Tu calls discovery 'lifesaving' TCM gift

Nobel winner calls for more integration of Western and traditional Chinese procedures

Tu Youyou, China's first Nobel laureate for medicine, described her discovery of the anti-malaria treatment artemisinin as Western medicine inspired by long-established knowledge from traditional Chinese medicine.

"The discovery of artemisinin is a lifesaving gift to human beings from TCM. A combination of TCM knowledge and standard Western medicine procedures led to the success," the pharmacologist said on Thursday.