Fusion of Traditional and Biomedicine
Perhaps nothing epitomizes the fusion of traditional and biomedicine more than predictive, preventive and personalized and participatory medicine. The truth is that modern medicine is desperately short of new treatments. It takes years for a new drug to get through the research and development pipeline to manufacture and the cost is enormous. Estimates suggest up to 80 per cent of the population has tried a therapy such as acupuncture or homeopathy. And a survey conducted earlier this year found that 74 per cent of us medical students believe that western medicine would benefit by integrating traditional or alternative therapies and practices. Example –artemisinin, which is extracted from Artemisia annual or Chinese sweet wormwood, is the basis for the most effective malaria drugs the world has ever seen. But making traditional medicine truly mainstream — incorporating its knowledge into modern healthcare and ensuring it meets modern safety and efficacy standards — is no easy task and is far from complete