Xianchan Tablets: A Chinese Patent Medicine for Anticancer and Pain Relief

Xianchan Tablets is a commonly used antitumor Chinese patent medicine, listed in the Newly Compiled National Chinese Patent Medicines. Each tablet (weighing 0.25 g) contains Maqianzi powder (nux vomica) 50 mg, Chansu (toad venom) 10 mg, Buguzhi (psoralea) 0.17 g, Banxia (processed Pinellia) 50 mg, Yujin (curcuma) 50 mg, Renshen (ginseng) 30 mg, Huangqi (astragalus) 20 mg, Danggui (angelica) 20 mg, and Xianhecao (agrimony) 50 mg. Take orally three times daily, 4 tablets each time. Xianchan Tablets has the effects of resolving stasis and dispersing nodules, boosting qi and relieving pain, and is mainly used for treating esophageal, gastric, and lung cancer.

The Maqianzi powder, Chansu, and Banxia in Xianchan Tablets are all common anticancer drugs that use toxin to attack toxin. Among them, Maqianzi powder and Chansu are not easy to buy in pharmacies, and if Maqianzi is not properly processed, patients can easily be poisoned when taking it, so patients are not advised to buy and process Maqianzi themselves.

Maqianzi is a common TCM analgesic. There is a saying in TCM circles: without Maqianzi, there is no good orthopedics. Maqianzi is both a common drug for pain from fracture and tendon injury and a common drug for cancer pain. But when Maqianzi is used clinically, if the processing method and dosage are not well controlled, poisoning accidents easily occur. Maqianzi has a certain anticancer effect, but its main action is pain relief.

The Chansu in this formula is also a highly toxic TCM. From ancient times to the present, Chansu has been a common drug in TCM for treating abscesses, sores and ulcers, scrofula, and goiter—tumor-type diseases in modern medicine. Chansu is a toxic drug taken from toads; it has certain cardiac toxicity and can only be used in low doses. Patients with heart disease should use it cautiously.

Banxia is the rhizome of the Araceae plant Pinellia; used raw, it is extremely toxic, and dozens of milligrams are enough to be fatal. Patients often have medical accidents from using raw Pinellia according to folk single-subject recipes, so raw Banxia has been listed as a controlled drug and cannot be bought in pharmacies. Processed Banxia has greatly reduced toxicity and reliable safety. Banxia has an antitumor effect; TCM holds that Banxia resolves phlegm and dissipates nodules, so it is commonly used to treat phlegm-nodule diseases.

Besides these three herbs, the remaining ones—Buguzhi, Yujin, Renshen, Huangqi, Danggui, and Xianhecao—are all non-toxic. Renshen, Huangqi, and Danggui supplement qi and blood; Buguzhi warms and tonifies kidney yang; the four together support the righteous and secure the root. Xianhecao is both a deficiency-supplementing herb and a hemostatic and antitumor herb. Yujin activates blood and resolves stasis, soothes the liver and resolves constraint, and also relieves pain.

So this Chinese patent medicine Xianchan Tablets has a certain anticancer effect but mainly emphasizes pain relief. It has a certain relief effect on cancer pain in cancer patients and can also delay tumor progression. It can be used as an adjuvant anticancer drug together with radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and other anticancer drugs, or alone for patients with advanced cancer.