Most of China's innovative drugs are related to natural medicine

"Western drug research and development emphasizes precise target therapy, while Chinese original drugs emphasize comprehensive treatment ideas such as treating both symptoms and root causes, treating the same disease with different treatment, hoping to regulate the body to achieve physiological balance." At the China International Medical Health Industry Development and Investment Forum of the 2022 Service Trade Fair, Jiang Jiandong, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and president of the Institute of Pharmaceutical Research of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, hopes that everyone will pay attention to the innovation and development of China's original drugs by reviewing and reviewing the development of China's original drugs.

"Use the past for the present, use the foreign for the Chinese" Chinese original medicine has developed rapidly

"China's original medicine has gone through a long road of reform and development." Jiang Jiandong describes the development of original Chinese medicine.

Jiang Jiandong said that the first stage was mainly based on imitation drugs, advocating learning from the West to solve clinical problems; In the second stage, the combination of generic drugs and innovative drugs began. Domestic enterprises and universities launched a number of new drugs through transformation and optimization, but they still relied heavily on the West for chemical structure and molecular mechanism. In the third stage, our country began to innovate drugs with modern technology and unique thinking.

Jiang stressed that most of China's innovative medicines are related to the country's traditional Chinese medicine, which is a characteristic of China, and many innovative medicines are derived from medicinal plants. "China's original medicine is now mainly plant-derived, and new drugs from microbial sources are starting to emerge."

In 2004, Jiang Jiandong led his research group to find that berberine, the main component of Coptis chinensis, is a new mechanism of lipid-lowering drug. "Berberine, an alkaloid derived from a plant and used to treat bacterial diarrhea, is unique to our country as an over-the-counter drug. We found that berberine is a safe and effective drug with a new mechanism to reduce lipid and glucose."

In Jiang Jiandong's view, the in-depth study of natural medicine pharmacology provides important help for us to find safe and effective drugs for the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases.

"Treating both symptoms and root causes and treating different diseases together" has more advantages than single target

"Western drug research and development emphasizes precise target therapy, while Chinese original drugs emphasize systematic ideas such as treating both symptoms and root causes, treating the same disease with different treatment, and comprehensive treatment." Jiang Jiandong believes that chronic diseases, diabetes, tumors, etc. are multi-factor and multi-stage diseases, and a single target may not be able to eradicate the lesion. If we can treat both the symptoms and the root causes, it is a better choice than only treating the symptoms.

Jiang Jiandong said that in the case of Azf, we found that the theory of "treating both symptoms and root causes" worked very well. The first approved oral drug for COVID-19, Azvudine is about five times worse than remdesivir in vitro, but better than remdesivir in vivo. Remdesivir is dosed 20 times as much and needs to be administered intravenously, while azvudine is dosed in smaller doses and can be taken orally.

"This example comes down to the theory of traditional medicine in our country, which is the principle of treating both symptoms and root causes, and aims to improve the body's overall immunity rather than a single disease target. Therefore, immunity is the main target in the process of curing the disease." Jiang Jiandong said.

In Jiang Jiandong's view, the treatment of both symptoms and root causes contains a very complex mechanism and the secret of the human body. If we can grasp the principle correctly, the exploration of traditional Chinese medicine treatment will also be promoted to a higher height.

There is still a long way to go for China's original drug innovation and development

"In the past, some people in the industry often said that China does not have original drugs. In fact, this is not the case. Artemisinin, ephedrine, arsenic trioxide and berberine all have a great influence in the world. Not long ago, the State Food and Drug Administration approved mulberry alkaloids for the treatment of type 2 diabetes, which is a multi-component drug with Chinese characteristics."

"Although we have made some achievements, there is still a long way to go in our country's original drug research and development, which needs unremitting exploration and progress," Jiang said.

"We still have a lot of work to do, China has a lot of drugs are multi-component, chemical components need to be clear, molecular structure also need to be identified.

Jiang Jiandong said that after a drug enters the body, it often becomes multiple components, and each component does its own thing. How they work is a system engineering. If we can explore this point clearly, we believe that the innovation and development of Chinese original medicine will reach a higher level.

"At present, there are still many diseases in the world without drug treatment. Whether China can make a contribution and what special drugs in China can play a role still need to be further explored."

"This is a highly technical task," Jiang said. "While we are doing this work, we also hope to strengthen communication with our Western counterparts so that we can work together to develop better drugs to help patients relieve their pain."

Since its establishment, Tiansheng Pharmaceutical has been committed to the research, development, production and sales of natural plant pharmaceutical raw materials. Its main products include glycyrrhizin, mono-potassium glycyrrhizin, Diammonium glycyrrhizin, matrine, puerarin, trisodium glycyrrhizin, etc., contributing to human health efforts in cooperation with well-known pharmaceutical enterprises at home and abroad. Tiansheng Pharmaceutical will take "focus on comprehensive health, wisdom to make good raw materials" as its own responsibility, and continue to work in the field of natural medicine and comprehensive health.