Wildlife conservation activists have welcomed an update to China’s list of officially sanctioned medicines, which drops 13 traditional formulas containing pangolin parts. The move offers the world’s most trafficked mammal a better shot at survival and has raised cautious optimism among conservationists. China’s pharmacopeia, the country’s official compendium of approved traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and Western drugs, has been updated with a new edition, according to a recent announcement by the National Medical Products Administration and the National Health Commission.  Set to take effect on Oct. 1, 2025, this year’s update no longer includes any pangolin-based TCM, either as raw ingredients or in formula. In total, there are 19 medicines delisted, the government states. Christina Vallianos, wildlife program director at U.S.-based NGO WildAid, said the 2025 update builds on a 2020 change that removed pangolin scales as a raw ingredient but kept formulas containing them, continuing to drive demand. Vallianos said these patented medicines are produced by more than 200 licensed manufacturers using pangolin scales from a government-regulated stockpile, though the number of manufacturers appears to have declined since 2018.  The new edition removes official recognition from all TCM products sourced from pangolin scales, both raw and in formulas, marking a significant step forward. “I do think it sends a positive signal — it’s a step in the right direction,” Vallianos told Mongabay by phone. “Many people refer to the pharmacopoeia for teaching and practice, so having pangolin products removed is huge.” Among the excluded formulas is guilingji, a traditional…This article was originally published on Mongabay

From Conservation news via this RSS feed