Standardized Production of HQT Herbal Remedy

A total of 18 batches of HQT were included in the present study. Four batches coded as PHY906-6, 7, 8, 10 were manufactured with PhytoCeutica's proprietary SOP. Eight batches of HQT were purchased from Sun Ten Pharmaceutical Co. LTD in Taiwan and designated as HQT-E, F, G, H, I, J, K and L. Six batches of HQT were obtained from various vendors (Chung Song Zong, Ko Da, Min Tong, Sheng Chang, Sheng Foong, Kaiser; Taiwan) who did not provide quality information, and were labeled as HQT-CSZ, KD, MT, SC, SF and KP3. The proprietary standard operating procedures (SOP) by PhytoCeutica for PHY906 used hot water extraction (80°C) of four herbs, namely Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi (S), Paeonia lactiflora Pall. (P), Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fisch. (G) and Ziziphus jujuba Mill. (Z) (ratio 3:2:2:2). The hot water extraction is then spray dried with insoluble dextran into a granulated powder, packaged and stored in foil containers at 4°C.
Chemical standards including baicalin (S), baicalein (S), wogonin (S), scutellarin (S), glycyrrhizin (G), ononin (G), liquiritin (G), liqiritigenin (G), paeoniflorin (P) and albiflorin (P), were obtained from Chromadex (USA). Apigenin and formic acid were obtained from Sigma-Aldrich (USA). Solvents were of LC/MS grade from JT Baker (USA).