Yun-Lian LINResearch Fellow & Deputy Director, Medicinal Chemistry, Nat'l Research Inst. of Chinese Medicine

Current herbal medicine R&D in Taiwan carries out in universities and research institutes, are mainly funded by government for different purposes from upper stream fundamemtal research to middle stream R&D. Universities and institutes also work with some biopharmaceutical companies for middle stream R&D and down stream industrialization.

The National Science Council (NSC) is the main funding source for upper stream fundamental researches and also covers some middle stream R&D, and is implemented by means of granting individual project, integrated program project and industry-university cooperative research project. In addition, three National Science and Technology Programs in the field of biotechnology have been launched since 1999 for the purpose of establishing stronger interface among upper, middle and down streams as well as remodeling even better infrastructure for bio-industry development. The herbal medicine R&D is also included in these national programs. The National Research Institute of Chinese Medicine (NRICM), the only nationally mandated research institute focusing on traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), was formally established under the Ministry of Education (MOE) in 1956. The decretory duties of NRICM are in charge of the research and development of TCM under the jurisdiction of MOE. Current core research programs include herbal resources and quality control, evidence-based development on cardiovascular system, immune modulation, central nervous system, menopausal syndrome, anticancer, improvement of diagnostic instrument for Chinese medicine, medical literature and information for TCM.

As for the middle stream R&D and down stream industrialization of herbal medicine, there are mainly carried out in three organizations under the administration of the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA), i.e. Development Center for Biotechnology(DCB), Biomedical Engineering Research Laboratories (BEL) and Pharmaceutical Industry Technology and Development Center (PITDC).

The Committee on Chinese Medicine and Pharmacy (CCMP), a division of Department of Health (DOH), bears the mission to deal with all matters concerning Chinese medicine and pharmacy and also plays a key consultant role on Chinese medicine and pharmacy in DOH.