China Develops Herbal H1N1 Vaccine

It seems that the government of China is catching on that their traditional medicine is worth gold.  I could’ve told them that a long time ago!  The Beijing Daily announced on December 17^th that they had gathered 120 medical specialists to conduct a 7 month study that proved the effectiveness of an herbal formula based on traditional Chinese medicine in treating A/H1N1 flu virus. 

This is fantastic news for everyone!  Well, everyone except the manufacturers and investors in the pharmaceutical vaccines.

The Beijing Daily announced it on their headlines. A formula called “Jin Hua Qing Gan Fang, ” one of more than 100 classic anti-flu prescriptions in the traditional Chinese herbal medicine formula repertoire, was proven effective in tests spread out at across 11 hospitals nationwide with clinical studies on 410 patients and more than 4000 mice.

Developing herbal formulas based on ancient medicine for modern diseases is not new, whats new is that China is getting savvy to the way the west needs information packaged. They went after this one knowing what the west wants to see: not accounts of how many lives were saved, but “In vivo and in vitro, experiments on mice and rabbits show JinHua[the herbal formula] can bring down a fever and resist the A/H1N1 flu virus,” said the vice president of the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Huang Luqi. They are applying for patents both in China and abroad.

Plants can heal

Of course, they would like to offer it to the world as an alternative treatment to Tamiflu, at one quarter the cost!  Tamiflu is recommended by the World Health Organization for the treatment of the A/H1N1 flu.  Dr. Cris Tunon of the WHO announced that they welcome the clinical results of the herbal formula.

This is exciting news for many reasons, not the least of which is that so many people can benefit from this treatment.  Its cheaper, and when correctly prescribed, no side effects.

I’m amazed at the way this information is spreading across the internet too.   Are herbs and traditional Chinese medicine getting more mainstream?  The SF Examiner even mentions it!  I guess maybe because the announcement came just a few days after another article about how about 800,000 doses of the vaccines have been recalled voluntarily by the manufacturer, Sanofi Pasteur, due to diminished potency.

What are the contents of the herbal formula, Jin Hua Qing Gan Fang ?  I don’t know yet.   The usual suspects I suppose.  I’ll post about the contents as soon as I find out!