This is a great all-tonifying formula, but it is especially good for cancer patients undergoing chemo and radiation. Here are a couple of studies showing a marked effect on improvement of white blood cell count, as well as protective effect against chemo and radiation toxicity.
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1534735412450513
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1294861/
Oncologists are often hesitant to allow patients to take herbs, so having the supporting research can be a great reassurance both to the doctors and the patients.
So chemotherapy works by poisoning and heating blood IMO. What is this herb formulation supposed to do?
This is a classic formula that was traditionally used to treat Qi and Blood deficiency in consumptive disorders. The symptoms are similar to people undergoing chemotherapy and radiation: lassitude, a pale face, low appetite, palpitations, insomnia, dizziness, deficient cough, cold extremities, weakness, digestive problems... The research quoted above was investigating this formula which demonstrated improvement in WBC count and a protective effect against toxicity of the treatments. In more comprehensive treatment, a TCM practitioner would add herbs to clear heat and damp and nourish yin, because radiation and chemo introduce a lot of toxic heat.
Apropos chemo poisoning the body, it is interesting to note, that some potent anti-cancer herbs are also considered to be toxic (although most of them are not used in the West).
Just to add more about potentially toxic herbs.. That's why in Chinese medicine it is not common to use just one herb, but rather a formula that contains multiple herbs that balance each other by having enhancing or attenuating effects on each other.