Bulletin Autumn‧Winter 2001

Chinese Medicine Research and Further Development The University Grants Committee (UGC) announced the results of its second round of Areas of Excellence (AoE) selection exercise on 26th September 2001, making substantial allocations (HK$99,800,000) for the development of three research areas into i n t e r n a t i o n a l l y recognized Areas of Excellence. One of these was The Chinese University's 'Chinese Medicine Research and Further Development'. With allocations worth HK$25,000,000 to its name, the project is the third by the University that has been selected as an AoE by the UGC, following 'Plant and Fungal B i o t echno l ogy ' and 'Information Technology' in 1999. The project leaders are Prof. P.C. Leung (right 2), chairman of the management committee of the Institute of Chinese Medicine, and Prof. K.P. Fung (right 1 )，vice -chairman of the committee. While Western medicine has advanced very rapidly, i t has failed to treat all illnesses w i t h equal effectiveness. In areas such as viral infection, allergy, degenerative disease, chronic disorder, cancer, and preventive therapy, etc., its efficacy is surpassed by that of Chinese medicine. Western medical practitioners, w i t h their limited knowledge of Chinese medicine, have hardly ever used Chinese medicine as supplementary therapy. Similarl y pharmaceutical companies have not been keen to develop herbal medicine due to the lack of research on the subject and the high costs involved. Prof. P.C. Leung said, 'To gain recognition, Chinese medicine research must adopt an evidence-based approach. Medicines and treatments singled out for study must be clinically tried and authenticated before being turned into modernized drugs using scientific methods. They w i l l then be put under further scrutiny.' To do this, the Institute of Chinese Medicine 32