Tu Youyou’s seven major contributions: Tu Youyou, the inventor of the new anti-malarial drug artemisinin, is the first inventor of the new anti-malarial drug artemisinin. She led the scientific research team to inherit and carry forward the medical heritage of the motherland. Starting from the systematic compilation of medical books and materia medica from past dynasties, she collected more than 2,000 prescriptions and compiled them into the "Anti-Malarial Prescription Collection". She also selected more than 200 prescriptions from them and organized them according to modern science. After screening and continuously improving the extraction method, artemisinin was finally discovered in 1971, which has an antimalarial effect of 100% on both mouse malaria and monkey malaria. Through nationwide collaboration, more than 2,000 cases have been verified, and it has been confirmed to be a "highly effective, fast-acting, low-toxic" new anti-malarial drug, especially effective against chloroquine falciparum malaria. Afterwards, she continued in-depth research and discovered dihydroartemisinin for the first time, and developed "compound dihydroartemisinin" composed of artemisinin and acridine antimalarial drugs, extending its efficacy to the field of immunity. The discovery of artemisinin not only found a new antimalarial drug, but also opened up a new way to find antimalarial drugs. This led to new progress in the international antimalarial field and prompted many countries in the world to further develop artemisinin. Research has saved millions of lives around the world, especially in developing countries.
1. The first inventor of the new anti-malarial drug artemisinin
2. The first to discover dihydroartemisinin
3. The completion of "artemisinin varieties" During the "Seventh Five-Year Plan" period, he participated in the national research project "Quality Research on Commonly Used Chinese Medicinal Materials Varieties" and conducted systematic research on Artemisia annua and isolated and identified 17 compounds, including Five of them are new compounds and have corrected the long-standing fallacy in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia.
4. Further research on the mechanism In order to prevent the development of artemisinin resistance, protect the clinical service life of artemisinin, and avoid abuse, we cooperated with Capital Medical University to conduct research on "the effects of dihydroartemisinin on "Effects of Plasmodium yoelii Development in Mosquitoes" conducted a study and found that artemisinin affected the infectivity of gametocytes of Plasmodium yoelii, but had no inhibitory effect on the sporozoite proliferation period in mosquitoes, that is, it failed to inhibit the oocysts from continuing to develop into sporozoites. spore. It is suggested that artemisinin drugs cannot be used for malaria prevention. A warning is raised about its current use for prevention.
5. Development of "compound dihydroartemisinin" composed of artemisinin and acridine antimalarial drugs. In order to solve the problem of the global spread of multidrug-resistant falciparum malaria, foreign countries have attached great importance to the research of compound formulas in recent years. . Dihydroartemisinin is currently the drug of choice among artemisinin drugs and has no cross-resistance to multidrug-resistant falciparum malaria. There is no cross-resistance between the acridine antimalarial drug pyronaridine and 4-aminoquinolines, pyrimidines, guanidines and sulfonamides. For this purpose, a compound consisting of dihydroartemisinin and pyronaridine was designed. With the support of the Academy of Military Sciences, experimental research was conducted and confirmed that the two drugs have a significant synergistic effect, with a synergistic index of 7.6, (higher than the currently widely used compound artemether composed of artemether and lumefantrine. The efficacy index is 6), it has many action sites and the course of treatment is short. The combination of the two drugs was used to treat 10 cases of falciparum malaria. The drug was highly effective when administered twice within 12-24 hours, and no resurgence of protozoa was seen for 40 days. Obtained patent certificate (patent number: ZL 99109669.X).
6. Research multiple dosage forms based on clinical needs. According to WHO data, about 3,000 infants and young children die from malaria every day. For this purpose, "dihydroartemisinin suppositories" were developed to facilitate rectal administration for children. Oral tablets are also made from artemisinin directly obtained from Artemisia annua, which is easy to make, cheap and less likely to cause drug resistance. Both obtained the "New Drug Certificate" in 2003, with the national drug license numbers H20030341 and H20030144 respectively.
7. Expand its efficacy to the field of immunity. Research has found that dihydroartemisinin has a good two-way regulatory effect in the field of immunity. It can not only reduce B cell hyperreactivity and reduce immune complex deposition caused by autoimmune diseases, and can improve the immune function of T cells. With the support of relevant departments of Peking University, we have used dihydroartemisinin to treat lupus erythematosus and photosensitive diseases. It has now obtained the "Drug Clinical Research Approval" (2004L02089) from the State Food and Drug Administration and the Chinese invention patent (Patent No.: ZL 99103346.9). After preliminary clinical observation of the efficacy of 100 cases, the total effective rate was 94% and the significant rate was 44%.