By Pamela Boykoff, CNN

updated 8:07 PM EDT, Mon May 27, 2013

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Hong Kong (CNN) -- At Chi-Med's labs in Shanghai, a group of 70 chemists has been working for a decade to try and crack the mysteries of Chinese medicine.

The company's scientists are attempting to break 1,300 medicinal herbs into their component parts and then test them for global use against diseases.

It's an ambitious effort and one that looks close to paying off. Chi-Med, in partnership with Nestle, has started the first worldwide phase III clinical testing trials -- the final step before approval for sale -- for a botanical drug based on Chinese Traditional Medicine.

If Chi-Med and Nestle succeed in winning U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval, the companies will be at the forefront of efforts to export Chinese medicine beyond its loyal following at home. They'll also have tackled the central problem in taking Chinese medicine global: how do you get a centuries-old remedy through the rigors of modern government regulation?

"The simpler the product, the better at this stage," says Chi-Med CEO Christian Hogg. "The more similar it is to conventional drugs, the better from the FDA standpoint." That's why the company has started with a drug called HMPL-004, which treats inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) including ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease.

The testing was made possible by a change in the FDA policies and procedures in 2004 regarding botanical drug products.

The new guidelines removed some of the obstacles involved in getting an investigational new drug application (IND), the first step in getting a drug developed and marketed in the U.S.

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Scientists taking Chinese medicine west