Develop a new drug R & D road suitable for national conditions

Zhang Boli, academician of the Chinese Academy of engineering, President of the Chinese Academy of traditional Chinese medicine and President of Tianjin University of traditional Chinese medicine, made a strong response to the report on the progress of research and development of traditional Chinese medicine and thinking about related issues at the 165th scientific and technological forum of the Chinese Academy of Engineering - seminar on innovative drug research and development methods and strategies At the meeting, the reporter made an exclusive interview with him on how to develop traditional Chinese medicine and find a new way of drug research and development in line with China's national conditions Science and Technology Daily: Traditional Chinese medicine is the quintessence of the Chinese nation However, with the introduction of Western medicine, the role of traditional Chinese medicine is gradually dim In recent years, with the advancement of modernization of traditional Chinese medicine, the industry of traditional Chinese medicine has begun to rise again What do you think of this? What do you think of the development prospect of traditional Chinese medicine? Zhang Boli: there is no doubt about the contribution of traditional Chinese medicine to human beings But with the influx of Western medicine, it is also an indisputable fact that the status of traditional Chinese medicine began to decline However, we must see that with the advancement of modernization of traditional Chinese medicine, especially the implementation of major national innovative medicine projects, the traditional Chinese medicine industry has begun to show a rapid growth trend Despite the global economic downturn, China's traditional Chinese medicine industry has developed rapidly In 2006, the output value of traditional Chinese medicine was 144.4 billion yuan, reaching 515.6 billion yuan last year, with an annual growth rate of more than 20%, accounting for 31% of the total output value of China's pharmaceutical industry The important reasons are the upgrading of the technology of traditional Chinese medicine industry, the promotion of major new drug projects and the modernization of traditional Chinese medicine Therefore, I think the development prospect of traditional Chinese medicine industry is very broad Reporter of science and Technology Daily: can you briefly describe the progress of upgrading and innovation of traditional Chinese medicine industry in recent years? Zhang Boli: in recent years, the technical upgrading of traditional Chinese medicine industry is the main keynote of the industry Looking at the development of traditional Chinese medicine enterprises, the gathering degree of modern traditional Chinese medicine enterprises is increasing In 2010, there were 30 traditional Chinese medicine enterprises with sales of more than 1 billion yuan Among the top 100 pharmaceutical enterprises in China, traditional Chinese medicine enterprises accounted for 1 / 3 The scientific research awareness of TCM enterprises has been generally improved, the R & D capacity has been continuously enhanced, and the investment in science and technology has been greatly increased The research on modernization of traditional Chinese medicine in China has also promoted the global research on traditional Chinese medicine The retrieval data shows that the total number of TCM papers published in the world shows a significant growth trend, from 21000 in 2001 to 53000 in 2011, of which the SCI papers increased from 2274 in 2001 to 7458 in 2011, while the contribution of research papers in China is the largest At the same time, the number of patent applications for traditional Chinese medicine also increased significantly, from 983 in 2001 to 5161 in 2011 In recent years, the state has invested a lot in the innovation research of traditional Chinese medicine, especially the implementation of major new drug projects, which greatly promoted the process of innovation research of traditional Chinese medicine A number of high-level research platforms and key technologies of traditional Chinese medicine have been established, such as the research technology platform of effective substances of traditional Chinese medicine based on the holistic view, the research platform of pharmacokinetics of traditional Chinese medicine, the platform of network pharmacology, the research platform of safety of traditional Chinese medicine, the research platform and key technologies of component traditional Chinese medicine, etc The construction of these platforms and breakthroughs in key technologies have fostered a number of large varieties of traditional Chinese medicine By 2011, there were 305 varieties of traditional Chinese medicine with single product sales of more than 100 million yuan, and more than 18 varieties with single product sales of more than 1 billion yuan This is a production scale never seen before Science and Technology Daily: what do you think are the main problems and challenges in the current research and development and production of traditional Chinese medicine? Zhang Boli: at present, the development of traditional Chinese medicine industry mainly faces three major constraints: first, resource constraints With the growing demand for medicinal materials, the original production mode of collecting wild medicinal materials is far from meeting the market demand, especially the shortage of endangered medicinal materials and animal medicinal materials, which restricts the development of traditional Chinese medicine industry Second, environmental constraints, soil pollution, water pollution, air pollution, pesticide residues, heavy metals and other factors affect the quality of traditional Chinese medicine products The third is technical constraints, including planting technology, safety analysis and evaluation technology, multi-component quality control and production technology breakthroughs At the same time, there are still many problems to be solved in the research and development of traditional Chinese medicine, such as: disconnection between traditional Chinese medicine and traditional Chinese medicine research; unclear clinical positioning of varieties, unclear advantages; lagged development mode of compound traditional Chinese medicine, key technologies to be improved; lagged research and standards related to the safety of traditional Chinese medicine; optimization of production process and quality control level of traditional Chinese medicine to be improved In the past, multinational pharmaceutical enterprises that never paid attention to traditional Chinese medicine began to march into the market of proprietary Chinese medicine On the one hand, it shows that multinational pharmaceutical enterprises begin to attach importance to traditional Chinese medicine, and the thinking of drug research and development changes to compound drugs; on the other hand, it also shows that Chinese traditional medicine enterprises will meet strong competitors, so we must think out good countermeasures Reporter of science and Technology Daily: how to find a way to research and develop traditional Chinese medicine in line with China's national conditions, and what methods and strategies should be adopted to make traditional Chinese medicine bigger and stronger? Zhang Boli: the strategy and path of Chinese medicine research and development can be summarized from six aspects: first, Chinese medicine research and development must be demand-oriented, in view of the lack of effective intervention or unsatisfactory efficacy of Western medicine, give full play to the advantages of traditional Chinese medicine, and fill the market gap; second, learn to excavate new drugs from classic prescriptions, including classic prescriptions, famous and old excellent prescriptions of traditional Chinese medicine; third Multi source discovery, classification guidance, from the compound Chinese medicine, effective parts, effective components or effective ingredients, to find new drugs, develop new drugs; four is to do a good job in the basic research of Chinese medicine safety; five is to do a good job in the research of key technology of Chinese medicine pharmaceutical production; six is to play the advantages of the national system, collaborative innovation, joint research.