Further Reading:

To survive and to thrive, it is an innovation problem: Zhu Zhaoyun

Zhu Zhaoyun wears out-door clothing and sneakers all year round. H ow ever, before receiving the Yunnan Science and Technology Out-standing Contribution Award, she put on less casual clothes and flats. “The Yunnan Sci-ence and Technology Out-standing Contribution Award is an individual award, but it actually belongs to the whole research and development team. I am just here to re-ceive the award on behalf of the collective,” she said.

In the eyes of many peo-ple, Zhu Zhaoyun is already synonymous with innovation regarding Yunnan ethno-med-ical engineering technology. Seventeen years ago, when the Yunnan Institute of Me-teria Medica was in financial difficulties, Zhu Zhaoyun, as its director, led a group of young people to begin a series of reforms and inno-vations despite objections of others. 

 “We will survive and thrive through innovation! It is imperative for us to carry out scientific research and de-velop a new drug,” said Zhu Zhaoyun. With an unyielding spirit, she led the team to forge ahead. Zhu Zhaoyun was from a family steeped in traditional Chinese medicine. Recalling the uniquely effec-tive prescriptions that had been in use for generations in her hometown of Weishan, she hit upon an idea: she and her colleagues could research and develop new drugs on the basis of Yunnan’s natural medicine resources and eth-no-medicine!

By May 2000, under her leadership, the Yunnan Insti-tute of Meteria Medica had developed five high-quality new drugs, including Tong-shu Pain Relief capsules and the Intumesce-Pain Killing Aerosol. The institute also obtained five new national drug production and registra-tion approval documents, and was granted six national in-vention patents. The five new drugs brought in a total direct sales income of 620 million yuan over five years, setting an example of innovation for Yunnan’s entire pharmaceuti-cal industry.

In addition, the Yunnan Institute of Materia Medica ob-tained its Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) certification in 2004 and became the first institution in Yunnan to also receive the Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) certification in 2005. These accomplishments filled in a blank regarding safety evaluation standards in Yunnan’s new drug research field. Ever since then, the Yun-nan Institute of Materia Med-icahas embarked on a path of independent industrialization innovation, covering investi-gation, collection, extraction, separation, screening, safety evaluation, formulation devel-opment and standard drafting. 

In 2013, the Yunnan Insti-tute of Materia Medica became a subsidiary of Yunnan Baiyao Group. As development direc-tor of Yunnan Baiyao Group, Zhu Zhaoyun knows very clearly the direction of further innovation. Following the na-tional strategy of introducing ethno-medicine to the world, her team is going to focus on Tongshu Pain-Relieving capsules and Intumesce-Pain Killing Aerosol, which are clinically effective and high-ly recognised on the United States market. The focus now is to carry out systematic re-search in accordance with the requirements of the FDA and get these two drugs registered in the US.

Further Reading:

To survive and to thrive, it is an innovation problem: Zhu Zhaoyun

Zhu Zhaoyun wears out-door clothing and sneakers all year round. H ow ever, before receiving the Yunnan Science and Technology Out-standing Contribution Award, she put on less casual clothes and flats. The Yunnan Sci-ence and Technology Out-standing Contribution Award is an individual award, but it actually belongs to the whole research and development team. I am just here to re-ceive the award on behalf of the collective, she said. In the eyes of many peo-ple, Zhu Zhaoyun is already synonymous with innovation regarding Yunnan ethno-med-ical engineering technology. Seventeen years ago, when the Yunnan Institute of Me-teria Medica was in financial difficulties, Zhu Zhaoyun, as its director, led a group of young people to begin aseries of reforms and inno-vations despite objections of others. We will survive and thrive through innovation! It is imperative for us to carry out scientific research and de-velop a new drug, said Zhu Zhaoyun. With an unyielding spirit, she led the team to forge ahead. Zhu Zhaoyun was from a family steeped in traditional Chinese medicine. Recalling the uniquely effec-tive prescriptions that had been in use for generations in her hometown of Weishan, she hit upon an idea: she and her colleagues could research and develop new drugs on the basis of Yunnans natural medicine resources and eth-no-medicine! By May 2000, under her leadership, the Yunnan Insti-tute of Meteria Medica had developed five high-quality new drugs, including Tong-shu Pain Relief capsules and the Intumesce-Pain Killing Aerosol. The institute also obtained five new national drug production and registra-tion approval documents, and was granted six national in-vention patents. The five new drugs brought in a total direct sales income of 620 million yuan over five years, setting an example of innovation for Yunnans entire pharmaceuti-cal industry. In addition, the Yunnan Institute of Materia Medica ob-tained its Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) certification in 2004 and became the first institution in Yunnan to also receive the Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) certification in 2005. These accomplishments filled in a blank regarding safety evaluation standards in Yunnans new drug research field. Ever since then, the Yun-nan Institute of Materia Med-icahas embarked on a path of independent industrialization innovation, covering investi-gation, collection, extraction, separation, screening, safety evaluation, formulation devel-opment and standard drafting. In 2013, the Yunnan Insti-tute of Materia Medica became a subsidiary of Yunnan Baiyao Group. As development direc-tor of Yunnan Baiyao Group, Zhu Zhaoyun knows very clearly the direction of further innovation. Following the na-tional strategy of introducing ethno-medicine to the world, her team is going to focus on Tongshu Pain-Relieving capsules and Intumesce-Pain Killing Aerosol, which are clinically effective and high-ly recognised on the United States market. The focus now is to carry out systematic re-search in accordance with the requirements of the FDA and get these two drugs registered in the US.