A relative newcomer to the Canadian healthcare scene, Jacqueline Shan has made a significant mark on the OTC front since she assumed the role of CEO of her Edmonton-based company CV Technologies three years ago. But the transition from researcher to savvy marketer responsible for launching Cold-fX, a herbal cold remedy that has eclipsed popular drugstore brands by more than two to one, was a challenge, she says.
While her vision wasn’t to be a marketer, “I was inspired because I saw this great outcome from the research for Cold-fX, and I thought there was a responsibility to apply that science to human life.” She adds, however, “I always tell myself I will go back to the lab again, [since] science is my true passion.”

Shan’s love affair with all things scientific started at the young age of 15 when she enrolled at Beijing’s most prestigious medical school. After emerging with a doctorate in pharmacology, her passion for research coupled with the Chinese government’s growing interest in Western medicine brought her to the doorstep of the University of Alberta where she studied for a doctorate in physiology. Running research projects under the watchful eye of renowned U of A researcher Dr. Peter Pang, the two would uncover a component of ginseng that helps the body fight infection. The herbal ingredient formed the basis of Cold-fX, the cornerstone of a successful business venture based on patented natural therapeutics.

Shan, who’s been in Canada for almost 20 years now, says her exposure to herbal medicines started as child in China. “When I was a child, I was malnourished…my mother and grandmother often gave me tinctures and herbal teas. I was very curious as to why and how they worked.” But even at medical school in China, “I couldn’t find much about how herbal medicine works. “It was based mostly on empirical observation,” she adds.

Clinical research similar to that of mainstream medicine has been lacking for herbal compounds, primarily due to skepticism and a lack of investment dollars, says Shan. She sees herself in the role of trailblazer in terms of changing the approach to illness from curative to preventive.
Shan proudly notes there are nine clinical peer-reviewed scientific papers outlining the efficacy of Cold-fX which is now on shelves in Shoppers Drug Mart, Loblaws, and Costco. Currently, a multicenter clinical trial of Cold-fX involving top infectious disease experts is now underway in major cities across Canada. “Research is about the unknown and 99 per cent of the time you don’t find anything, and one per cent of the time when you find something, it’s an accomplishment.”

Shan believes the company’s other products, Remember-fX, a “ginsengnoside” compound designed to enhance acetylcholine, and hence memory, and Cell-fX, a chondroitin-based remedy for joint health, will be similarly well-received in the marketplace. She concedes there’s still a need to educate the medical community about natural remedies. “Once you design your studies the right way and use the right medical approach, mainstream medical people don’t see there’s a difference really. It’s not that people don’t accept it, it’s that they haven’t been exposed to it.”

There’s no word yet on who will endorse the company’s other two offerings, but Shan is clearly pleased at the company’s growth—sales just shy of $32 million in 2005—since enlisting hockey commentator Don Cherry to promote Cold-fX. Since then, she’s become a hockey fan, of sorts, although she admits she’ll never be an expert on the game. Sitting with Don Cherry and hockey legend Mark Messier during the playoffs, “I learned a lot,” says Shan. “But sometimes they laughed at me when I made a wrong comment.”

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