Life sciences IT company KOOPrime ( www.kooprime.com ) has teamed up with Eu Yan Sang International ( www.euyansang.com ) to develop the world's first integrated online portal aimed at boosting the safety and traceability of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) herbs. Eu Yan Sang is a healthcare company with a focus on TCM.

The project, iGATES, is a public-private sector collaboration partially funded under The Enterprise Challenge (TEC), an initiative of the Prime Minister's Office that supports innovative projects that have the potential to create new value or significantly improve the delivery of public service.

The online web-based software system will help address some of the concerns over the safety of TCM herbs.

Speaking at the signing ceremony of the TEC grant, Ms Grace Fu, Senior Minister of State for National Development and Education, noted that amidst the growing popularity of TCM and increasing demand for TCM herbs, there have also been disturbing reports about TCM herbs contaminated or adulterated with heavy metals, unapproved chemicals or drugs. "To maintain consumer confidence, it is critical for the industry to address these concerns on the safety of TCM herbs," she said.

iGATES aims to do just that. The online web-based software system will keep track of TCM herbs "from seed to shelf" by streamlining, automating and integrating various quality and safety assurance processes throughout the TCM supply chain. This encompasses Good Agronomic Practices, Good Laboratory Practices, Good Manufacturing Processes, Good Distribution Practices and Genomic Profiling.

Mr Lim Teck Sin, Chief Executive Officer of KOOPrime, said the solution will leverage on his company's BioEngine platform to integrate chemical and genomic fingerprinting, in order to achieve more robust identification of the origin of TCM herbs right from source. "The system will allow users to better streamline laboratory processes and create an open platform of communication between suppliers, distributors and industry stakeholders," he said. "It is our goal to provide an integrative framework for legacy systems that cover the different portions of the entire TCM value chain."

By integrating the processes involved, iGATES enables a large variety and volume of herbs to be tracked efficiently and accurately through real time reporting. In the event that any TCM herb or product is found to be unsatisfactory, the exact source of the problem can be traced quickly and effectively, and its sale stopped before any consumer purchases the TCM herb.

Mr Richard Eu, Chief Executive Officer of Eu Yan Sang International, said iGATES will be an invaluable tool for regulatory bodies globally. "It will set higher standards and tighter regulatory controls for the TCM industry. As the system is scalable, it will help bring down the cost of regulating the industry and improve response time. And most importantly, the portal is expandable to include other health supplements and food items in the future."

Eu Yan Sang International and KOOPrime have formed a new company, iGATES BioInnovation, to drive the project, with the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA), the national food safety authority, as the pilot agency.

According to Ms Fu, the iGATES project can potentially help enhance AVA's existing IT-based food safety regulatory systems. AVA will be working closely with iGATES BioInnovation to explore the integration of iGATES into its existing regulatory systems. "In time to come, iGATES could potentially be used for other food products, in addition to TCM herbs," she said.