Yan 2017.

Methods	Randomised, double‐blind, placebo‐controlled trial with 2 parallel groups, China
Participants	100 participants aged 18–65 years diagnosed with chronic hepatitis B according to guidelines 2010 (CMA 2011), conforming to the TCM standard of "zheng" differentiation for chronic hepatitis B Male:female: 49:33 (excluding 18 dropouts) Mean age: 38.45 years (excluding 18 dropouts) Exclusion criteria: used related medicine for treating chronic hepatitis B within half a month; coinfected with other type hepatitis virus; had autoimmune hepatitis or hepatitis caused by drug intoxication and alcohol; severe hepatitis, hepatic failure, cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma; serious primary disease in cardiovascular, cerebrovascular, kidney, lung, endocrine system, haematopoietic system or mental disease; pregnant or lactating women; allergic physique or allergic to multiple drugs
Interventions	Experimental intervention: matrine capsules, 200 mg, 3 times daily; plus mimetic Longchai formula used for placebo control, twice daily, half dose a time, infused with water, 3 months (n = 50) Control intervention: mimetic matrine capsules, 200 mg, 3 times daily; plus Longchai formula (consisting of 6 medicinal herbs: Solanum nigrum L, Bupleurum chinense DC., Hedyotis diffusa Willd, Sedum sarmentosum Bunge, Gardenia jasminoides Ellis and Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi), twice daily, half dose a time, infused with water; 3 months (n = 50) Cointervention: none Post‐treatment follow‐up: none
Outcomes	Clinical symptom; HBV‐DNA; HBeAg; HBsAg; liver (function) tests (ALT, AST); damage assessment (composite outcome involving clinical symptom, liver (function) tests, etc); efficacy assessment (composite outcome involving liver (function) tests, HBV‐DNA, HBeAg, HBsAg)
Notes	Study dates: December 2010 to December 2012 Funding information: supported by governmental funds: Scientific and Technological Innovation and Achievements Transformation Special Projects of Jiangsu Province (BM2009903). Notes: we contacted the authors on 2 August and 13 August 2018 by telephone but received no reply.
Risk of bias
Bias	Authors' judgement	Support for judgement
Random sequence generation (selection bias)	Low risk	Used software SAS 9.1 to generate random sequence
Allocation concealment (selection bias)	Unclear risk	Not reported
Blinding of participants and personnel (performance bias) All outcomes	Low risk	Double‐blind placebo‐controlled design
Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias) All outcomes	Unclear risk	Not reported
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes	High risk	18 dropouts and withdrawals, containing 10 cases in experimental group and 8 cases in control group. The overall dropouts rate was 18%.
Selective reporting (reporting bias)	Low risk	We obtained the trial registration information (www.chictr.org.cn/showprojen.aspx?proj=9976). Author reported all outcomes predefined in protocol.
Other bias	Low risk	No other potential sources of bias