Liu Pingjun, President of the China Council of Brand Development, Chairman of the Advisory Group of ISO Technical Committee of Brand Evaluation and Former Deputy Director of General Administration of Quality Supervision

(Photo by Yang Nan from China.com.cn)

Dear Vice Chairman Zheng Jianbang,

Vice Chairman Zhang Bojun,

Distinguished leaders,

Friends from the media:

 I am very pleased to participate in the 2nd "Healthy China" Development Conference and the TCM Industry-Education Integration Development Conference!

Lishui District, Nanjing, as a health care practice demonstration base and a demonstration zone of "Healthy Jiangsu", is striving to build an all-for-one health system. The "Healthy Jiangsu" demonstration model will play an important role in promoting the Healthy China.

Fighting against diseases and protecting human’s lives and health requires all countries in the world to make an effort. China's combined therapy of the East and West has played a crucial role in the fight against COVID-19. Chinese government has been highly responsible for the lives and health of the people and always determined to defeat the epidemic, which has set an example for countries around the world. I used to be in charge of the Department of Health and worked in the first-line to combat with H5N1 and prevent import cases in 2009, and the virus continued to mutate. The H5N1 has evolved into the current HCN9. Therefore, medical technology needs continuous innovation. Traditional Chinese medicine is extensive and profound. From the artemisinin to the remarkable curative effect of traditional Chinese medicine on COVID-19 today, it fully shows that the TCM is effective to fight against infectious viruses.

When I served as the director of the National Standards Committee in 2005, I proposed to promote China's three major brands to the world. The first one is Chinese tea, the second Chinese liquor, and the third traditional Chinese medicine. After 15 years, the result is not obvious. Chinese tea is exported to other countries as raw materials. Our country sells raw materials, and developed countries sell brands. As a result, the total sales volume of 20,000 tea companies in China is only equivalent to that of British Lipton Black Tea. Chinese liquor has gone abroad, but we can only occasionally see Chinese Moutai and Wuliangye in overseas duty-free shops. we obtained the status as the secretary country of the Technical Committee of International Organization for Standardization in 2009 and the current chairperson is also Chinese. More than 30 international standards have been formulated and promulgated, but the TCM has not yet fully gone out. Tasly Pharmaceuticals worked hard in the US market for eight or nine years and was finally eliminated. The quality and efficacy of Tasly Compound Danshen Dripping Pills are excellent, and I have used it for 25 years. So, was it eliminated from the United States for political reasons? Or does the product not meet the international standards set by our country? The reason remains unknown.

Non-prescription drugs are drugs that can be purchased on the premise of safety and approval from the health administration, without the need for doctors’ or other medical professionals’ prescription . They are also called over-the-counter drugs in the United States, or OTC drugs for short. The concept of OTC medicine is universal. There are both Western medicine and Chinese medicine. OTC is the best platform to promote TCM in the world. China has a large number of high-quality over-the-counter medicine preparations, such as Lianhua Qingwen Granules, Compound Danshen Dripping Pills, Banlangen, Colla Corii Asini, Pien Tze Huang, etc. We must take this fight against the epidemic as an opportunity to let all mankind recognize the important role of TCM and integrated therapy of TCM and Western medicine in protecting people's lives, health and safety.

Distinguished guests, today we will also announce to establish a "Chinese OTC Brand Cluster", selecting 80 companies as members. Minister Wang Guoqiang, former director of the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, will serve as the honorary chairperson, Bai Huiliang, former chairman of the China OTC Drug Association,will serve as the leader of expert group, Tong Xiaolin, the chief researcher of the Chinese Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, will be the chairman, Bian Zhenjia, Deputy Director of the Expert Committee of China Council for Brand Development and former deputy director of the State Food and Drug Administration, executive chairman, and Wang Guihua vice chairman. We will also select five major leaders of leading enterprises as vice chairman. China Traditional Chinese Medicine Association, China Pharmaceutical Quality Management Association, and China Over-the-Counter Drug Association will form a joint secretariat, and Comrade Wang Ao will take the position of the secretary-general. We will gather the joint forces of China's TCM industry and use OTC as a carrier to promote TCM medicine to the world and expand both of its domestic and foreign markets.

The target of "China's OTC Drug Brand Cluster" includes firstly raise the overall level of the entire industry by setting and using the standards of international leading groups  and establish a scientific and reasonable access mechanism to attract outstanding companies in this industry. Secondly, it is necessary for China to speak louder in the global stage in the field of brand evaluation and accelerate to promote the TCM to the world.

In 2013, China first proposed that in addition to “tangible assets”, brand value evaluation should include the other two indicators, “quality” and “service”, which have been recognized and supported by the United States and Germany. Germany supplemented "technical innovation" and the United States replenished "intangible assets". After two years of exchanges, the three countries,  including China, the United States and Germany have formed "five elements" , the brand value development theory, with "quality, service, technological innovation, intangible assets, and tangible assets" as evaluation indicators, which has been recognized and supported by countries all over the world. As the founding country of the "five-element" brand value development theory, China is the permanent Secretary State of ISO/TC 289 of the International Organization for Standardization Technical Committee on Brand Evaluation. After China obtained the status of secretary country, it has organized member countries to form international standards for brand evaluation. After five years, the main international standard for brand evaluation ISO 20671: 2019 "Brand Evaluation Basis and Principles" was officially promulgated and implemented in 2019. As being the secretary country, China has gained a greater say in international brand evaluation.

The OTC brand cluster should refer to the main international standards for brand evaluation developed by China, refine the evaluation methods of OTC drug brands, and publish the OTC brand list to the world so that global consumers can understand TCM and benefit from the TCM .

Thank you!