Gerhard Franz, chairman of the European Pharmacopoeia Committee of Chinese Medicine, said at the Hangzhou "Future of Traditional Chinese Medicine" International Summit on the 29th that as of May 2016, 66 kinds of Chinese herbal medicines have entered the European Pharmacopoeia, and the future goal is to make traditional Chinese medicine the most common At least 300 kinds of Chinese medicinal materials used are included in the European Pharmacopoeia, and it is the only way for Chinese medicine to go to the world standardization.

It is understood that the European Pharmacopoeia is the only guiding document for European drug quality testing. Based on the development momentum of Chinese medicine in Europe, the European Pharmacopoeia established a Chinese Medicine Committee in 2008 to regulate the sales and use of Chinese herbal medicines and proprietary Chinese medicines in Europe according to this standard.

Currently, there are 66 kinds of traditional Chinese medicines that have entered the European Pharmacopoeia, including ginseng, tangerine peel, Atractylodes, rhubarb, water safflower, Polygonum cuspidatum, Panax notoginseng, etc., accounting for nearly one third of the 184 kinds of herbs in the Pharmacopoeia. Gerhard Franz introduced that each Chinese medicinal material needs to undergo strict testing and verification to enter the European Pharmacopoeia. If one of the 37 member states of the European Pharmacopoeia raises doubts about a certain medicinal material, it will not be able to successfully enter the Pharmacopoeia.

After these 66 kinds of traditional Chinese medicines entered the Pharmacopoeia, there will be European-approved standards in terms of safety, quality, efficacy, etc., laying the foundation for the wider acceptance and use of traditional Chinese medicines in foreign countries, and also the first step in opening the export channel of traditional Chinese medicines.

Gerhard Franz said that the reason why it is necessary to clarify the position of traditional Chinese medicine in the European Pharmacopoeia is that it is difficult to correctly standardize and identify imported traditional Chinese medicine in Europe, and the mixed use of similar species, heavy metal pollution, and microbial pesticide pollution make traditional Chinese medicine often exposed abroad. A quality problem occurs.

Xu Zhiliang, the founder of "Doctor Licorice", has devoted himself to the export certification and testing of Chinese herbal medicines in recent years, helping Chinese herbal medicine exporters to obtain GMP certification from EU countries. He said that the quality of Chinese herbal medicines has a very prominent influence on the curative effect. Only by improving the quality of Chinese herbal medicines through standardization can the status of Chinese medicine in the world be consolidated and enhanced.

Wang Mei, a member of the European Pharmacopoeia Committee, also mentioned that in some countries, traditional Chinese medicines have yet to be "renamed". They enter the market as food or health products, and the quality control has not been fully managed. "Traditional Chinese medicines are medicines in China. Going out as a 'medicine' is the way to respect traditional Chinese medicine."