譚天樂加入嶺南藥廠時，才二十出頭。整天和止痛膏紅花油打交道的他，乘坐巴士會被質問，年紀輕輕何以一身老人味；下班必須先更衣才敢赴約會。

他大學唸的是化學，怎會跟中醫藥扯上關係？「有人一聽說我從事中醫藥，馬上伸出手腕請我把脈，那我是不在行的。初次發現中藥和化學的關係是唸碩士時，在一次研討會上見識到，怎樣以分析化學檢驗中藥外用止痛膏，測出究竟何種成分具有紓緩腰酸背痛功效。」

「畢業那年碰巧遇上中藥業轉型期，當時政府開始監管中成藥廠，要求明確報告每種藥物所含成分與藥性，於是這個傳統行業開始需要化學人員的檢測專長，以監控品質。這成為我加入嶺南的契機。」

二十年過去，譚天樂今已成為嶺南藥廠的營運總監，他謙稱自己的工作為「打雜」，從原材料採購開始，到生產、銷售、售後，每步都要悉心打點。同時要管理內地各省市的營銷隊伍，以及和美國、加拿大、澳洲等國外市場洽談代理。

採訪在嶺南藥廠位於屯門的生產基地進行，譚天樂大方邀請筆者深入禁地，一睹中成藥在優良製造規範（GMP）廠房的現代化生產。

電梯門一打開，濃烈的藥油味撲面而來，直鑽鼻子、眼睛，頭腦為之一振。踏入工場前，須依次穿戴鞋套、白袍、紙帽，消毒雙手並吹乾後，帶上口罩，一如外科醫生進入手術室前般鄭重其事。

進入大約四平方米的緩衝區，譚天樂解釋，緩衝區的作用是杜絕外界髒空氣吹進無塵的生產間。「生產間的氣壓必須高於外部，保證風往外吹，令髒空氣不能進內，所以冷氣系統的風速須嚴格控制，並定期檢查生產環境的塵粒數，確保生產環境纖塵不染。」

離開緩衝區，進入生產間，氣溫驟升，眼前出現一個不鏽鋼大缸，譚天樂說裏面正以高溫溶解止痛膏的固體原材料，邊加熱邊攪拌，令原料充分混合並產生反應。

溶液經密封喉管輸送至隔壁，以充填器注入玻璃樽。輸送帶載着一排排整齊的小瓶子緩緩經過冷藏系統，個多小時後止痛膏成型。

封蓋、貼標籤的步驟同樣以機械操作。全過程只有最後一道工序──外包裝，靠人手入盒。譚天樂表示，這並非出於成本或效率的考慮：「有人認為現代化生產相等於全機械化，但我認為人情更可貴。有些工人在嶺南已經幹了四十年，不應抹殺他們的價值。況且產品已封蓋，人手入盒不會構成污染，不違背優良製作規範。」

譚天樂指出，香港的品牌效應可以成為中醫藥打進國際市場的切入點。「我希望利用消費者對『香港製造』的信心，促進中成藥在香港的註冊與品質鑒定，從而向外國展示，中醫藥也能和西藥一樣，符合科學準則，安全有效。」

他努力改變大眾視藥膏藥油為「老友記香水」的偏見，前後邀請藝人王祖藍與黎耀祥擔任代言人，並透過贊助足球隊、健美先生選舉、保齡球賽等運動項目，將產品滲入年輕人市場。

「化學知識告訴我，歐美牌子的止痛膏成分根本和中成藥無大異，為何連中國人也認為外國牌子更優？推動中醫藥發展，不能單靠吹噓中醫有多少千年歷史，必須把傳統古方演繹成具說服力的科學數據，提升品牌形象，才能取信全球，通行世界。」

Timothy Tam was in his early twenties when he joined the Ling Nam Medicine Factory. He came into frequent contact with pain-relief balm and safflower oils. During bus journeys, he would be asked why he smelled like old people, reeking of a medicinal odour. He also had to change his clothes before meeting anyone after work.

Timothy majored in chemistry at university. So how did he end up with Chinese medicine? ‘When people heard I was in Chinese medicine, they showed me their wrists, expecting me to feel their pulses. But this is not what I do. I was studying for my master’s degree when I first discovered the relationship between Chinese medicine and chemistry. At a seminar, I learned how the chemical analysis of Chinese medicinal balm could be used to detect what ingredients it had for relieving back pain.’

‘The year I graduated coincided with the sea-change in Chinese medicine. The government started to regulate it, requiring the manufacturers to list the ingredients and their medicinal effects. The traditional industry had to look for chemistry personnel with laboratory testing experience to help with products quality control. This presented me with the opportunity to join Ling Nam.’

Twenty years on, Timothy has now become the company’s chief operation officer. He modestly claims that his is a handyman’s job, requiring him to oversee the company’s operations from ingredients procurement to production, sales and after-sales service. Besides managing the sales teams in the various provinces and cities on the mainland, he is also responsible for distributorship negotiations for overseas markets, including the US, Canada, and Australia.

The interview with Timothy was conducted in the Tuen Mun manufacturing base of Ling Nam, where proprietary Chinese medicines are produced from the modernized production facilities of its GMP-compliant factory.

When the elevator door opened, the intense smell of medicinal oils wafted in, assailing one’s nose and eyes and giving the brains a jolt. Before entering the workshop, everyone was required to put on shoe covers, a white gown and paper cap, sanitize their hands and blow-dry them, then don a surgical mask.

An airlock of about four square metres was the first stop of the factory tour. Timothy explained that the area is designed to prevent contaminated air from entering the dust-free manufacturing room. ‘The air pressure inside must be higher than that of the outside, to prevent contaminated air from coming in. The wind speed of the air-conditioning system must be under stringent control. Regular inspections on the number of particles in the production environment must also be carried out.’

The temperature rose swiftly as the tour proceeded to the manufacturing room where a large stainless steel container could be seen. Inside it was the solid form of pain-relief balm, which was being stirred and heated simultaneously, so that the ingredients could blend fully and become a solvent through chemical reaction.

The solvent was then transmitted through a sealed pipe to an adjacent filling machine for injection into glass bottles, which were arranged in neat rows on a conveyor belt slowly passing through a refrigeration system. Hours later, the pain-relief balm came out in a solidified form.

Cap sealing and label-sticking were similarly automated. Only the final step of the process—external packing—was done manually. Timothy indicated that this arrangement was not made out of cost or efficiency considerations. ‘Some people think modernized production means complete automation. But I believe that the human factor is more precious. Some of our workers have served Ling Nam for well over 40 years. The value of their contributions could not be negated. After all, the products are already sealed, so manual packing would not cause contamination or breach good manufacturing practice.’

Timothy believes that Chinese medicine could break into the international markets on the back of Hong Kong’s branding capability. ‘Leveraging on the unique appeal of Hong Kong products, I hope to promote the registration and quality assessments of proprietary Chinese medicines in Hong Kong, in order to show foreign markets that Chinese medicine is just as safe and effective as Western pharmaceuticals, while meeting scientific benchmarks too.’ 

He has tried to combat and reverse the public view of Chinese medicinal balm and oils as ‘cologne for the elderly’. For example, artistes Wong Cho-lam and Wayne Lai have been engaged as the company’s spokespersons. Through sponsorship of sports activities such as soccer games, fitness contests and bowling matches, the company endeavours to infiltrate the youth market.

‘Chemistry knowledge tells me that European and American pain-relief creams are not significantly different from proprietary Chinese medicines in ingredients. Why is it that even Chinese consumers think foreign brands are superior? To promote Chinese medicine, emphasizing its history of so many thousand years is far from enough. It is essential to translate the traditional formulas into credible scientific data and uplift the brand images in order to gain global consumer trust and market share.’