Guest guest Posted August 8, 2007 Report Share Posted August 8, 2007 Hi CHA Folks: I have two clients who came back from Beijing recently. They were on a tour and visited the Tong Ren Tang Pharmacy at Tiananmen. They were given a " free " consult and then prescribed herbs and were told that the quality cold not be matched anywhere in the world. The woman was given the formulas Yang Xue An Shen and Bu Shen Juan Bi Pills. I will see her husband today and do not know yet which herbs he was prescribed. First, all the ingredients are not listed and second, she was charged $69 for a two week supply of each bottle of these herbs in hand-rolled pill format. While I know that Tong Ren Tang is a very famous pharmacy, I am concerned about both the content and the price of the formulas, Can anyone more familiar or who lives in Beijing help me out? I would prefer to give them herbs that I can prescribe here. Misha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 8, 2007 Report Share Posted August 8, 2007 It seems like your clients have been overcharged. I guess it depends on the format of the herbs they were given, but all in all, I have bought herbs there several times and never paid more then a couple bucks, especially in pill form (wan). I have heard in the past that tour groups were taken through the pharmacy, had consults and were later overcharged for patent medicines. Seems that this is what happened. Probably best to prescribe something new and familiar. Hope that helps. Eran Even Dr. TCM, R.Ac Coast Acupuncture & TCM --- Misha Cohen <TCMPaths wrote: > Hi CHA Folks: > I have two clients who came back from Beijing > recently. > They were on a tour and visited the Tong Ren Tang > Pharmacy at Tiananmen. > They were given a " free " consult and then prescribed > herbs and were told that the quality > cold not be matched anywhere in the world. > The woman was given the formulas Yang Xue An Shen > and Bu Shen Juan Bi Pills. > I will see her husband today and do not know yet > which herbs he was prescribed. > First, all the ingredients are not listed and > second, she was charged $69 for a two week > supply of each bottle of these herbs in hand-rolled > pill format. > While I know that Tong Ren Tang is a very famous > pharmacy, I am concerned about both the > content and the price of the formulas, > Can anyone more familiar or who lives in Beijing > help me out? > I would prefer to give them herbs that I can > prescribe here. > Misha > > Be smarter than spam. See how smart SpamGuard is at giving junk email the boot with the All-new Mail at http://mrd.mail./try_beta?.intl=ca Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 8, 2007 Report Share Posted August 8, 2007 , " Misha Cohen " <TCMPaths wrote: > > Hi CHA Folks: > I have two clients who came back from Beijing recently. > They were on a tour and visited the Tong Ren Tang Pharmacy at Tiananmen. > They were given a " free " consult and then prescribed herbs and were told that the quality > cold not be matched anywhere in the world. Tong Ren Tang's Beijing branch has some really high-end velvet antler, wild ginseng, and other valuable tonics, but their common bulk herbs are not particularly impressive in any way. In fact, when we got a bulk formula filled at one of their BJ branches (admittedly at the Chong Wen Men branch a few miles from the original Qian Men branch), the herbs were much lower quality than the typical US Chinatown shop. But for high-end stuff and products with identification issues (such as buying true niu huang, for example), BJ Tong Ren Tang is very good though overpriced. Eric Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 9, 2007 Report Share Posted August 9, 2007 Isn't that the standard Chinese herbalist business model? You get the consult for free and they fill your prescription on the spot - the cost includes compensation for the value of your consult & the practitioners experience. You should be paying for more than the street value of the herbs. FWIW - I've tried the Tong Ren Tong brand of pills now being sold in the US and haven't been impressed. That means compared to the mayway formulas I often use - the same formula doesn't seem to get the same results, even after increasing the dose to compensate for the slightly smaller pills (240 in TRT vs. 200 for mayway). Geoff , erany even <eranee wrote: > > It seems like your clients have been overcharged. I > guess it depends on the format of the herbs they were > given, but all in all, I have bought herbs there > several times and never paid more then a couple bucks, > especially in pill form (wan). I have heard in the > past that tour groups were taken through the pharmacy, > had consults and were later overcharged for patent > medicines. Seems that this is what happened. > Probably best to prescribe something new and familiar. > Hope that helps. > > Eran Even Dr. TCM, R.Ac > Coast Acupuncture & TCM > --- Misha Cohen <TCMPaths wrote: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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