Through years of efforts, Committee of Chinese Medicine and Pharmacy completed the first version of Chinese Herbal Pharmacopeia which was announced on March 9, 2004 and had been implemented on May 1, 2004. The first version included 200 Chinese crude drugs species which were too less comparing to the numbers of items included either in the Pharmacopeia, PRC, 2000 or Japanese Pharmacopeia, 14th Edition, 1996. More items should be included in the upcoming revised version. Then chemical specification of those new items needed to be established. In view of this demands, the Committee of Chinese Medicine and Pharmacy listed the establishment of chemical specification of crude drugs as priority projects in the last few years. This project will select 20 items which chemical specification had not been established. Five tests including loss on drying, total ash, acid-insoluable ash, diluted ethanol-soluable extractive, water-soluable extractive of 20 samples of each herb will be analyzed. Additionally, six herbs will be selected and HLPC analysis of their marker constituents will also be analyzed. During the project period, we will consult staffs from Bureau of Food and Drug Analysis and QC staffs from major GMP Pharmaceutical factories to ensure the feasibility of the specification. The results will be provided as major references for revising the new edition of the Taiwanese Herbal Pharmacopeia.
