Pakistan became testing ground for Chinese drugs

KARACHI- A press conference was recently held at the Golden Jubilee Hall of the International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences (ICCBS), University of Karachi. The conference was called by the Center for Bioequivalence Studies and Clinical Research (CBSCR) and Hunan Anbang Pharmaceutical Company. Among the speakers were Prof Dr M Iqbal Choudhary, Director ICCBS, Prof Dr M Raza Shah, the in-charge of the clinical trial project, and Chinese officials, including Mr Guo Chunshui, Commercial Counselor of Consulate General in Karachi, Mr Jian Zhang, Vice Chairperson of Hunan Provincial Committee of CPPCC, Chairperson of Hunan Federation of Industry and Commerce, President of Hunan General Chamber of Commerce, and Mr Feibao Chen, President of Hunan Anbang Pharmaceutical Company.

While addressing the conference, Pakistani and Chinese experts described the successful clinical trial of the first traditional Chinese medicine “Yinhuang Qingfei Capsules” in Pakistan. They called it as a revolutionary step in the country’s health care system. Experts said that the herb-based Chinese medicine would be the alternate of antibiotics for chronic bronchitis patients.

In order to introduce the effective treatment strategies and drugs for patients with chronic bronchitis in Pakistan, clinical confirmatory trials were conducted by the Center for Bioequivalence Studies and Clinical Research (CBSCR), which worked as a component of Dr Panjwani Center for Molecular Medicine and Drug Research, University of Karachi.

Prof Iqbal Choudhary congratulated the Pakistani scholars to reach the milestone of conducting the successful clinical trial of the first traditional Chinese medicine in Pakistan. He said that this was a historic occasion since that it was the first time in the history of Pakistan that a product would be introduced into the Pakistan market based on researches and clinical trials carried out in Pakistan.

Director ICCBS said that Yinhuang Qingfei Capsules was a natural herbs preparation developed by Hunan Anbang Pharmaceutical for the treatment of an acute attack of chronic bronchitis. Chronic bronchitis was a common disease related to chronic inflammation, which was caused by a variety of pathogenic factors, such as air pollution, smoking, and pathogen infection, he said.

Prof Choudhary maintained that although current treatments such as bronchodilators, antitussive drugs, steroids and leukotriene (LT) receptor antagonists, could relieve some of the main symptoms of chronic bronchitis, the treatments based on these drugs still often cause a series of adverse reactions. He said that because of its satisfactory clinical efficacy, as the main component of complementary and alternative drug therapy, herbal preparation of natural medicine had drawn more attention from all over the world. This had also played an important role in the prevention and treatment of chronic bronchitis.

Prof Raza Shah said that the clinical trial was carried out by using randomized, double-blind, double-simulation positive control study to assess the efficacy and effectiveness of Yinhuang Qingfei Capsules on patients with acute exacerbation of chronic bronchitis in Pakistani population. He told media that a total of 212 patients (aged 18 to 65) with an acute attack of chronic bronchitis were selected and diagnosed and evaluated according to the criteria of western medicine.

Chinese officials said that this traditional capsule was a natural herb preparation developed for the treatment of acute attack of chronic bronchitis.

Its efficacy and safety were evaluated by pharmacodynamics, toxicology, phase II and III clinical studies, they said, adding that since it was approved to be listed in China in 2002, Yinhuang Qingfei capsule had been widely used in clinical practice, and its curative effect was significant.