Treating Acute EXacerbations of COPD with Chinese HerbAL MedIcine to aid AntiBiotic Use Reduction (EXCALIBUR): study protocol of a randomised double-blind, placebo-controlled feasibility trial

Table 1 Composition of SFJD

Functional roles¹	Botanical species	Common names and plant part	Pin Yin¹	Amount (g)	Cultivated from
Sovereign	Fallopia japonica [22]	Japanese Knotweed, rhizome	Hu Zhang	0.45	Lu’an, Anhui
Minister	Forsythia suspensa	Weeping Forsythia, fruit	Lian Qiao	0.36	Yuncheng, Shanxi
Minister	Isatis indigotica	Indigo Woad, root	Ban Lan Gen	0.36	Tsitsihar, Heilongjiang
Assistant	Bupleurum chinense [23]	Chinese thoroughwax, root	Chai Hu	0.36	Weinan, Shaanxi
	Patrinia scabiosaefolia	Yellow Flowered Valerian, herb	Bai Jiang Cao	0.36	Enshi, Hubei
	Verbena officinalis	Vervain, herb	Ma Bian Cao	0.36	Xiangyang, Hubei
	Phragmites communis	Reed, rhizome	Lu Gen	0.27	Anguo, Hebei
Envoy	Glycyrrhiza uralensis	Liquorice, root	Gan Cao	0.18	Dingxi, Gansu

¹The prescription of SFJD following the basic principle of Chinese herbal medicine formulation, sovereign, minister, assistant, and envoy [君臣佐使] principle, where sovereign herb plays a major role in providing treatment effects for the main syndrome/symptom; minister herbs assist the sovereign herb to strengthen treatment effects and to treat the concurrent syndrome/symptom; assistant herbs assist the sovereign and minister herbs to strengthen the therapeutic effects, treat the secondary syndrome/symptom, or reduce the side effects of sovereign and minister herbs that may have; and envoy herb deliver the other herbs to the right place in the body [24]

ISSN: 2055-5784