjwani Centre for Molecular Medicine and Drug Research (PCMD) at KU.

The trials showed that the Chinese medicines — Fuke Qianjin capsule used for treatment of pelvic inflammatory disease and Houtou Jianweiling tablet used for treatment of chronic non-atrophic gastritis — had over 80 per cent to 90pc efficacy, respectively.

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“Both medicines were found to be better in performance than their allopathic counterparts, which carry greater risk for side effects and drug resistance,” senior professor at PCMD Dr Mohammad Raza Shah said while giving a presentation on the clinical trials at the programme.

According to him, atrophic gastritis is a chronic inflammation and thinning of the stomach lining, whereas pelvic inflammatory disease is an infection of the female reproductive organs. It affects young, sexually active women more. Delay in treatment dramatically increases the risk of infertility.

Earlier, Sindh Health Minister Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho said in her speech that the government was funding the training of young Pakistani doctors in the field of traditional Chinese medicine and establishing Chinese medicine clinics at government hospitals.

“I am pleased that my official visit to China in 2018 has led to tremendous collaboration bet­ween various institutions and industries of the two countries. It also helped establish the Sino-Pakis­tan Centre on Traditional Medicine and initiation of clinical trials at the International Centre for Chemical and Biological Sciences (ICCBS),” she said.

KU Vice Chancellor Prof Khalid Mehmood Iraqi spoke about Pakistan-China bilateral relations and the remarkable progress the neighbouring country had made in recent years.

Dr Aiguo Dai, in his keynote address, praised ICCBS for developing several high-quality service units, including clinical trial centres at the research centre.

Published in Dawn, April 27th, 2023