"Thousands of years ago our ancestors invented dogskin plasters with medicine that was absorbed through the skin, and there is a lot that we can learn from them," says Cheng. He elaborates: The most important element of a transdermal patch is the substance which promotes absorption of the medicine through the skin. Western drugs are not as efficacious as Chinese medicine at this task.
「而且，幾千年前我們的老祖宗就已發明藥效可由皮膚吸收的狗皮膏藥，其中有許多東西是值得我們學習的」，鄭建新舉例，貼劑中最重要的就是促使皮膚能吸收藥性的促進劑，這部分西藥的功效就比不上中藥。