WP10 Kick-off Meeting (the Sino-EU GP-TCM Workshop): A very successful GP-TCM Workshop was held in Beijing (11th-13th January 2009), under the auspices of Ministry of Science & Technology (MOST), Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (CAMS) and Innovation China UK (ICUK). It was the first time that 26 GP-TCM team members, representing 8 EU countries and all the 10 GP-TCM Work Packages, met with ~40 TCM experts from Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Dalian, Hong Kong, etc. The Opening Ceremony was highlighted by the addresses from Academician Liu Depei, President of CAMS, Dr Michael Pulch, Deputy Head of Delegation of the European Commission to China, and Director Jin Xiaoming, Director General of MOST Department of International Cooperation. Significantly, Academicians Li Lian-da, Pei Gang, Yang Shengli, Xiao Peigen and Ms Manyi Cristofoli, ICUK Executive Director also attended the Workshop. We thank MOST for its generous financial support, Directors Xing Jijun, Zou JIanqiang and Zhou Longchao of MOST, Professor Liu Xinmin together with the staff and students of CAMS Institute of Medicinal Plant Development (IMPLAD) for their dedication and professionalism in making this meeting such an enjoyable and memorable one!

Led by Qihe Xu, representatives of all the 10 Work Packages (Monique Simmonds, Peter Proksch，Ian Sutherland, Peter Hylands, Javier de Lucio-Cazana, Pierre Duez, Andrew Flower, Kelvin Chan, Wang Xiaomin, Tai-Ping Fan and Annelies Schulte) gave succinct overviews of their plans for the coming three years, perfectly matching the high quality presentations by top TCM experts from China: Li Lian-da (Safety & Rational Use), Pei Gang (Modernisation), Guo De-an (Quality Control), Lin Ruichao (Quality Control), Liang Xinmiao (Herbalome), Zhao Liping (Top-down Systems Biology), Luo Guo-an (Chemomics), Zhang Weidong (Drug Discovery), Cheng Xiaodong (Anticancer Drugs from TCM), Ye Zuguang (Safety Evaluation of TCM), Wu Chun Fu (Toxicology), Lu Aiping (Pattern Differentiation and Clinical Trials of TCM). By invitation, Ms Lina Svedlund of Tianjin Tasly Pharmaceuticals shared her company’s experiences in TCM registration in North America, Europe and Australia. Bruce Hendry, Jia Weiguo, Alberto Dias, Lin Wenhan, Debbie Shaw, Allan Lau and Ning Wang served as chairpersons, presiding over the enthusiastic discussions each presentation aroused. The Workshop concluded with a very strong desire to combine the expertise and resources in EU and China for advancing the modernisation of TCM. Both MOST and the European Commission were very satisfied with the outcome of this Sino-EU Workshop and pledged to facilitate active collaborations between the two sides.