中国科学院上海药物研究所Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica (SIMM), www.simm.ac.cn
中国科学院上海药物研究所是我国历史最悠久的药物研究机构，她的前身是国立北平研究院药物研究所，创建于1932年，1933年迁至上海，2003年又搬迁至浦东张江高科技园区。
上海药物研究所是以创新药物的基础研究、应用基础和应用开发研究为主的综合性研究所。通过生物学和化学两大学科的密切合作，阐明生物活性物质的结构、活性及其相互关系；探索药物作用的新机理、新靶点；完成新药临床前综合评价及研究；大力推进新药成果转化；为我国创新药物能力的全面提升起到引领作用。
上海药物研究所的主要研究领域包括：天然活性物质的发现；化合物的合成、结构修饰；药物作用的细胞和分子机制；药效评价新动物模型；新靶标的确证；药物－靶标相互作用和构效关系；分子药物设计；高通量和高内涵药物筛选；药物的早期代谢特征和安全性评价；药物新型传递系统等。并密切关注生命组学、系统生物学和胚胎干细胞等生命科学前沿领域最新进展，迅速应用它们的最新成果，提升药物研究的源头创新能力。与此同时，通过上述各个学科领域的综合研究，重点研究治疗严重危害我国人民健康的恶性肿瘤、神经退行性疾病、代谢性疾病的新药；同时对严重影响公共卫生和社会安全的感染性及突发性疾病等开展新药研发；并加强现代中药的研发，发掘祖国医药宝库，为中药走向世界不断作出基础性、战略性的贡献。
上海药物研究所设有新药研究国家重点实验室、国家新药筛选中心两个国家级研究中心，五个研究室，以及一系列新药研发技术平台；主办了英文学术杂志《Asian Journal of Andrology》和《Acta Pharmacologica Sinica》，并主办以非处方药物为主的科普杂志《家庭用药》。
经过几代科研人员的努力，上海药物研究所已发展成为学科齐全、成就卓著、人才荟萃、在国内外享有较高声誉的国立药物研究机构。数十年来，上海药物研究所先后研制出了一大批重要的创新药物，近十年来又进一步建立和完善了达到国际水平的新药研究技术平台体系，成为我国新药研究最重要的中心之一。
Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica (SIMM), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) evolved from the Institute of Materia Medica of Peking Academy of Sciences founded in 1932. Its current location is within the heart of Zhang Jiang Hi-Tech Park, Pudong New District.
SIMM’s mission is to provide a comprehensive solution in drug discovery and development. By combining basic and applied research efforts and through cross-fostering between chemistry and biology, scientists at SIMM carry out studies toward the elucidation of the structural basis of bioactive substances, discovery of new targets or mechanisms of action, comprehensive pre-clinical evaluation of drug candidates, and promotion of commercialization, thereby playing an indispensable role in building China’s drug innovation capabilities. The major research directions of SIMM include drugs against diseases seriously endangering the health of Chinese people like tumors, cardiovascular diseases, neurological diseases, metabolic diseases, autoimmune diseases as well as infectious diseases. Another task for SIMM is to strengthen research and development of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM).
SIMM consists of the following functional divisions: three national research centers which include State Key Laboratory of Drug Research, National Center for Drug Screening, and National Engineering Laboratory for TCM Standardization Technology; six research departments namely Department of Natural Products Chemistry, Department of Medicinal Chemistry, Department of Analytical Chemistry, Departments of Pharmacology I, II and III; and six drug discovery and development platforms including Drug Discovery and Design Center, Center for Drug Safety Evaluation and Research, Center for Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics Research, Center for Drug Efficacy Evaluation Research, Center for Pharmaceutics Research and Research Center for Modernization of Traditional Chinese Medicine. The supporting and logistic units include a library, a vivarium and a herbarium. Two English journals, namely, Acta Pharmacologica Sinica and Asian Journal of Andrology, and one Chinese journal Family Medicines are published by SIMM.
Through several generations of effort, SIMM has become one of the leading interdisciplinary research centers in China . It is recognized worldwide by its outstanding achievements in both basic and applied research fields.
Main Focus
With a solid foundation, complimentary set-up in both basic and applied research fields and multidisciplinary cooperation, efforts are directed towards the studies of new chemical entities, structure-activity relationships of bioactive substances, pre-clinical evaluation and pharmaceutical development. SIMM’s main research fields include natural products chemistry, medicinal chemistry, combinatorial chemistry, drug screening, pharmacology, pharmacokinetics, toxicology and computer-aided drug design, etc. There are many links among them in the form of project teams with overlapping expertise. Adequate resources are allocated to introduce and implement new technologies such as proteomics and bioinformatics with an aim of identifying new drug targets and lead compounds. The major research directions of SIMM include drugs against neurological diseases, tumors, metabolic diseases, cardiovascular diseases, infectious diseases, as well as immunomodulators and medicinal chelating agents. SIMM is also the primary participant in the newly established Research Center for Modernization of Traditional Chinese Medicine.
Major Achievements
SIMM ranks at the top in China for its drug discovery and development activities. More than 70 drugs have been developed since its establishment. Of these, 10 were listed in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia. For instance, periaqueductal gray matter has been demonstrated to be the most effective site in the whole nervous system for the abolition of pain by micro-injection of morphine. This finding was recognized internationally as a milestone in opioid research. Artemether, a novel anti-malarial drug included in the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines, has been exported to many countries to treat severe malaria. Sodium dimercaptosuccinate, an antidote against heavy metal poisonings, was copied by a major U.S. pharmaceutical company and approved by the FDA to treat lead poisoning. Sobuzoxan, an anti-tumor drug designed and synthesized by SIMM, jointly developed by SIMM and a Japanese pharmaceutical company, was approved by the Japanese Ministry of Health in 1994. Huperzine A (HupA), a novel alkaloid isolated from the Chinese medicinal herb, Huperzia serrata, was found to be a potent, reversible and selective inhibitor of AChE. Clinical trials have shown that HupA could significantly improve memory deficiencies in aged population and patients with Alzheimer’s disease.Depsides salt injection, a modern Chinese herbal drug against coronary heart disease angina pectoris, received the certification of a new drug and permission for production from the Chinese SFDA in May 2005. The drug has the authorization of domestic and US patents. The invention of this drug is an important achievement of TCM modernization in the past few years.
Supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China, CAS and Shanghai Municipality, a number of drug candidates are currently under pre-clinical evaluations.
Research Teams
Currently, SIMM employs a staff of more than 400, most of them are researchers under 45 years of age. Meanwhile, graduate study programs in SIMM is expanding rapidly with present enrollment of over 400 students. Through vigorous recruiting efforts, a young and energetic group of scientists with high academic calibers has formed a core in SIMM. They are active in scientific thinking, dedicated and self-motivated; they are familiar with the latest domestic and international developments in their fields of research; many of them have made significant research progresses that received wide recognition among their peers.