Objective: To obtain new potential active traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) compounds for the prevention and treatment of asthma. Method: The drugs with anti-asthma activity were collected from Drugbank database. Two virtual screening methods

active fragment-based and structural similarity-based

were used respectively for the screening of potential active TCM compounds from traditional Chinse medicine database (TCMD 2009). Combined the principles and methods of TCM

the source TCM of the hit compounds were then traced for the formulating prescription against asthma. Result: Thirty-six drugs with the action on eight targets were obtained from the Drugbank database. Seventy-two potential active compounds

which come from 39 commonly used TCM

were hit by virtual screening. Some of the source TCM have been demonstrated to have the anti-asthma effect

such as ephedra

pinellia

asarum

ginger

earthworm

licorice

ophiopogon

aster

evodia and so on. The principle of clearing lung-heat and removing phlegm for lowering adverse qi is always used for the treatment of thermal asthma

while the warming lung for dispelling cold and removing phlegm is for cold asthma. Two prescriptions were discussed for thermal and cold asthma respectively. The prescription consisted by ephedra

pinellia

ginger

licorice was discussed for cold asthma

while the prescription of ephedra

earthworm

licorice for thermal asthma. Conclusion: The results showed that the application of fragment-based search and similarity search methods are feasible for the discovery of Chinese medicine.