中醫(yī)藥科學(xué)研究取得積極進(jìn)展。組織開(kāi)展16個(gè)國(guó)家級(jí)中醫(yī)臨床研究基地建設(shè)及中醫(yī)藥防治傳染病和慢性非傳染性疾病臨床科研體系建設(shè),建立了涵蓋中醫(yī)藥各學(xué)科領(lǐng)域的重點(diǎn)研究室和科研實(shí)驗(yàn)室,建設(shè)了一批國(guó)家工程(技術(shù))研究中心、工程實(shí)驗(yàn)室,形成了以獨(dú)立中醫(yī)藥科研機(jī)構(gòu)、中醫(yī)藥大學(xué)、省級(jí)以上中醫(yī)醫(yī)院為研究主體,綜合性大學(xué)、綜合醫(yī)院、中藥企業(yè)等參與的中醫(yī)藥科技創(chuàng)新體系。近年來(lái),有45項(xiàng)中醫(yī)藥科研成果獲得國(guó)家科技獎(jiǎng)勵(lì),其中科技進(jìn)步一等獎(jiǎng)5項(xiàng)。屠呦呦因發(fā)現(xiàn)“青蒿素——一種用于治療瘧疾的藥物”,榮獲2011年美國(guó)拉斯克臨床醫(yī)學(xué)獎(jiǎng)和2015年諾貝爾生理學(xué)或醫(yī)學(xué)獎(jiǎng)。因?qū)鹘y(tǒng)中藥的砷劑與西藥結(jié)合治療急性早幼粒細(xì)胞白血病的療效明顯提高,王振義、陳竺獲得第七屆圣捷爾吉癌癥研究創(chuàng)新成就獎(jiǎng)。開(kāi)展中藥資源普查試點(diǎn)工作,并初步建成由1個(gè)中心平臺(tái)、28個(gè)省級(jí)中心、65個(gè)監(jiān)測(cè)站組成的中藥資源動(dòng)態(tài)監(jiān)測(cè)信息和技術(shù)服務(wù)體系,以及16個(gè)中藥材種子種苗繁育基地和2個(gè)種質(zhì)資源庫(kù)。組織開(kāi)展民族醫(yī)藥文獻(xiàn)整理與適宜技術(shù)篩選推廣工作,涉及150部重要民族醫(yī)藥文獻(xiàn)、140項(xiàng)適宜技術(shù)。這些科研成果的轉(zhuǎn)化應(yīng)用,為提高臨床療效、保障中藥質(zhì)量、促進(jìn)中藥產(chǎn)業(yè)健康發(fā)展提供了支撐。
中藥產(chǎn)業(yè)快速發(fā)展。頒布實(shí)施一系列加強(qiáng)野生中藥資源保護(hù)的法律法規(guī),建立一批國(guó)家級(jí)或地方性的自然保護(hù)區(qū),開(kāi)展珍稀瀕危中藥資源保護(hù)研究,部分緊缺或?yàn)l危資源已實(shí)現(xiàn)人工生產(chǎn)或野生撫育?;窘⒘艘灾嗅t(yī)藥理論為指導(dǎo)、突出中醫(yī)藥特色、強(qiáng)調(diào)臨床實(shí)踐基礎(chǔ)、鼓勵(lì)創(chuàng)新的中藥注冊(cè)管理制度。目前,國(guó)產(chǎn)中藥民族藥約有6萬(wàn)個(gè)藥品批準(zhǔn)文號(hào)。全國(guó)有2088家通過(guò)藥品生產(chǎn)質(zhì)量管理規(guī)范(GMP)認(rèn)證的制藥企業(yè)生產(chǎn)中成藥,中藥已從丸、散、膏、丹等傳統(tǒng)劑型,發(fā)展到現(xiàn)在的滴丸、片劑、膜劑、膠囊等40多種劑型,中藥產(chǎn)品生產(chǎn)工藝水平有了很大提高,基本建立了以藥材生產(chǎn)為基礎(chǔ)、工業(yè)為主體、商業(yè)為紐帶的現(xiàn)代中藥產(chǎn)業(yè)體系。2015年中藥工業(yè)總產(chǎn)值7866億元,占醫(yī)藥產(chǎn)業(yè)規(guī)模的28.55%,成為新的經(jīng)濟(jì)增長(zhǎng)點(diǎn);中藥材種植成為農(nóng)村產(chǎn)業(yè)結(jié)構(gòu)調(diào)整、生態(tài)環(huán)境改善、農(nóng)民增收的重要舉措;中藥產(chǎn)品貿(mào)易額保持較快增長(zhǎng),2015年中藥出口額達(dá)37.2億美元,顯示出巨大的海外市場(chǎng)發(fā)展?jié)摿?。中藥產(chǎn)業(yè)逐漸成為國(guó)民經(jīng)濟(jì)與社會(huì)發(fā)展中具有獨(dú)特優(yōu)勢(shì)和廣闊市場(chǎng)前景的戰(zhàn)略性產(chǎn)業(yè)。
Positive progress made in TCM scientific research. Sixteen national TCM clinical research bases have been built as part of the clinical research system for preventing and treating infectious diseases and chronic non-infectious diseases with TCM. This, together with a number of key research centers and labs covering all disciplines of TCM and national engineering (technology) research centers and labs in this respect, have brought into being a TCM sci-tech innovation system that is based on independent TCM research institutes, TCM universities, and TCM hospitals at and above the provincial level, and participated by comprehensive universities, general hospitals and TCM enterprises.
In recent years, 45 TCM research achievements have been awarded national sci-tech prizes, of which five were first-prize winners of the National Science and Technology Progress Award. Tu Youyou won the 2011 Lasker Award in clinical medicine and the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering qinghaosu (artemisinin). Wang Zhenyi and Chen Zhu were awarded the Seventh Annual Szent-Gyorgyi Prize for Progress in Cancer Research for combining the Western medicine ATRA and the TCM compound arsenic trioxide to treat acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL).
A pilot program for Chinese medicinal resources survey has been implemented, forming a dynamic information and technology system with one central platform, 28 provincial-level centers, and 65 monitoring stations. Sixteen seed and seedling bases for Chinese medicinal plants and two germplasm banks have been established. Organizational work has been done for collation of literature and screening of appropriate skills of ethnic minority medicine, involving 150 works on ethnic minority medicine and 140 appropriate skills. The transformation and application of these research results has provided support for enhancing clinical effectiveness, ensuring the quality of Chinese medicine, and fostering the sound development of the TCM pharmaceutical industry.
Rapid development of the TCM pharmaceutical industry. A number of laws and regulations have been enacted and implemented on strengthening the protection of TCM wild medicinal resources; a number of national and local nature reserves have been established; research has been conducted on the protection of rare and endangered Chinese medicinal resources; and artificial production or wild tending have been carried out for certain scarce and endangered resources.
A registration management system has been basically established for TCM pharmaceuticals under the guidance of theories of traditional Chinese medicine and pharmacology, highlighting the strengths of TCM, setting great store by clinical practice and encouraging innovation. To date, 60,000 TCM and ethnic minority medical drugs have been approved, and 2,088 pharmaceutical enterprises that have been approved by the Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) of Medical Products are manufacturing Chinese patent medicines. The dosage forms of TCM medicines have increased from a traditionally limited number of forms such as pills, powders, ointments and pellets into more than 40, including dropping pills, tablets, pods and capsules, indicating marked improvement in the technological level of Chinese medicinal drug production, and initial establishment of a modern Chinese medicine industry based on the production of medicinal materials and industrial production and tied together by commerce.
In 2015, the total output value of the TCM pharmaceutical industry was RMB786.6 billion, accounting for 28.55 percent of the total generated by the country's pharmaceutical industry, and becoming a new source of growth in China's economy. Planting Chinese medicinal herbs has become a key means of adjusting the rural industrial structure, improving the eco-environment, and increasing farmers' incomes. Trade in Chinese medicinal products has maintained rapid growth, and the export value of Chinese medicines amounted to US$3.72 billion in 2015, signifying the great potential of Chinese medicines in overseas markets. The TCM pharmaceutical industry has gradually developed into an industry with distinctive strengths and broad market prospects, which is of strategic importance to national economic and social development.