China is setting up a system to standardize traditional Chinese medicine production in the hopes of marketing more products abroad:

""In China, TCM now holds about one-fourth market share, but contributes approximately 40 per cent of the profits of the pharmaceutical sector," said Li.

"If we can determine the exact effective components in TCM and accord them with international standards, we will be able to promote them to a wider international market," said Jiang Zhenwei, general manager of the Shanghai Medicines and Health Products Import and Export Company.

The Chinese Government is paying more and more attention to the innovation and development of TCM, and has included the innovation into its next five-year plan, according to Li.

Although chemical compound medicines still play the main role in the world's healthcare products consumption, botanical medicines, which fall into the category of TCM, have shown strong growth in recent years.

The first botanic recipe from China will hopefully be approved by Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in United States, and will go into clinical tests early next year."