Chapter 7 - Synergism Effects of Active Ingredients From YCHT

Abstract

During the past few years, the pharmaceutical industry has seen a shift from the “one disease, one target, one drug” and “one drug fits all” approaches to the pursuit of combination therapies that include more than one active ingredient. The complexity of medicine suggests that treatment protocols should be carefully designed, and the construction of prescription is an art in fighting disease. Increasing evidence demonstrates that, in treating illnesses, including human acute promyelocytic leukemia, cancer, HIV, and chronic hepatitis C virus, treatment regimens containing multiple drugs can usually amplify the therapeutic efficacies of each agent, leading to maximal therapeutic efficacy with minimal adverse effects, and representing a triumph for modern medicine. Interestingly, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) formulae consist of several types of medicinal herbs or minerals, in which one represents the principal component, and others serve as adjuvant ones to assist or facilitate the effects of the principal component. TCM efficacy is usually attributed to the synergistic property, improving the therapeutic efficacy among multiple herbs and constituents, which has become known as “formulae compatibility.”