Lianhua Qingwen Capsules - Magic Medicine or Magic Stick?

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Li Yong China Labor Forum

In Shanghai's more than a month-long lockdown, residents have been facing severe shortages of food, daily necessities, and even medicines, trapped in their homes or communities and not allowed to go out for shopping. Since it is absurd and unfeasible to block 28 million residents for a few weeks, coupled with corruption and bureaucratic inefficiency, the government-distributed supplies are just a drop in the bucket for Shanghai residents. However, throughout the days of the lockdown, the official Chinese patent medicine "Lianhua Qingwen Capsule" had the most abundant supply, ensuring that every household could have at least two boxes. People naturally question: Is this a "magic medicine" or another "myth" woven to incite nationalism?

Pharmacy's defense

First of all, for this Chinese patent medicine, it is certain that it was definitely not developed and produced for the new crown virus, but was developed by the pharmaceutical company "Yiling Pharmaceutical" in 2004, and "took 15 days to develop". Chinese patent medicine. When the new coronary pneumonia broke out in 2020, the pharmaceutical factory published a report in Phytomedicine in May, saying that "Lianhua Qingwen" had "main clinical symptoms (fever, fatigue, cough, etc.)" of new coronary pneumonia. It has an improvement effect, and the duration of the disease is shortened. Therefore, this drug was immediately included in the "New Coronary Virus Pneumonia Diagnosis and Treatment Program" by the National Health and Construction Commission. At the same time, the pharmaceutical company also claimed that the "research report" indicated that "Lianhua Qingwen" can reduce the positive infection rate of new coronary pneumonia by 76%. These are basically the "evidence" that pharmaceutical companies present in the face of questioning self-justification.

However, upon closer inspection, these so-called "evidences" are very weak. This Chinese patent medicine was actually developed for SARS in 2003. Since the SARS epidemic subsided in a relatively short period of time, there were simply not enough patients as samples during the research and development process. Trials and Phase 4 clinical trials will be left behind. Subsequently, in 2009, Yiling Pharmaceutical used the drug in a registration study for the treatment of H1N1 influenza, and the reported results were considered not to be statistically significant.

Until 2020, "Lianhua Qingwen" took advantage of the CCP's nationalist propaganda and was endorsed by Zhong Nanshan, who was touted as a "national scholar", and became China's magic medicine to fight the epidemic. "Socialist" magazine consulted a Hong Kong-registered Chinese medicine pharmacist. She believes that from the perspective of the Chinese medicine system, the prescription of "Lianhua Qingwen" is only effective for "symptoms", but does not represent It has a curative effect on the "disease" itself, and cannot have any "prevention" effect.

Compared with the efficacy of the drug, what is more concerning is the issue of the transfer of benefits behind it. In 2015, Zhong Nanshan signed a cooperative research project on Lianhua Qingwen drug with Wu Yiling, the owner of Yiling Pharmaceutical, and established the "Nanshan-Yiling Lung Network Joint Research Center" in 2019. Therefore, Zhong Nanshan himself has an obvious interest relationship with Yiling Pharmaceutical. However, this relationship has not been publicly disclosed in any paper or research report.

Not only Yiling Pharmaceutical, but also the "Xuebijing" injection liquid included in the "Diagnosis and Treatment Plan" of the National Health and Construction Commission is produced by Hongri Pharmaceutical, which is Tianjin Hongri Health Dakang with Zhong Nanshan as the director. One of the major shareholders of Pharmaceutical Technology Co., Ltd. (holding 12.5%).

Such a direct and naked interest entanglement is carried out openly under the bureaucratic capitalist system of the CCP. In the sealed city, "Lianhua Qingwen" has absolutely sufficient inventory, which is guaranteed to be delivered to every household. According to statistics, such freight volume occupies at least one-third of Shanghai's total transportation capacity during the closure of the city. Yiling Pharmaceutical has obtained huge profits from it, but the price is that the public bears the risk of unknown efficacy and questionable safety of these drugs.

nationalism again

The CCP is clearly using the COVID-19 pandemic as a stage for nationalist performances at the same time. In order to build up what he considers "national confidence", Xi Jinping even artificially opposed traditional Chinese medicine and modern medicine, and let a large number of Internet navy attack and slander the safety and efficacy of various modern medicines. Even many Chinese traditional Chinese medicine practitioners are puzzled by this. The CCP has always claimed that the reason why it insists on the zero-clearing policy is to protect the lives of the people, but the fact is that everything from pharmaceutical companies to virus testing institutions has made unimaginable profits in the process. According to Forbes magazine, one-tenth of China's 100 richest people are from the medical or pharmaceutical industry. The CCP's dictatorship bureaucracy and the capitalists under China's capitalist system have their own place, but the people who have no right to choose and speak can only become the target of slaughter. Therefore, to safeguard the interests and health of the masses, it is not only necessary to challenge the bureaucratic autocracy of the CCP, but also to overthrow the entire capitalist system.