HONG KONG) -- The Hong Kong Consortium for Globalization of Chinese Medicine (HKCGCM) Monday announced that it has secured a funding of HK$10 million (about US$1.28 million) from the Hong Kong government for a project on modernization of Chinese medicine.

Six local universities will cooperate in carrying out the project entitled Modernization of Chinese Medicine: From Clinical Efficacy to Drug Production -- Two Innovative Formulae for Comprehensive Research.

Two clinical challenges, sleep disorder and post-stroke rehabilitation, are being selected for investigation.

The project commenced in May 2006 and will be completed by April 2008. Herbal formulae for both clinical challenges had gone through the evidence-based trial of efficacy and the component herbs have gone through stringent tests of safety. The next step is to establish comprehensive research by clinical trials.

According to HKCGCM, while there is a strong belief that many of Chinese medicine formulations have therapeutic value, clinical and scientific evidence is often poorly documented or seriously lacking. Therefore, the project will mark an important footstep in the modernization of Chinese medicine.