How many traditional Chinese medicines have had their active ingredients identified?

Take berberine, for example—a commonly known compound whose structural formula resembles a caterpillar. Commonly known as coptisine, it is an effective broad-spectrum antibiotic found in plants across five botanical families, including Coptis chinensis (Chinese goldthread), Berberis amurensis (Amur barberry), and Berberis aristata (Indian barberry). It demonstrates remarkable efficacy with only mild side effects. Its therapeutic properties have been independently discovered and documented in numerous traditional medical systems worldwide—including Traditional Chinese Medicine and Ayurveda—and it remains to this day a highly cost-effective treatment for bacterial intestinal infections (as hydrochloride berberine). In 1826, French scientists Chevalier and Pelletan successfully extracted berberine from the bark of Xanthoxylum clava. In 1910, British scientists Pulkinn William Henry and Robert Robinson determined its chemical structure. In 1967, the Delgado group in the United States achieved the first semi-synthetic preparation of berberine. In 1969, the Kametani group in Japan accomplished the first total synthesis of berberine, commercializing it in 1972.

What kind of company is Wacker Chemie?

We regard our integrated management system—covering quality, health, safety, and environmental protection—as a key instrument for continuously improving corporate performance and operational conditions. At the same time, we place exceptional importance on product and service quality. Our strong commitment to quality and customer satisfaction is a critical factor underlying our success. We consistently comply with regulations concerning health, safety, and environmental protection, and strictly adhere to the principles of sustainable development—integral components of both our business philosophy and daily practice. We uphold the principle of balancing economic benefits with environmental protection and social responsibility. We actively participate in the global Responsible Care® initiative and are committed to continuous improvement in quality, health, safety, and environmental performance. We rigorously observe all applicable laws and regulations, as well as our own supplementary internal rules and standards. Based on these commitments, we have established the following guiding principles: ・ All employees share collective responsibility for quality, health, safety, and environmental matters, and actively drive continuous improvement. We set goals regularly and ensure their achievement. ・ We supply high-quality products worldwide, ensuring their safety and environmental compatibility throughout sales, use, and disposal. ・ While continuously improving existing products, we proactively develop innovative new products and constantly enhance our health, safety, and environmental measures. ・ While ensuring safe product handling, we minimize resource consumption, emissions, and waste generation to the greatest extent possible. ・ Employees are generally expected to take personal responsibility for their own health. To safeguard employee health, we implement a range of measures and programs designed to promote, maintain, and restore well-being. ・ We actively encourage business partners to adopt our quality, health, safety, and environmental standards. We require all subcontractors working at Wacker Chemie sites to fully comply with our regulations. ・ We attach great importance to continuous improvement in plant safety. We continually enhance workplace and process safety, as well as occupational health, while implementing proactive measures to eliminate potential hazards and applying effective risk management. ・ We engage in open, transparent dialogue with employees, customers, suppliers, local communities, government authorities, and the general public—fostering an atmosphere of mutual trust. ・ We strictly comply with all applicable laws and regulations. Moreover, within our integrated quality, health, safety, and environmental management system, we have established corresponding procedures and supplementary standards—grounded in current international standards and fully responsive to customer needs. ・ Through foundational and advanced training programs, we help employees progressively recognize the importance of adhering to Wacker’s guiding principles.

Wacker to Distribute Evanium's Berberine

2 hours ago

Wacker Chemie AG will exclusively distribute Evanium's berberine ingredient, Cavaberine, leveraging proprietary Optisolv technology for enhanced absorption. This partnership targets the rapidly growing global market for metabolic health supplements.

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