The 8th Plenary Meeting of International Standardization Organization Traditional Chinese Medicine Technical Committee (ISO/TC249) was held in Hong Kong, China from 5 June to 8 June. 

More than two hundred delegates attended the meeting, who came from over 11 member countries including China, Australia, Canada, Germany, Japan, South Korea, the United States and liaison organizations including ISO/TC-215 (International Standardization Organization Health Informatics Standards Technical Committee), the World Federation of Chinese Medicine Societies (WFCMS) and World Federation of Acupuncture - Moxibustion Societies (WFAS). Dr. LI Zhenhao, the general manager assistant from ShouXianGu Botanical Co., Ltd., was also present with proposals of the two ISO international standards Traditional Chinese Medicine - Ganoderma Lucidum Fruiting Body and Traditional Chinese Medicine - Dendrobium Officinale Stem. 

According to Dr. LI, with the social development and change of health concept, it has been a trend to return to nature and value natural drugs in the world. As the cradle of traditional Chinese medicine culture, China enjoys absolute superiority in traditional Chinese medicinal material resources all over the world. 

However, China has yet to really enter mainstream international TCM market since it takes only 5% share of the $30 billion overseas market. The awkward position of China in international traditional Chinese medicine has definitely something to do with the weak dominant power of China in TCM standards.  

The formulation of international TCM standards has long been a tough game for every country. Who dominates the formulation of international TCM standards is vital, because dominance in standard setting means initiative in technological and economic competition to some extent. According to data, the number of international TCM standards formulated by China as the leader and officially released may not exceed ten till now. And less than 20 of the thousands of traditional Chinese medicinal material manufactures are qualified to set the standards.  

ShouXianGu has been committed to promoting the formulation of international TCM standards. In June 2016, the application for the establishment of two international standard proposals “Traditional Chinese Medicine - Ganoderma Lucidum Fruiting Body” and “Traditional Chinese Medicine - Dendrobium Officinale Stem” submitted by ShouXianGu to ISO/TC-249 in 2015 was approved, further strengthening the voice of China in international TCM standards, and revealing the fact that great breakthroughs have been made in the quality improvement and scientific and technological innovation of ShouXianGu.

At present, the ISO international standards Traditional Chinese Medicine - Ganoderma Lucidum Fruiting Body and Traditional Chinese Medicine - Dendrobium Officinale Stem, formulation of which was undertaken by ShouXianGu, have smoothly passed the PWI (Preliminary Work Item), NP (New Proposal) and WD (Working Draft) stages and are about to step into the CD (Committee Draft) stage. 

As the old saying goes, “don’t bite off more than one can chew”. ShouXianGu is competent to set the said two standards, because it has successfully built a complete industry chain involving inheritance and study of TCM culture, traditional Chinese medicinal material breeding, standard wild-imitated cultivation, processing and producing technologies, and established perfect specifications for each and every link. 

The supersonic airflow sporoderm-broken, sporoderm-removal and other new technologies invented by ShouXianGu exclusively with efforts for over a decade have smashed the international academia’s conclusion that high sporoderm-broken rate of ganoderma lucidum spore powder with supersonic airflow was impossible, as a result of which ShouXianGu kept an international leading position in terms of overall technological level, aroused heated discussion among and drew the attention from medical experts and numerous consumers.

SHEN Yuandong, vice chairman of the ISO/TC-249, said in an interview with the journalist: internationalization of TCM is a national strategy, and the international standardization of TCM is the basis for TCM internationalization. 

So far, TCM diagnosis, treatment and drugs have spread to more than 180 countries and regions, and the establishment of standards is helpful to better ensure the safety, reliability and high quality of traditional Chinese medicine. ShouXianGu produces ganoderma lucidum, dendrobium officinale stem and other traditional, rare and high-value-added products, and undertakes the setting of international TCM standards, which is, to a large extent, conducive to the development of the TCM market, and helps provide more and better TCM products for the people.