Xiaoke pill was mainly based on the two famous ancient prescriptions for diabetes in Yuan and Qing Dynasties.

Family with a diabetic must be familiar with "Xiaoke Pill". It is the hit product created exclusively by Baiyunshan Zhongyi Chinese Medicine Factory as the effective medicine for diabetes through modern and traditional treatment. Furthermore, there is an unusual "Gu" (legend) about how it came into the world.

The old term of diabetes is Xiaoke in china, which was recorded in articles, Su Wen and Ling Shu, in Chinese earliest text Huang Di Nei Jing in 400 BC. The ingredients of Xiaoke pill were mainly based on the two famous ancient prescriptions for diabetes in Yuan and Qing Dynasties. One is Xiaoke Fang written by Zhu Danxi, the famous doctor in Yuan Dynasty, and the other is Yuquan San by the noted doctor Ye Tianshi in Qing Dynasty.

Doctor Zhu Danxi in the Yuan Dynasty.

Actually, both of the ancient prescriptions were embodied in historical materials and essays, and relevant folk experiential recipes were the usage of single herb or various traditional Chinese medicines in daily life, but there was not the patent medicine based on the ancient prescriptions until 1970s.

Xie Juezai, as the predecessor of proletarian revolution and ever Minister of Ministry of the Interior, President of the Supreme People's Court, Vice-Chairperson of The CPPCC National Committee, had suffered from diabetes, and afterwards was accidentally cured by a secret recipe. He particularly wrote a poem to praise the magical curative power. When the poem was published in Selected Poems by Ten Republican Elders, Xie, one of ten republican elders, personally wrote an explanatory note for his poem and mentioned the famous prescription Yuquan San.

Xiaoke was recorded in Chinese earliest medical book Huang Di Nei Jing.

Zou Zhang, as the chief of technology section in Guangzhou No.1 Chinese Medicine Factory, occasionally read Xie's poem which suddenly gave him inspiration. Since the government advocated people to answer the call for developing Chinese medicine through Chinese and western integration method, Zou Zhang combined Chinese medicine listed in the ancient prescriptions Yuquan San and Xiaoke Fang with chemical medicine Glyburide to produce Zhongyi Xiaoke Pill which then was put on the market in 1981.

Xiaoke Pill has enjoyed good reputation in the market in recent over 30 years, ranking the first among oral Chinese patent medicine of antidiabetic agents as the domestic biggest category of Chinese patent medicine with 78 percent of market share, and its sales exceeded 600 million yuan and became the domestic biggest category of oral antidiabetic sales in 2011. Multimillion diabetics prefer Xiaoke Pill every year. On the field trip of Nobel Prize winner Dr. Ferid Murad, hailed as the "Father of Viagra", at Baiyunshan Zhongyi in 2012, he commended Xaioke Pill as "Chinese Medicine Viagra" for diabetics.

Doctor Ye Tianshi in the Qing Dynasty.

It is generally known that there has long been the problem in the field of Chinese patent medicine that the products cannot gain recognition from western medicine, which Xiaoke Pill also faces even though it enjoys high reputation in the market. The research on Xiake Pill was elected to "Chinese High-tech R&D (863) Program" in 2006, led by the Peking University Diabetes Center with the assistance of 18 large 3A hospitals in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. They jointly launched the clinic experiment with so far the largest sample size, the longest observation time and the biggest span, to study the safety and efficacy of Xiaoke Pill. It is the first time to carry out large study on diabetes in China.

Furthermore, the research has more significant meaning to fill a gap in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) evidence-based study. The result of the research was published in the top international academic journal Public Library of Science , proving that Xiaoke Pill can really improve symptoms of diabetes and effectively prevent complications. "The Modern Research and Application of Xiaoke Pill" won the first prize of Association of Chinese Medicine Science and Technology Award in October, which is the highest honor in the industry.