KAMPO TODAY:Kampo Therapy and Clinical Research Put Down Roots in Germany

Patients of Dr. Heidrun Reissenweber, who heads Munich's Research Unit for Japanese Phytotherapy (Kampo), benefit from her experience at leading centers of Kampo research and therapy in Japan.

ndicative of the growing interest in Kampo medicine in Germany, the Research Unit for Japanese Phytotherapy (Kampo) was established in the Internal Medicine Department of Munich University Medical School in July 1997. Dr. Heidrun Reissenweber, who heads the Unit, spent over two years studying Kampo therapy, research and education in Japan, beginning in 1995. While in Japan, she was based at the Oriental Medicine Research Center of the Kitasato Institute in Tokyo.

She also had the opportunity to study several months at the Department of Japanese Oriental (Kampo) Medicine of Toyama Medical and Pharmaceutical University in Toyama. Both institutions are leading centers of Kampo research and therapy and have been designated WHO Collaborating Centers for Traditional Medicine. The Research Unit at Munich University - the first of its kind in that country devoted to the study of Kampo therapy - was established upon Dr. Reissenweber's return to Germany. Its principal activities are providing Kampo therapy and carrying out clinical studies of Kampo medicines, and Dr. Reissenweber herself focuses most of her attention on clinical studies with outpatients.

Research Unit is housed at Munich University Medical School's Internal Medicine Department.

According to a recent public opinion survey in Germany, about 90% of those responding said that when they are ill, they prefer to select Natural Therapies, including herbal medicines, rather than conventional "modern" medical treatment. Over 6,000 kinds of herbal preparations are used in Natural Therapies, and the size of the global market for prescription and OTC herbal medicinal products has grown to about $2 billion annually. The EC accounts for about 50% of global sales of herbal medicines.

Natural Therapies is a general term for therapies utilizing such natural elements as water, sunlight, plants and minerals. Fifth-year medical students in Germany take a yearlong course in Natural Therapies, and it is one of the subjects for the German national medical examination. Moreover, physicians who have already obtained a conventional specialization, such as internal medicine or gynecology, may obtain an additional qualification in Natural Therapies once they have gained two years of clinical experience in a special institution for Natural Therapies and passed a board examination. Today, about 15,000 physicians specialized in Natural Therapies practice in Germany.

While pursuing her specialization in internal medicine at Munich University, Dr. Reissenweber also earned a Ph. D. based on her research on "Medicinal Herb Gardens in Japan during the Edo Period and their Significance for the History of Pharmaceutics." Then, at the recommendation of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, she went to Japan to observe the actual practice of Kampo diagnosis and treatment of patients side-by-side with Japanese physicians at the Kitasato Institute and Toyama University.

According to Associate Professor J. C. Cyong of the University of Tokyo's Department of Bioregulatory Function, who has long been affiliated with the Kitasato Institute, already more than 10 German physicians have studied Kampo therapy and have gone on to practice it in Germany, Spain and elsewhere. However, this is the first time that a full-fledged unit dedicated to clinical research of Kampo treatment has been established within a major German university hospital. Thus, at a time when herbal medicine is attracting attention around the world, the fruits of the clinical studies and other activities at Munich University's new Research Unit are anticipated with great interest.