Unlike Western medicine, which grew out of an anatomical and physiological framework following the invention of the microscope in the 17th century, the medical tradition of the Far East has developed independently for over five thousand years through an advanced medical system. This system, based on a view of the universe that seeks to treat disease with natural products, harmonizes life through pharmacology and nature.
Before the surgical methods of Western medication started to achieve major advances two hundred years ago, Oriental medicine was already operating under a cutting edge clinical system centered on unique pharmaceuticals (herbal medication) and acupuncture. This is the reason that diseases such as the Black Death, which were rampant throughout Europe, never caused great tragedies in East Asia.
Within Eastern medicine, the Chinese and Korean medical traditions differ. Chinese medicine takes a “disease-centered approach” by classifying the symptoms of disease. But Korean medicine seeks to prevent disease by restoring physiological balance to the body through the harmonization of an individual’s physical constitution and the environment. In this way, the Korean approach refines the factors associated with constitution-centered treatment in order to treat the causes of disease and has developed an unparalleled system of clinical medicine that differs from that of China.
Korean traditional medicine developed in its own scientific way using an herb-based pharmacology of more than 10,000 different medicinal herbs, the most famous being Koryo ginseng. Because of the deep 5,000-year history of this system of clinical medicine that can evaluate constitutional factors of the individual and provide prescriptions that prevent and treat disease, Korean medicine is even able to deal with so-called untreatable and incurable diseases that recent Western approaches cannot cure.
However, in the modern world and in spite of its excellent results, Korean medicine still suffers from a bad reputation of being non-scientific because it was later than Western medicine in introducing experimental-method verification processes.
Okchundang is working to correct these misperceptions by applying scientific and modern methods to traditional medicine. The company is doing this by collecting and systematizing Oriental treatment methods and data on constitutional-approach medicine through a specialized prescription system and platform.
Okchundang is centered on Oriental medicine, having built a large platform to connect patient treatment to raw materials using a standardized production and distribution system for thousands of medications. It produces medication in traditional forms such as tangjae, hwanjae, sanjae and gojae, along with modern tablets and capsules.
The name Okchundang is derived from the Chinese characters for “jade” and “wellspring”. Together, these express the company’s sincere desire for customers to enjoy a wellspring of endless youth where aging is not accompanied by the pain of disease.
President Seong-Min Gu has a vision to grow Okchundang into a global-level international company. He is doing this by fusing science and standardization with the excellence of Oriental medicine to develop a new platform based on modern standards that restores the reputation of Oriental medicine in the modern world.
President Gu is strong of his conviction that “only by preparing detailed and correct information can Korean traditional medicine re-modernize and globalize the clinical experience and results of Oriental medicine which has been passed down for thousands of years.”
Having worked hard in the field, President Gu recognized the necessity of an integrated database of information about natural substances in medicinal herbs, treatment results and methods of clinical prescription, constitution-based medicinal information, and standardized and demonstrable data on medicinal herbs and their efficacies. Therefore today, Okchundang is nearly the only company to have built a base on which to develop a wider Oriental medicine support infrastructure.
In order to standardize the quality of natural medicinal substances, Okchundang manages production locations all around the world and produces raw materials for medical products in manufacturing facilities that have been GMP certified by the Korean government through strict product quality management based on international standards.
The company has built a computerized system to manage all processes systematically right up to the point in time when patients receive their medication. This system provides information back in to the statistical process control system that manages the processes so that prescribed results can be achieved correctly each time that Oriental medicine doctors issue prescriptions for patient diseases. In this way, Okchundang is making it so that both Korean traditional doctors and patients can trust the safety and efficacy of Oriental treatments.
By building a systematic risk management system where all processes are traced, it becomes possible to control even very small amounts of harmful elements and the company has achieved and is being recognized for this by obtaining international certifications, such as ISO 9001. Thanks to this effort, thousands of doctors are forming partnerships and participating in the Okchundang system.
It is notable that the company is succeeding not only in building and improving this specialized infrastructure for traditional medicine, but is also at the forefront of popularizing the advanced prescriptions that worked so powerfully to prevent disease in the ancient royal courts of China and Korea.
Okchundang
CEO Sung-min Gu
+8052-263-0100
www.okchundang.com
