Unhealthy side of high TCM prices
By Dong Zhen |
June 22, 2011, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
THE price of traditional Chinese herbal medicine, a mainstay remedy for many Chinese people, is rocketing as floods and drought hamper farm production, and speculative money pours into the sector, industry analysts said.
Now doctors and traditional Chinese medicine practitioners are urging the government to step in and stop the upward spiral to prevent herb growers, hospitals, pharmacies and patients from suffering even more.
"Hospitals are struggling, said Jiang Jian, a doctor and vice president at Shuguang Hospital, which specializes in traditional Chinese medicine.
"The more we process raw materials to produce traditional medicine, the more money we are losing."
The Chinese traditional pharmacy industry is a big one. It valued 317.2 billion yuan (US$49 billion) last year.
The industry grew 30 percent in 2010, according to a report published last month by China Industry Research Report.
The Association of Traditional Chinese Medicine, which monitors price trends of herbal medicines, said the cost of 84 percent of the ingredients used in 537 traditional medicines doubled in the past year.
The strongest surge started in March, the group said. Analysts with the association said it's the fourth and wildest boom in the industry's history.
Similar but less volatile price surges occurred in 1988, 1992 and 2003. The 2003 surge was triggered by widespread fears stirred by the SARS crisis in China.
The latest price hikes have doctors and sellers of traditional medicine worried.
Price surge longer
Hong Duyun, a pharmacist in a Chinese medicine hospital in Guangdong Province, said he believes the current price surge has been longer and more severe than in the past.
But farmers certainly aren't reaping the benefits.
"The major share of profits doesn't go into our pockets," one Zhejiang Province herb farmer told the Guangzhou Daily in an interview last month.
The price of taizi ginseng, used in herbal medicines to help relieve cardiovascular disease and improve body strength, soared to as high as 905 yuan per kilo before falling back to about 800 yuan this year.
Earlier last year it was selling for only 30 yuan.
This ginseng, once among the most common and cheapest of traditional medicine ingredients, highlights the problem facing the industry, according to an investigation by Shanghai Daily. The herb is often used in medicinal juices and is now in short supply.
"Some wholesalers have stopped selling these herbal ingredients to hospitals that can't afford to pay the higher prices," said Yang Jinkun, a Longhua Hospital cancer doctor who specializes in traditional therapies. "Or they are limiting the amount they sell to just enough to keep up business ties."
In the end, it's the patients who suffer the most, doctors warn.
A local woman, surnamed Zhang, who is suffering from chronic hyperthyroidism, buys prescribed traditional medicine ingredients from her local pharmacy.
She said the cost to buy the herbs she puts into a daily juice drink have shot up to 350 yuan for a two-week supply from 150 yuan last year.
"I have to keep taking this medicine," she said. "I fear the effects if I don't. It would be cheaper for me to use Western drugs to control my disease, but I really prefer traditional medicine because it's safer and gentler on the body."
Hospitals that prepare prescriptions using medicinal herbs are forbidden from raising prices. But there are no such restraints on wholesalers just blocks away, who are selling some of the same herbs without much government scrutiny.
"The hospitals have virtually no room to raise prices to be able to afford purchase of the herbs, while on the wholesale market, prices continue to surge," said Xu Desheng, a veteran pharmacist at the Shuguang Hospital.
Tough stance
Doctors and pharmacists want local pricing authorities and other government agencies to step in quickly. They are also alarmed by what they say are some dealers offering low-quality medicinal herbs at discount prices.
National pricing authorities have vowed to take a tougher stance against speculators who are driving up agricultural prices, including herbal drug ingredients.
But doctors and pharmacist worry that these efforts are too little, too late.
"We believe prices will continue to grow this year," said Jiang Erguo, a deputy director at the information center of the Association of Traditional Chinese Medicine.
Now doctors and traditional Chinese medicine practitioners are urging the government to step in and stop the upward spiral to prevent herb growers, hospitals, pharmacies and patients from suffering even more.
"Hospitals are struggling, said Jiang Jian, a doctor and vice president at Shuguang Hospital, which specializes in traditional Chinese medicine.
"The more we process raw materials to produce traditional medicine, the more money we are losing."
The Chinese traditional pharmacy industry is a big one. It valued 317.2 billion yuan (US$49 billion) last year.
The industry grew 30 percent in 2010, according to a report published last month by China Industry Research Report.
The Association of Traditional Chinese Medicine, which monitors price trends of herbal medicines, said the cost of 84 percent of the ingredients used in 537 traditional medicines doubled in the past year.
The strongest surge started in March, the group said. Analysts with the association said it's the fourth and wildest boom in the industry's history.
Similar but less volatile price surges occurred in 1988, 1992 and 2003. The 2003 surge was triggered by widespread fears stirred by the SARS crisis in China.
The latest price hikes have doctors and sellers of traditional medicine worried.
Price surge longer
Hong Duyun, a pharmacist in a Chinese medicine hospital in Guangdong Province, said he believes the current price surge has been longer and more severe than in the past.
But farmers certainly aren't reaping the benefits.
"The major share of profits doesn't go into our pockets," one Zhejiang Province herb farmer told the Guangzhou Daily in an interview last month.
The price of taizi ginseng, used in herbal medicines to help relieve cardiovascular disease and improve body strength, soared to as high as 905 yuan per kilo before falling back to about 800 yuan this year.
Earlier last year it was selling for only 30 yuan.
This ginseng, once among the most common and cheapest of traditional medicine ingredients, highlights the problem facing the industry, according to an investigation by Shanghai Daily. The herb is often used in medicinal juices and is now in short supply.
"Some wholesalers have stopped selling these herbal ingredients to hospitals that can't afford to pay the higher prices," said Yang Jinkun, a Longhua Hospital cancer doctor who specializes in traditional therapies. "Or they are limiting the amount they sell to just enough to keep up business ties."
In the end, it's the patients who suffer the most, doctors warn.
A local woman, surnamed Zhang, who is suffering from chronic hyperthyroidism, buys prescribed traditional medicine ingredients from her local pharmacy.
She said the cost to buy the herbs she puts into a daily juice drink have shot up to 350 yuan for a two-week supply from 150 yuan last year.
"I have to keep taking this medicine," she said. "I fear the effects if I don't. It would be cheaper for me to use Western drugs to control my disease, but I really prefer traditional medicine because it's safer and gentler on the body."
Hospitals that prepare prescriptions using medicinal herbs are forbidden from raising prices. But there are no such restraints on wholesalers just blocks away, who are selling some of the same herbs without much government scrutiny.
"The hospitals have virtually no room to raise prices to be able to afford purchase of the herbs, while on the wholesale market, prices continue to surge," said Xu Desheng, a veteran pharmacist at the Shuguang Hospital.
Tough stance
Doctors and pharmacists want local pricing authorities and other government agencies to step in quickly. They are also alarmed by what they say are some dealers offering low-quality medicinal herbs at discount prices.
National pricing authorities have vowed to take a tougher stance against speculators who are driving up agricultural prices, including herbal drug ingredients.
But doctors and pharmacist worry that these efforts are too little, too late.
"We believe prices will continue to grow this year," said Jiang Erguo, a deputy director at the information center of the Association of Traditional Chinese Medicine.
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