A Commonly Used Anti-Cancer Patent Medicine: Xiaopingping (Xiao Ai Ping)
Xiao Ai Ping is a commonly used Chinese patent medicine. It comes in oral tablets (Xiao Ai Ping Pian) and syrup (Xiao Ai Ping Tangjiang), as well as an injection (Xiao Ai Ping Zhusheye); its ingredient in all forms is the black-bone vine (Wugu Teng). Wugu Teng is not a commonly used Chinese herb—it is not even included in the Great Dictionary of Chinese Materia Medica. It appears only in works such as the Guizhou Minjian Yaowu (Guizhou Folk Medicines) and Quanguo Zhongcaoyao Huibian (Compilation of National Chinese Herbal Medicines).
Wugu Teng is a Miao medicinal; the Miao people in Guizhou and other places commonly use it to treat rheumatic impediment pain and various unnamed swellings. It dispels wind-dampness, unblocks the channels and invigorates blood, stops bleeding, resolves inflammation, and stops cough and wheezing. It is indicated for rheumatic impediment pain, irregular menstruation, traumatic injuries, bone fractures, and external bleeding. It may be decocted for oral use or soaked in liquor; the usual decocted dose is 10-20 g, and when used for anti-cancer purposes it can reach 30-60 g. When soaked in liquor, generally 500 g of white liquor can steep 30-50 g of Wugu Teng, with each dose around 15 ml. The Guizhou Folk Medicines record using 21 g of Wugu Teng, plus 15 g each of Jianxuefei (Mezoneuron), Tiekuaizi, and Wuxiang Xueteng, steeped in 500 g of liquor, taken three times a day, 15 g each time, to treat consumptive injury and rheumatism. However, several of these herbs are folk medicines of Guizhou and are not easy for patients elsewhere to obtain.
Modern pharmacological research has confirmed that Wugu Teng has anti-cancer effects and can be used to treat various malignant tumors such as esophageal, gastric, lung, colorectal, cervical cancer, and leukemia, and can also be combined with radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and post-operative treatment. Wugu Teng also has a good effect on chronic bronchitis and bronchial asthma.
More than ten hospitals, including the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, the Second Hospital of Shanghai Medical University, Beijing Xiyuan Hospital, and the Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, once conducted clinical observations on more than 7,000 patients with early-, middle-, and late-stage tumors. The results showed that Xiao Ai Ping tablets, combined with surgery and chemoradiotherapy, could produce varying degrees of synergistic enhancement.
Xiao Ai Ping not only inhibits tumors but also has anti-mutagenic effects and enhances the body's immunity. The active constituent in Xiao Ai Ping, "new C12-steroidal glycoside," can induce and promote tubulin polymerization, microtubule assembly, and microtubule stabilization, thereby inhibiting mitosis and proliferation of tumor cells and promoting tumor-cell apoptosis.
Xiao Ai Ping has almost no toxic side effects, which is relatively rare among the various anti-cancer patent medicines. Moreover, pharmacological experiments have confirmed that Xiao Ai Ping can markedly enhance the body's immunity. Xiao Ai Ping tablets or injection are a relatively ideal patent medicine for treating late-stage lung cancer and digestive-tract cancers, especially liver cancer.
Xiao Ai Ping tablets or injection can markedly prolong the survival of patients with late-stage lung cancer and digestive-tract tumors, improve their quality of life, and relieve cancer pain. In patients with middle- and late-stage liver cancer, infusing Xiao Ai Ping injection alongside interventional therapy can raise the five-year survival rate.
As an anti-cancer drug covered by medical insurance in most regions, doctors prescribing Xiao Ai Ping tablets and injection can also reduce the economic burden on cancer patients.