Unlike conventional medications, herbal mixtures in traditional East Asian medicine (TEAM) are based on a multi-component and a multi-target approach derived from holistic philosophy. In order to deal with complex diseases, multi component and multi target approach is potentially meaningful, despite the challenge to figure the complex mechanisms out. Herbal formulas consist of many herbs because they target more of the disease-related symptoms compared to botanical drugs. The pharmacopoeia quality monographs are chemical-markers-based, which can ensure the consistency in the assigned chemical markers. Quality control (QC) is the activity of checking that goods or services are of an acceptable standard. Chemical markers-based QC is difficult, but efficacy evaluation based QC is even more difficult in herbal formula. Research techniques that can ensure consistency in the efficacy of prescription should be developed. The “multi-component and multi-target” property of herbal medicines gives rise to the necessity for developing a new theory or evaluation system for the therapeutic basis research, and thus establishing a more scientific quality control system for herbal medicine. Establishment of combinatorial strategy through integrating conventional molecular biological experiment, chemical evaluation methods, and recent bio-big data analysis and AI technologies are needed. Poly-pharmacological approach to predict targets with multiple mechanisms of herbal medicines (herbal formula) through management of multiple indicator components: Overcoming limitations of single gene approach. It will be necessary to adopt systems biology approaches along with omics techniques to explore the complexity of herbal medicines and phytochemicals on chronic inflammation and the underlying mechanism.