Questionable quality has made traditional Chinese medicine hard to swallow overseas. Are the proposed national standards just what the doctor ordered?

Banlangen, also known as isatis root, a plant used to treat respiratory disorders, and Dahuang, a rhubarb root used to relieve constipation, are among the first batch of 160 Chinese medicine ingredients to be subject for the first time to nationwide quality standardisation.

The move marks a major step forward for modernising manufacturing in the fragmented traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) industry, after more than two decades of experimentation, according to analysts.

Beijing hopes to expand the appeal of ancient herbal remedies, at home and abroad, by setting unified standards that ensure a consistency of quality more in line with western pharmaceuticals. The perceived variable quality of Chinese medicinal concoctions has stood in the way of growth, many observers believe.

The Chinese Pharmacopoeia Commission of the National Health Commission selected the manufacturing standards for 160 so-called concentrated TCM granule products from nine firms as proposed quality benchmarks.

Of the 160 shortlisted standards published in November, some 55 per cent were submitted by industry leader China Traditional Chinese Medicine Holdings, according to a China Securities research report.

“Prior to this, the concentrated granule industry has always been in pilot production stage. Once the unified standards are launched, it will mark the start of the format becoming an official industry,” wrote He Juying and Liu Ruofei, analysts at the brokerage.

One of the medicines on the list, Banlangen, was snapped up in vast amounts during the Sars epidemic that gripped mainland China and Hong Kong in the early 2000s.

Traditionally, TCM is consumed in liquid form called a decoction – a kind of tea or soup – produced by simmering processed medicinal materials ranging from roots, leaves, flowers and bark to fruit and sometimes animal parts, for several hours.