DISCUSSION Saturday, May 27, 10:30-12:30
Research Methodology in Traditional Chinese Medicine:
Challenges and Solutions
Speakers: Edmund Lui, PhD, Yuewen Gong, PhD, Steven Aung,
MD, Stephen Lam, MD, Michael Smith, PhD, Mary Wu, Heather Boon, PhD
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has a long
history of cultural use in maintaining health and curing or preventing
diseases in Asian countries. There has been a dramatic increase in the
use of complementary therapies, including TCM, by the public in North
America. It becomes important to examine the scientific basis and supportive
evidence for the safe and responsible use of TCM as an immunotherapy
and in conjunction with conventional treatments.
It is generally agreed that good standard of
evidence pertaining to the efficacy, safety, and product quality is
essential for its acceptance in North America and successful integration
into biomedical medicine. However, it is debatable about the meaning
of "integration", and what is appropriate in the design of research
to address the efficacy and product quality issues. The Second Annual
Conference of the Canadian Institute of Chinese Medicinal research (CICMR),
which was held in Sept 2005 in partnership with the College of TCM practitioners
and acupuncturists of BC and the Can Cancer Society, had hold specific
sessions to address these issues. These sessions had identified many
unanswered and unresolved issues that require further discussion. Accordingly,
we propose two related discussion sessions (1.5 hr each):
1. Methodology in clinical trials of TCM: cultural,
regulatory, industry, and scientific perspectives; and Session one will
be led of with a presentation of the summary of findings of the 2nd
annual Conference of CICMR. A panel consisting of representation from
NHPD, TCM practitioner, NHP industry, clinical research and basic research
will be assembled for a round table discussion with participation of
the audience.
2. A need for a Canadian TCM Research Network?
This issue has been addressed at the 2nd Annual
Conference, which emphasized on clinical trials and participation of
TCM practitioners. The primary objective of this proposed session is
to extend this discussion to include researchers in other disciplines,
such as social science, health service study, and basic/preclinical
science, complementary and integrative medicine. It is hope issues that
are not resolved in session 1 could be addressed and more importantly
mechanism for developing national partnership and networking to promote
excellence in TCM research will be identified.