A few months ago, the “Twelfth China Herbal Medicine Enterprise Development Forum” was held. The conference is sponsored by China Medical Materials Association and is coordinated by nearly 100 pharmaceutical industry organizations in the world, with close to 5,000 medical professionals in attendance.

At this event, representatives from the Chinese medicine industry and more than 80 countries and regions jointly sponsored the establishment of the World Federation of Chinese Medicine Service Trade, under the background of the “Belt and Road Initiative”.

It can not be understated the importance for traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) for the Chinese economy and culture. The sector accounts for a third of all pharmaceutical sales in China (the second largest pharmaceutical market in the world), and just recently Beijing has made TCM a pillar of its new innovation driven growth model, investing heavily in the sector. From listening to the speakers it was clear that the participants were in agreement about the massive business opportunities for China to take their traditional medicine industry global, but there are challenges to tackle. We heard from delegates from New Zealand, Russia, Thailand, South Africa and more about their current national policies surrounding Chinese medicine and their ideas for the future. In some places it’s currently illegal, in others it’s set to be legalized in the next few months, and in others it’s already legal. Whichever the stance, the overwhelming idea is that for it to be widely accepted, medicine coming from China must have stringent quality control at its core.

MATRIX will use blockchain and gene sequencing technology as a solution to the problem of medicinal quality control.

On the one hand, we will use gene sequencing technology to extract DNA sequences from Chinese medicines and generate a QR code, which when scanned will reveal the storage conditions of ingredients, origin, processing and other information. On the other hand, the traditional Chinese pharmaceutical QR code information will also be present such as medicine transport, warehousing, etc. The data is stored on the MATRIX chain and encrypted to prevent counterfeiting and tampering. In addition, the use of blockchain allows decentralization and distributed storage, so that domestic and international parties openly share the information, which greatly facilitates the quality control and management of the products.

The Academy of Medical Science’s Institute of Herbal Medicine is one of the top research institutions engaged in traditional medicine in the world, and has undertaken more than 300 key research projects for the Chinese government.

Quality traceability is crucial for food safety, and especially crucial for herbal medicines. In the future, we will continue to use our technology to add value to more related industries, and help them further to build credible ecosystems.