TCM action of pharmaceuticals

Several of my Chinese teachers had mentioned there was a fair amount of research being in done in China to explore the TCM effects of pharmaceuticals -mostly so that herbal therapy could be used in conjunction as far as I understood it. I’m not aware of any single group or research effort here in the states that is looking to translate effects of western pharmacology into TCM terminology.

That being said you can make some very generalized statements. Antibiotics have a very strong cooling effect. Psychotropics affect the Shen (though the specific way they do so probably varies quite a lot). Chemo scatters and depletes the Qi (which systems are involved also varies greatly depending on the type of cancer and corresponding chemo).

I would suggest that looking at the common sides effects of a particular drug might be somewhere to start when trying to determine how it would affect the body from a TCM perspective.