Traditional Chinese herbal medicine at the forefront battle against COVID-19: Clinical experience and scientific basis

David Y W Lee; Qing Y Li; Jing Liu; Thomas Efferth

doi:10.1016/j.phymed.2020.153337

Traditional Chinese herbal medicine at the forefront battle against COVID-19: Clinical experience and scientific basis

Phytomedicine. 2021 Jan:80:153337. doi: 10.1016/j.phymed.2020.153337. Epub 2020 Sep 28.

Authors

David Y W Lee¹, Qing Y Li², Jing Liu³, Thomas Efferth⁴

Affiliations

¹ Bio-Organic and Natural Products Research Laboratory, McLean Hospital/Harvard Medical School, 115 Mill Street, Belmont, MA 02478. Electronic address: dle@mclean.harvard.edu.
² Bio-Organic and Natural Products Research Laboratory, McLean Hospital/Harvard Medical School, 115 Mill Street, Belmont, MA 02478; Henan University of Chinese Medicine, Zhengzhou, China 450046.
³ Bio-Organic and Natural Products Research Laboratory, McLean Hospital/Harvard Medical School, 115 Mill Street, Belmont, MA 02478.
⁴ Department of Pharmaceutical Biology, Institute of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Sciences, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany 55128. Electronic address: efferth@uni-mainz.de.

Abstract

Background: Throughout the 5000-year history of China, more than 300 epidemics were recorded. Traditional Chinese herbal medicine (TCM) has been used effectively to combat each of these epidemics' infections, and saved many lives. To date, there are hundreds of herbal TCM formulae developed for the purpose of prevention and treatment during epidemic infections. When COVID-19 ravaged the Wuhan district in China in early January 2020, without a deep understanding about the nature of COVID-19, patients admitted to the TCM Hospital in Wuhan were immediately treated with TCM and reported later with >90% efficacy.

Approach: We conducted conduct a systematic survey of various TCM herbal preparations used in Wuhan and to review their efficacy, according to the published clinical data; and, secondly, to find the most popular herbs used in these preparations and look into the opportunity of future research in the isolation and identification of bioactive natural products for fighting COVID-19.

Results: Although bioactive natural products in these herbal preparations may have direct antiviral activities, TCM employed for fighting epidemic infections was primarily based on the TCM theory of restoring the balance of the human immune system, thereby defeating the viral infection indirectly. In addition, certain TCM teachings relevant to the meridian system deserve better attention. For instance, many TCM herbal preparations target the lung meridian, which connects the lung and large intestine. This interconnection between the lung, including the upper respiratory system, and the intestine, may explain why certain TCM formulae showed excellent relief of lung congestion and diarrhea, two characteristics of COVID-19 infection.

Conclusion: There is good reason for us to learn from ancient wisdom and accumulated clinical experience, in combination with cutting edge science and technologies, to fight with the devastating COVID-19 pandemic now and emerging new coronaviruses in the future.

Keywords: Medicinal herb; Phytotherapy; SARS-CoV-2; Viral infection.

MeSH terms

Antiviral Agents / chemistry
Antiviral Agents / pharmacology*
Antiviral Agents / therapeutic use*
COVID-19 / immunology
COVID-19 Drug Treatment*
China
Clinical Trials as Topic
Drugs, Chinese Herbal / chemistry
Drugs, Chinese Herbal / pharmacology*
Drugs, Chinese Herbal / therapeutic use*
Humans
Medicine, Chinese Traditional
Plants, Medicinal / chemistry*
SARS-CoV-2

Substances

Antiviral Agents
Drugs, Chinese Herbal