Analysis of the Medicinal Properties, Efficacy, and Application of Chinese Medicines in the 2020 Edition of <i>Chinese Pharmacopoeia</i>

Objective: "Medicinal herbs and decoction pieces" in the 2020 edition of <i>Chinese Pharmacopoeia</i> (Part 1) includes a total of 616 items of traditional Chinese medicine. This study is aimed to grasp the overview of all traditional Chinese medicine and discover special ones. Methods: This study conducted statistical analysis of their basic information such as the properties, efficacy, application, dosage and usage. Results: The Chinese Pharmacopoeia has 9 descriptions of the four properties, with the highest number of warm medicines. For the five flavors, the number of bitter medicines is the highest. For meridian tropism, the liver-channel medicines are the majority. Huanglian with 6 meridians is the Chinese medicine with the most meridian tropism. For toxicity, a total of 83 traditional Chinese medicines has clear toxicity descriptions, divided into three levels: "with high toxicity", "toxic", and "with low toxicity". For efficacy, the "heat clearing" effect is the majority. Hongqi and Huangqi are the medicines with the most efficacy. For application, the frequency of "swelling and pain" is the highest. Huanglian is the medicine with the most applications. For the dosage, the average is 6-13g. The minimum value is 0.015g of Chansu and the maximum one is 120g of Maozhaocao. Moreover, the weakening of the "traditional Chinese medicine" characteristics in certain individual herbs and the inadequacy in the description of ethnopharmacological drugs were observed. Additionally, limitations were identified in the representation of toxicity and dosage for external use, which failed to adequately integrate modern toxicological and clinical data. Conclusion: This study reveals the basic information overview of traditional Chinese medicines in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia regarding their four properties, five flavors, meridian tropism, toxicity, therapeutic indications, dosage, and administration methods. It showcases the uniqueness in the description of some traditional Chinese medicines and points out issues such as the insufficient "traditional Chinese medicine" characteristics in certain varieties, the need for improvement in compilation standardization, and the ambiguity in dosage for external use.