NIE 2024 | Faimaiseng Medical Yin Qingfeng: Activating New Productivity Drivers of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Planning for Its 'International Expansion'

Here are the key points of Yin Qingfeng's speech:

Yin Qingfeng first reviewed the long history of traditional Chinese medicine. Traditional Chinese medicine has played an important role in the health of the Chinese nation since ancient times and demonstrated its unique value in the treatment of epidemics and disease prevention in history. With the progress of modern science and technology and medicine in China, especially in recent years with national policy support, the internationalization pace of traditional Chinese medicine has accelerated significantly. He mentioned that under the Belt and Road policy, China has established medical cooperation with more than 100 countries and regions, with transaction amounts reaching more than $28 billion, laying a solid economic foundation for the internationalization of traditional Chinese medicine.

Traditional Chinese medicine relies on empirical medicine, which is a challenge it faces in the modern evidence-based medical system. In order to promote the internationalization of traditional Chinese medicine, China has invested a large amount of funds in the research and development of traditional Chinese medicine after the 11th Five-Year Plan. Yin Qingfeng emphasized that the "July 22 Incident" in 2015 marked the necessity of standardizing clinical research, and China joined the International Council for Harmonization of Technical Requirements for Human Drugs (ICH) in 2017, promoting the alignment of Chinese traditional Chinese medicine standards with international standards; in the same year, the "Opinions on Deepening the Reform of the Evaluation and Approval System to Encourage Innovation in Drugs and Medical Devices" was issued, and the qualification recognition of clinical trial institutions was managed by filing. Since the same year, the state has continuously introduced favorable policies for traditional Chinese medicine, emphasizing that on the premise of respecting the laws of traditional Chinese medicine research and development, guided by clinical value, improving the whole life cycle management and encouraging the secondary development of traditional Chinese medicine.

Regarding market prospects, Yin Qingfeng mentioned two cases. In the field of treating chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, he believes that traditional Chinese medicine has huge market potential in this area, with a future market scale reaching 31 billion yuan. In the field of pediatrics, it can be found that a market scale of 18 billion yuan is only occupied by more than a dozen traditional Chinese medicines with high sales growth. The long history of traditional Chinese medicine has brought higher development success rates, and it is safe and effective, playing a complementary role to chemical drugs. These factors are all promoting factors for the continuous development of the traditional Chinese medicine market.

Yin Qingfeng believes that new productivity refers to the productive forces that promote the high-quality development of the traditional Chinese medicine industry through means such as technological innovation, industrial upgrading, and talent cultivation. It is the key to the transformation and upgrading of the traditional Chinese medicine industry to modernization, improving its competitiveness at home and abroad and sustainable development ability. The empirical knowledge of traditional Chinese medicine matches the real-world data currently advocated. Through means such as real-world research, artificial intelligence, and big data analysis, the modern clinical value and scientific basis of traditional Chinese medicine can be enhanced, and the modernization of traditional Chinese medicine equipment also plays an important role in promoting it.

Developing new productivity of traditional Chinese medicine requires increasing investment in scientific research, strengthening talent cultivation, and promoting industry-university-research cooperation. Yin Qingfeng mentioned two core technologies: integrated clinical research technology and medical big data + AI technology, which can accelerate the output of scientific research results and meet the precise medical needs of patients. They are important means to transform real-world clinical data into precise medical evidence and thus promote new drug research and development. In the three-in-one evidence-based capacity building system improved since 2020, informatization, evidence-based research, and capacity building training are guaranteed to modernize the traditional Chinese medicine industry. Specifically, the state attaches great importance to the role of empirical knowledge as an accelerator for the transformation of new traditional Chinese medicine drugs, providing convenience in aspects such as registration declaration, pharmacodynamic research, clinical trials, and indication layout. Yin Qingfeng mentioned representative achievements such as the chronic kidney disease big data platform, Qingfei Paidu Granules, and Kunxin Ning Granules. He emphasized again that behind these achievements is the premise that adhering to patient needs as the orientation of new drug transformation starts from the unmet clinical needs of individuals and society.

Yin Qingfeng decomposed the integration of traditional Chinese medicine and modern medicine into three directions: modernization of traditional Chinese medicine, integrated traditional Chinese and Western medicine, and internationalization of traditional Chinese medicine. With the Belt and Road policy, more and more countries have accepted the dissemination and clinical application of traditional Chinese medicine culture, but international recognition still needs to be obtained through scientific research and data evidence. He emphasized that for traditional Chinese medicine to be more widely accepted globally, it must be steadily promoted, paying attention to providing scientific evidence to ensure the reliability and safety of traditional Chinese medicine efficacy. For the sustainable development of new productivity of traditional Chinese medicine, in the future, it is also necessary to strengthen the protection and utilization of traditional Chinese medicine resources, cultivate a large number of professional talents with knowledge of integrated traditional Chinese and Western medicine, and continue to promote technological innovation in traditional Chinese medicine.