Grows all at the woods’ edge here.
Not a believer in magical discoveries that have been around just waiting for someone to try. I think those days are 50 to 100 years in the past. The level of understanding is very much higher now and the mechanisms of function of whatever is being tried is understood. And of course there is the reality that if something bizarre like willow tree bark is found to have some benefit, whatever the mechanism is will be learned and synthesized and it won’t come from tree bark anymore.
That being said, breast cancer is pretty ugly. It has a remarkably frequent bit of behavior that is apparent complete remission and disappearance and then recurs again after a significant period of time. Psychologically that’s much worse than just grinding along the same amount of time with no remission. The behavior generates hope and then crushes it.
One other item worth noting. There’s no reason to believe that a major breakthrough cannot come from Chinese research. They do quality work just like any other first world country.