In 2003, when the SARS virus was making its rounds, Dr. Dong Sheng Liu, a Chinese immunologist and virologist, began looking for a cure. "There was no treatment," said the retired scientist, who now lives in Richmond. Taking a 100-year-old prescription that had been used by the physicians for the Royal Family in China, he used modern science to extract and test some of the compounds that had been used.

Dr. Dong Sheng Liu and Greg Gerrie of Richmond claim FluStop, a natural product based on Traditional Chinese medicine, can prevent the flu.

What he came up with -- he claims -- works not only on the SARS virus, but on any A or B virus as well, which includes A/H1N1 -- the so called swine flu virus.
The product, sold as FluStop, is an aerosol that is sprayed into the back of the throat. Liu believes it can both prevent influenza virus infections and shorten their span once someone is infected.
Greg Gerrie, the Richmond entrepreneur who is marketing the product, is bracing for a sudden demand, thanks to the looming fears of a swine flu pandemic.
"I think people are really anxious now and looking for protection," said Gerrie, CEO of Trinity Healthy Living Products. "This is a company that is ready, we think, to explode.

"We have a lot of product ready to go -- we're ready. We just came back from the Mexican consulate and they're looking at bringing it in for this Mexican pandemic." FluStop has not yet been approved by Health Canada as a Natural Health Product, although an application -- which typically takes one or three years -- has been made. But Gerrie said Trinity does have approval from Health Canada for its manufacturing facility in China, where FluStop is made. It has undergone clinical trials at the Changchun Institute of Biological Products in China and when it is brought into Canada, it is tested at a lab in Richmond for bacteria, heavy metals and pesticides. Health Canada did not respond to questions from the News by deadline.
Despite the fact it has yet to be approved by Health Canada, FluStop is sold here as a natural health product, which is governed by different rules than the more stringent ones that cover pharmaceuticals.

Dr. Francois Jean, an associate professor of microbiology and immunology at University of British Columbia, cautions against accepting claims about products that have not been thoroughly tested, especially claims that it can prevent swine flu. "We just don't know anything about the virus, so it's very hard to make those claims," he said. "There's nobody on the planet right now that has any sort of information about the biology of that virus. It would be hard for that company to claim that this could actually be the magic bullet that everybody will want to get to prevent transmission until actually this has been validated."

But Liu says the compound was tested in China and found to deactivate A- and B-type viruses, which cause various types of influenza. Before retiring in 1997, Liu says he worked for the Changchun Institute of Biological Products for China's Ministry of Public Health, where he developed flu and rabies vaccines. He has also worked with the World Health Organization.
Liu found records that detailed traditional Chinese medicines used to treat the Royal Family for colds and flus. He isolated the five active ingredients that go into FluStop -- which includes extracts from licorice, jujube, sandalwood, and Chuanxiong -- and tested them. "The results were positive," he told the News through an interpreter.

Viruses that cause influenza have protein spikes that allow them to connect to receptors in human cells. Liu claims the FluStop compound inactivates those spikes so they can't connect.
Gerrie's wife, Tina, was studying in Changchun in 1990 when she met Liu. She eventually immigrated to Canada. When she learned about the flu spray Liu had developed, she encouraged him to come to Canada to market it.
Her husband, who is a corporate training specialist -- and author of the book Fired Up for Life -- was at first skeptical, but tried the product himself and believes it works. "We get a lot of 24-hour turnarounds," he said.

Taken from http://www2.canada.com/richmondnews/index.html and re-formatted. © RichmondNEWS Richmond, BC, CANADA

【明報專訊】H1N1甲型流感肆虐，令本地一種強調以中藥草本成分製成、稱能殺滅甲型及乙型流感病毒的抗流感噴劑健康食品Flu-STOP大受歡迎，最近兩周銷售暴增3倍。

【明報專訊】H1N1甲型流感肆虐，令本地一種強調以中藥草本成分製成、稱能殺滅甲型及乙型流感病毒的抗流感噴劑健康食品Flu-STOP大受歡迎，最近兩周銷售暴增3倍。

研發該噴劑的是自中國移民到來住在列治文的中國病毒免疫專家劉東昇。他昨日說，他在中國2003年SARS肆虐時，研發出在中國的實驗室及人體試驗有效，並稱能殺滅甲型及乙型流感病毒的中藥草本成分噴劑，且登記屬於他自己名下的藥品專利。但他沒有在中國申請正式藥品登記，而未能成為在中國上市的藥物。

隨劉東昇於2003移民加拿大，因加拿大要通過藥物檢驗等程序更為複雜，他改以健康食品方式申請在加拿大銷售。

2009年5月2日

中藥噴劑 感冒停熱銷 記者陳素英列治文報導

May 02, 2009 12:00 AM

據稱具有流感療效的「感冒停」研發人劉東昇。 記者陳素英/攝影

全球H1N1 A型流感蔓延，病例不斷攀升，列治文一家健康食品公司以中藥材提煉而成的「感冒停」噴劑 (FluStop)，宣稱能治癒並預防流感，全球各國藥商紛紛來電詢問並下單，生意扶搖直上。

三一健康食品公司副總裁丁文閣表示，「感冒停」當初是因應2003年SARS肆虐研發而來，先前已在2006年上市，最近A型流感盛行，和SARS病毒屬於同種，因此標榜可直接滅殺A型和B型流感病毒，「感冒停」近來也因而大受歡迎。

「感冒停」研發人劉東昇表示，他從事病毒研究和疫苗研發工作40年，畢業於瀋陽醫科大學、北京醫學科學院，並在美國研究分子生物學多年，現則與三一公司合作，專門研究中藥材，開發適合老人失智症等的健康食品。