Interest in TCM growing globally

In the balance: Traditional Chinese medicine is facing an awkward situation at home while gaining in popularity abroad.
While some Chinese scholars propose abolishing traditional Chinese medicine, foreign pharmaceutical institutions and industries are pursuing them.

More than 100 countries and regions around the world have set up TCM institutions, with the United States, Europe, Japan and South Korea investing heavily in related research and medication development, industry, analyses show.

The UK-based pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline PLC announced its first TCM medication research and development program, which targets not just the Chinese market, but the global one as well.

“TCM is a well-established medical science based on thousands of years of clinical practices. It shows great promise treating complicated conditions that the single-target Western medicine has failed to handle,” said Zang Jingwu, senior vice-president and head of GlaxoSmithKline’s R&D in China.

“Our priority is to transform TCM from an experience-based practice to…