• Journal of Korean Medical classics
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.77-95
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• 2014

Objectives : This study was to analyze the definitions of herbs, herbal drugs, crude drugs and natural products in the relevant laws and regulations, understand the related problems, and propose directions for improvement. Methods : I analyzed the legal definitions in respect of herbs, herbal drugs, crude drugs and natural products in relevant laws and regulations since 1945, explained the problems, and suggested the solution-considering the academic stance of Traditional Korean Medicine and the dualistic medical and pharmaceutical system. Results : Herbs are defined as "refined things that are cut and dried in their most original state". The definition of crude drugs includes herbs and the "cell contents, secretion, extracts, minerals and other parts of animals and plants that are used medicinally". The concept of natural products is expanded to adding tissue cultures to the definition of crude drugs. Conclusions : The definition of herbs should at least include all products that are "processed, extracted and prepared" as well as contents that consist of various forms of hospital-prepared herbs. The term "herbal drug" corresponds to a traditional term of "drug", and this should be established as a concept to explain "drugs in raw materials that are used to prepare herbs and/or manufacture herbal medicine". The legal definition of herbs should include the concept of crude drugs. Herbal drug preparations and crude drugs should be included in the definition of herbal drugs.

• Journal of Sasang Constitutional Medicine
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2011

Reforming the insurance scheme for herbal drugs in the National Health Insurance is a long-cherished desire for Korean Medicine doctors. Because most Korean Medicine doctors distrust the quality of existing insured herbal drugs, which are powdered mixes of each herbal extract, the use and the expenditure of insured herbal drugs have been decreased in the last ten years. To address this, it has been demanded to insure the composite type of herbal preparation, which is the extracted powder of the whole prescription, to the benefit coverage for herbal drugs. Many stake holders, however, have so far been unable to reach an agreement on this. In this situation, Sasang Constitutional prescriptions are expected to make a breach of insuring the composite herbal preparations, because some of them were approved as prescription drugs in 1999. In this review, I discussed the problems of insured herbal drugs, the necessity of insuring the composite herbal preparations and Sasang Constitutional prescriptions, and the tasks of Sasang Constitutional Society to insure them.

• The Journal of Korean Medical History
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.111-122
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• 2013

Korean medical journals were continuously published during the period of Japanese colonization of Korea. Various advertisements by herbal drugs manufacturers were in these journals, targeting Korean medical doctors or students who aspired to be Korean medical doctors. The advertisements varied from small ones to large-scale ads. At first these advertisements covered only dried herbs, but with time, they came to advertise various kinds of drugs. Advertisement of merchandise drugs brought many changes to the medical culture of Korea. Korean medical doctors who only prescribed dried herbs before began to prescribe merchandise drugs as well. When treating patients, they not only used Korean drugs but also actively prescribed merchandise drugs and western drugs, showing an advancement in treatment. As Korean medical doctors played the role of providers of merchandise drugs, herbal drugs manufacturers and Korean medical doctors seemed as sellers and consumers on the surface. However, they maintained a relationship where Korean medicine worked as the common denominator. Among merchandise drugs, Yoeng-so-hwan, Bi-jeon-go, and Myeol-dok-hwan were advertised often, and this shows that people at the time suffered mostly from digestive diseases, skin diseases, and sexually transmitted diseases. Herbal drugs manufacturers were business managers whose main objective was to make a good profit, but they consisted a part of Korean medical society. Like Korean medical doctors, they were anxious about the fall of Korean medicine. As a part of popularization of Korean medicine, they encouraged Korean medical doctors to treat patients using herbal drugs and merchandise drugs. This thought was reflected well in advertisements and Korean medical doctors made use of this thought well.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.112-123
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• 1991

Traditional drugs(herbal and animal drugs) of Korea, China and Japan have developed essentially from the same origin, since the traditional medicine of three countries has been originated from ancient China. Due to different geographical locations and discrepancy of plant resources of the traditional drugs, some divergency in terms of systematic botany in traditional drug materials has appeared in the three countries. Present report aims to survey traditional herbal drugs that have been called same traditional names in three countries, but they are actually different with respect to systematic botanical view-point. The official drug compendia(pharmacopoeia and natural drug standards) of three countries were subject to examination. Survey was conducted by the following categories. Traditional drugs were listed under same name, however, 1) they belong to different genus; 7 traditional herbal drugs were listed. 2) they belong to same genus, but different species; 24 traditional herbal drugs were found. 3) a variety of related species are used; 15 traditional drugs were listed. 4) actually same plant, but taxonomical name is differently called and/or different parts of plant are used; 10 traditional drugs were counted. 5) animal drugs belong to one of the above categories; 7 traditional animal drugs were found. Total 63 traditional drugs(herbal and animal) were found to comprise different taxonomical names when the official drug compendia of Korea, China and Japan were examined.

• The Korea Journal of Herbology
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.9-18
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• 2018

Objective : Many patients take antihypertensive drugs as well as herbal medicines at the same time in order to treat other symptoms or to keep their well-being. In this study, interactions between herbal medicines and synthetic antihypertensive drugs were analyzed. Methods : To investigate the interaction between herbal medicines and synthetic antihypertensive drugs, three electronic databases, including OASIS, Mediline and Sciencedirect were searched. Experimental and clinical studies on the interaction between herbal medicines and antihypertensive drugs were independently reviewed and included. Results : Analyzing selected studies, twenty herbs were found to interact with antihypertensive drugs. Herbs found to increase the antihypertensive effect were Panax ginseng, Carthamus tinctorius, Magnolia officinalis, Silybum marianum, Scutellaria baicalensis, Schisandra chinensis, Sophora flavescens, Piper nigrum, Curcuma longa, Ginkgo biloba, Juncus effuses and Hydrastis canadensis. In contrast, Commiphora myrrha, Rhodiola rosea, Hypericum perforatum, Eurycoma longifolia, and Daturae metel were found to inhibit the antihypertensive effect. Stephania tetrandra could increase or decrease the effect depending on the type of antihypertensive drug. Epedria sínica was suspected of pharmacodynamic interaction with antihypertensive drug. Glycyrrhiza uralensis has been reported to have serious side effects in combination with antihypertensive drugs. Conclusion : These results imply that when used in combination with herbal medicines and synthetic antihypertensive drugs, proper doses and herbs which are to avoid need to be informed to the patients. Despite concerns about interactions between herbal medicines and synthetic drugs, related research is very limited. More systematic researches are needed to give information on patient safety as well as to guide clinical practice.

• Herbal Formula Science
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.285-295
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• 2021

Objective : This systematic review was conducted to investigate the effect of herbal medicine on Helicobacter pylori(H. pylori) infection compared to amoxicillin included synthetic drugs. Methods : Relevant randomized controlled trials(RCTs) which were published prior to December 26, 2020, were collected using PubMED database. Risk of bias evaluation and data extraction were done independently by two reviewers, and the third reviewer reassessed mismatching parts. Results : Two RCTs testing two different herbal medicines against synthetic drugs solitary treatment or synthetic drugs with placebo for herbal medicine were included. One study reported that there was no significant difference between the eradication rate of synthetic drugs and the herbal medicine. The other study did not report the eradication rate of the herbal medicine. One study reported histologic severity, the other reported dyspepsia score as efficacy indicators. There was no adverse event reported in all studies. However, the number of included RCTs was too small, the quality of reported data was not enough to verify efficacy of herbal medicine, and there were some methodological problems. Conclusion : It was difficult to conclude that solitary treatment of herbal medicine was as effective as amoxicillin included synthetic drugs for H. pylori infection.

• The Korea Journal of Herbology
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.1-16
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• 2012

Objective : To investigate the current status of prescription drugs in Oriental medical institutes and to draw up a future plan for the revitalization of Oriental medical health insurance, this survey has been performed. Method : The survey has been made with 321 doctors working at Oriental medical institutes in Daegu and Kyungbuk areas for a period of 3 month from June 1, 2010 until September 1, 2010. Result : 1. When it comes to the current status of the use of herbal drugs in Oriental Health insurance, most of doctors surveyed prescribe insurance drugs, and they prescribe insurance drugs to patients, who are less than 20% of total patients visiting their clinics. 2. The awareness of Herbal Health Care Drugs is investigated. When it comes to the understanding of the difference between insurance drugs(powder type drugs) and granular type drugs, doctors admit that they differ only in one aspect, whether or not their being covered by health insurance. Based on the survey results on the understanding of insurance coverage of granular type drugs, doctors, even though they long for granular type drugs to be accepted as insurance drugs, are worrying whether the number of outpatients might dwindle due to increased insurance co-payments. They also point out that the biggest obstacles in the expansion of the granular type drugs as insurance drugs are the lack of understanding of the government and the objection of the Health Insurance Review and Assesment service (HIRA) for fear of increased insurance claims. 3. Upon investigation on Oriental medicine doctors' understandings of herbal pharmaceutical industry, it is found that doctors' responses on pharmaceutical industry are not all positive ones('new product development and neglect of R&D infrastructure' and 'smallness of industry'). When it is investigated what area needs the greatest improvement in herbal pharmaceutical industry, 'securing sufficient capital, good manufacturing, and strengthening quality control', is the highest. 4. When it is asked what are the most needed in order to improve herbal health insurance medicine, responses such as 'the increase in the accessibility to and the utilization of Oriental medical clinics through the diversification of the means of prescriptions', 'the improvement of insurance benefits(cap adjustments)', 'increase the proportion of high quality medicinal plants', 'the ceiling of co-payments(deductible) at 20,000 won or more', 'expansion of the choices of formulations', 'formulational expansions of tablets and pills', and finally 'admittance and expansion of granular type drug as insurance drug' are the highest. 5. Upon investigating the general characteristics of the current status of the usage of Oriental health care herbal drugs, the followings are observed. First, the frequency of use of health insurance drugs by the doctors who use health insurance with general characteristics shows similar differences in case of total monthly sales amount (p<0.001), average number of daily patients (p<0.05). Secondly, as to the willingness of the expanded usage of insurance drugs, similar differences are observed in case of total monthly sales amount (p<0.05). 6. Upon investigating the general characteristics of the perception of Herbal health care drugs, the followings are observed. First, inspecting general characteristics and insurance claims due to increased co-payments(deductible amount) reveals similar differences in case of working period (p<0.01) and in case of total monthly sales amount (p <0.01). Secondly, inspecting general characteristics and the obstacles that hinder granular type drugs from being accepted as health care insurance drugs shows similar differences in case of working period (p<0.05). 7. Upon investigating the general characteristics of the understanding of Oriental Herbal pharmaceutical companies, the followings are observed. First, opinions on the general characteristics of pharmaceutical companies, when examined with variance analysis, shows similar differences in case of total monthly sales amount (p<0.05). Secondly, when opinions are examined on general characteristics and the problems of herbal pharmaceutical companies, similar differences are found in case of working period (p<0.01) and in case of total monthly sales amount (p<0.001). Lastly, opinions on the general characteristics and reforms of pharmaceutical companies, similar differences are observed in case of working period (p<0.001). 8. Upon investigating the general characteristics of the improvement of insurance Herbal drugs, the followings are observed. First, regarding general characteristics and insurance benefits, similar differences are observed in case of working period (p<0.05), in case of total monthly sales amount (p<0.05), and in case of average number of daily patients (p<0.01). Secondly, opinions on the general characteristics and the needs for the improvement of Herbal insurance drugs are examined in 5 different aspects, which are the approval of granular type drugs as insurance drugs, the expanded practices of the number of prescription insurance drugs, the needs of a variety of formulations, the needs of TFT of which numbers of Oriental medical doctors are members for the revision of the existing system, and the needs of adjusting the current ceiling of the fixed amount and the fixed rate. When processed by the analysis of variance, the results show similar differences in case of average number of daily patients (p<0.01). Conclusion : From the results of this study the first measures to take are, to reform overall insurance benefit system, including insurance co-payment system(fixed rate cap adjustment), to expand the number of the herbal drugs to be prescribed matching with insurance benefit accordingly, and to revitalize herbal medicine insurance system through the change of various formulations. In addition, it is recommended to improve the effectiveness of herbal medicine by making plans to enhance the efficacy of herbal medicine and by enabling small pharmaceutical companies to outgrow themselves.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.59-65
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• 2003

This study was conducted to analyze metal concentration changes following processing steps for crude, remnant after boiling, and decoction of Korea herbal drugs. We measured meta.! concentration from 20 random patients who visited Oriental medical clinics for treatment of several diseases through normal action. The results obtained were as below: First, in the study to acknowledge quality control between Korean Lab and Harvard Lab in the US, 20 equal herbal samples resulted in the same values, so we confirmed the precision of measurement results from both labs. Second, hazardous metal mean concentration in crude, remnant after boiling, and decoction of herbal drugs were $32.5{\mu\textrm{g}}/22.1{\mu\textrm{g}}/8.8{\mu\textrm{g}}$ for As, $0.0{\mu\textrm{g}}/0.0{\mu\textrm{g}}/0.0{\mu\textrm{g}}$ for Cd, $1.0{\mu\textrm{g}}/0.0{\mu\textrm{g}}/0.0{\mu\textrm{g}}$ for Hg and $5416.3{\mu\textrm{g}}/3639.6{\mu\textrm{g}}/1002.6{\mu\textrm{g}}$ for Pb, respectively. These metal concentrations decreased 72.9-100.0% compared to crude status. The same trend was also visible in the other essential elements. From reviewing these results, we could carefully conclude that decoction had the least amount of metal concentration and is the optimal way to intake herbal drugs.

• Journal of Korean Medical classics
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.181-198
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• 2014

Objectives : This study was to analyze definitions of herbal medicinal preparations, crude drug preparations, and new drugs from natural products in the relevant laws and regulations, understand the related problems, and propose directions for improvement. Methods : I analyzed the legal definitions in respect of herbal medicinal preparations, crude drug preparations, and new drugs from natural products in relevant laws and regulations since 1945, explained the problems, and suggested the solution-considering the academic stance of Traditional Korean Medicine and the dualistic medical and pharmaceutical system. Results : Regarding the current laws and regulations that are relevant to herbal medicinal preparations, we should 1) clarify the boundaries between the duty of physicians and that of pharmacists, 2) limit the principles of Korean Medicine as well as the contents of the related textbooks, 3) find a way to protect the intellectual property rights for herbal medicinal preparations, and 4) establish a separate standard for drug classification regarding herbal medicinal preparations. In case of crude drug preparations, we should 1) clarify the meaning and limitations of the phrase, "the point of view of Western medicine," and 2) establish a classification standard for drugs that are used in Korean Medicine and clarify the boundaries between herbal drug preparations and crude drug preparations. Furthermore, laws and regulations apropos of new drugs from natural products do not actually fit the concept of "new drug," and due to subordinate laws, a supplement to a new drug submission is contradictorily misclassified as a new drug from natural products. Conclusions : The problems of legal definitions of herbal medicinal preparations, crude drug preparations, and new drugs from natural products have emerged in the process of giving approval to drugs that are made of herbs and natural products under the dualistic medical and pharmaceutical System. Laws and regulations that differentiate the process of approving herbs that are used in Korean Medicine and the others should be established.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.20 no.1 s.37
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• pp.44-51
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• 1999

Analysis of residual pesticides in herbal drugs was performed by GC-ECD and GC-MS. Especially, selected ion monitoring(SIM) technique was applied to increase the GC/MS sensitivity. Analysis of residual pesticides was determined sensitivity and selectively without any internal standard by setting the SIM technique to their characteristic fragments for quantitation ion and confirmation ion. The combination of two detector, GC-ECD and MS-SIM technique, is abailable for determining a multiclass residual pesticides in herbal drugs. The average recoveries through the method were $65.9%{\sim}99.7%$ in herbal drugs. The data of gas chromatographic analysis was compared with the limits of residual pesticides in herbal drugs and agricultural foods. 4. 4-DDT was detected above the limits to the residual pesticides in herbal drugs. Diazinon and EPN were detected, but the limits of residual pesticides were less than that of agricultural foods.