Herbal drops aim to melt away sore throat pain

Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.

Inclusion Criteria: * Age 18 to 65 years, inclusive, of any sex. * Baseline throat-pain visual analog scale score of at least 4. * Meets the protocol-defined Western medicine diagnostic criteria for acute pharyngitis. * Acute onset with disease duration of 48 hours or less. * Provides written informed consent and is able to follow the study protocol. Exclusion Criteria: * Prior use of Yanlishuang Buccal Dropping Pills before enrollment, or use before enrollment of any other Chinese or Western medicine for the target disease that, in the investigator's judgment, may affect efficacy evaluation. * Prodromal or accompanying throat symptoms of an acute infectious disease, such as measles, scarlet fever, or infectious mononucleosis; suppurative tonsillitis; peritonsillar abscess; retropharyngeal abscess; acute epiglottitis; or throat symptoms caused by another disease. * Modified Centor score of at least 2, with white blood cell count, absolute neutrophil count, and C-reactive protein all above the upper limit of normal, when the investigator considers bacterial infection or antibiotic treatment necessary. * Concurrent bacterial otitis media, sinusitis, laryngitis, bronchitis, pneumonia, acute nephritis, rheumatic fever, sepsis, or a similar complication. * Severe primary disease of the central nervous, hematopoietic, endocrine, cardiovascular/cerebrovascular, digestive, or other system, or a psychiatric disorder, that the investigator considers may affect participant safety or materially affect clinical evaluation. * Abnormal hepatic or renal function: alanine aminotransferase or aspartate aminotransferase greater than 1.5 times the upper limit of normal and/or serum creatinine above the upper limit of normal. * Suspected or confirmed history of alcohol or drug abuse. * Pregnancy, breastfeeding, preparation for pregnancy, or a recent childbearing plan. * Known allergy to any component of the study medication. * Participation in another clinical trial and use of an investigational product within the previous 1 month. * Constitutional spleen-stomach deficiency-cold or a condition considered unsuitable for study medication, including but not limited to acute or chronic gastritis, erosive gastritis, or gastroesophageal reflux disease. * Any other condition that the investigator considers makes the individual unsuitable for participation.