Founded over three hundred years ago in northwest Suzhou, Leiyunshang Songfen Pharmacy has been devoted to guarding people's health, winning praises from both celebrities and common people. But it did not rest on popularity across China, and actively explored foreign markets. It was once listed as the top secret of the PRC and has now been included in the national intangible cultural heritage. In particular, highly acclaimed Leiyunshang Liushen pill, having existed for one hundred and fifty years, will surely enjoy a brighter future due to its high quality and constant innovation.

Currently, China attaches unprecedented importance to the development of traditional Chinese medicine, which as our national treasure should be well inherited and made good use of. In September, 2017, Liuhshen pill, the flagship product of Leiyunshang, gained National Invention Patent with research results on its latest therapeutic use. It set a model for the innovation of classic or well-known medicines in history and for the inheritance and development of century-old brands.

Extraordinary stories about Liushen pill

In 1864 in the flames of war, a magical medicine came into existence. It was Leiyunshang Liushen pill highly favored by generations of people. Liushen pill is made with a secret recipe handed down from generation to generation using exclusive pellet preparation technology. Its diameter is only 1mm, with 1,000 pills weighting 3.125 grams, which is groundbreaking. The mustard seed-like black pellet consists of six kinds of valuable Chinese medicine, including musk, realgar and senso. A small dose of the pill produces rapid onset. The number of pills children take should be equal to their age, while that of adults should be 10 each time. After taking it, people feel ease in heart, lung, liver, kidney, spleen, and gallbladder. Due to its magical effect, its founding, preparation and inheritance have long been kept as secrets, which is the must-follow family instruction of Lei family.

Looking back at its history, Liushen pill made many brilliant achievements and left a number of legends. With remarkable effects in detoxification, anti-inflammation and pain killing, since its launch, it became widely known in the Mainland and was even exported to Hong Kong, Japan and Southeast Asia. In the Republic of China, dignitaries such as Zhang Xueliang, Yu Youren, Lin Sen and Chiang Kai-shek were surprised by its outstanding curative effect after taking it, so they wrote inscriptions and sent plaques to the pharmacy. After the founding of the PRC, Liushen pill was listed as a national top secret, and after that, was included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage. Former Minister Chen Minzhang of the Ministry of Health wrote that "Liushen pill is famous and can be called a superior drug".

Carry forward its achievements with innovation

Strategic Outline for the Development of Chinese Medicine points out that new features and advantages should be created in the process of innovation to ensure the sustainability of Chinese medicine. Leiyunshang has well survived for over three hundred years just because it seeks constant process innovation and product development while inheriting its essence.

Reforms of Leiyunshang witness its innovation. When it first came out, Liushen pill was often in short supply because of the complex process and limited production. Its current process is a result of three reforms. The first reform on process was led by Lei Lianbo and Lei Liqing, descendants of Lei Yunshang, while the second reform completed around 1921 during the Republic of China. The third one was conducted by senior pharmaceutical worker Xu Zhichao and national successor of intangible cultural heritage Li Yingjie in 1970, which made the pill win three gold medals of China Quality Award.

In recent years, Leiyunshang Pharmaceutical Group as a subsidiary of CGE invested a lot of manpower and resources in protecting intangible cultural heritage Liushen pill, making innovations and studying its therapeutic efficacy in new fields of antifungal treatment. Analyses on a large number of experiments show that Liushen pill has a significant inhibitory effect against common pathogenic fungi on skin and can obviously relieve itching. Leiyunshang also carried out in-depth clinical research on the effect of Liushen pill in treating tinea pedis, tinea corporis, tinea cruris, etc. The results consistently show that Liushen pill has a significant therapeutic effect against these fungal skin diseases. Besides, it does not produce drug resistance with low incidence of recurrence, thus enjoying broad clinical prospects and may bring out good news for people with other diseases in the future. This new application of Liushen pill has been awarded the National Invention Patent certificate, which injects a new force for the intellectual property protection of Leiyunshang.