In the 1990s several big pharmaceutical firms, including Bayer AG of Germany, Eli Lilly and Pfizer, formed alliances with Chinese research institutes or companies that specialized in traditional Chinese medicines, aiming to apply modern drug-hunting techniques to screen Chinese herbal medicines for potential Western blockbusters.

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In the 1990s several big pharmaceutical firms, including Bayer (nyse: BAY - news - people ) AG of Germany, Eli Lilly and Pfizer, formed alliances with Chinese research institutes or companies that specialized in traditional Chinese medicines, aiming to apply modern drug-hunting techniques to screen Chinese herbal medicines for potential Western blockbusters.

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One such beneficiary is China Shineway Pharmaceutical, which makes traditional Chinese medicines.

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New wealth has boosted demand for costly traditional Chinese medicines.

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More than 150, 000 over-the-counter traditional Chinese medicines containing - or purporting to contain - tiger bone and parts from other critically endangered species are sold in the United States.

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The Hong Kong company aims to strike gold by expanding the global appeal of traditional Chinese medicines and by using modern drug development methods to unearth new drugs within Chinese medicinal herbs.

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