Author Description

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is one of the oldest medical systems in the world, dating back to the 3rd century BC. Thousands of herbs have been used, as well as acupuncture, massage, dietary advice, and exercise. Chinese herbal medicine has provided the basis for some successful Western medicines. Ephedrine, a drug for treating bronchial asthma, was derived from Mahuang (Ephedra Sinica). Artemisinin, a cure for malaria, is isolated from Qinghao. TCM is considered an alternative medicine in the West, an integral part of the health care system in Taiwan. Unlike Western medicine, TCM is a holistic healing approach rather than a treatment of specific disease. Chinese herbal medicines are not designed to treat symptoms of specific disease but to balance and enhance individual health according to complex principles of TCM: e.g., Ying-Yang, the Five Elements, the human body meridian system, and Zang-Fu Organ Theory. This makes it difficult to perform good clinical trials using standards of evidence-based medicine. However, modern biomolecular technology and high-throughput drug discovery systems provide a new way to understand these traditional herbs. This review features quality reports focusing on the efficacy and safety of Chinese herbal medicines for the management of various medical conditions: cancer, bacterial infection, eye disease, cardiovascular disease, urolithiasis, and nerve regeneration. The combined efforts of researchers will make a breakthrough in TCM. The future will see not only ever more new drugs derived from traditional herbs and applied to clinical therapy of all kinds of diseases, but also re-evaluation of the TCM philosophical concepts via a series of properly designed scientific studies, giving this historical medicine a new life, like a phoenix arising from fire