Ho Yan Hor (Hovid)

Ho Yan Hor traces to 1941, when Dr Ho Kai Cheong, a Chinese medical practitioner trained at Canton's Wah Lam National Physicians Medical School, began selling a herbal tea of his own formulation from Treacher Street in Ipoh. His blend of 23 herbs was designed as a natural flu and cold remedy for the local community, and it became a trusted household name in Ipoh well before it grew into a wider commercial brand. Ho's son later built Hovid, now a GMP-certified pharmaceutical manufacturer with plants in Ipoh and nearby Chemor, around that original formula as its founding product. The herbal tea itself is still sold in sachet form today — Original and Ginger blends for cold relief, alongside newer Gold and Night formulations and canned ready-to-drink versions — carrying the same natural-healing positioning the brand built its name on. In 2016, Hovid opened the Ho Yan Hor Museum in Ipoh's Old Town on Jalan Bijeh Timah, inside the blue two-story building that was Dr Ho's own residence and processing factory; entry is free, and the museum documents the brand's growth from a single practitioner's remedy into a modern pharmaceutical company still built around his name.