Integrating R&D with manufacturing and pharmaceutical education in China

American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education,  Winter 2000  by Qiang, Wang,  Zhixiang, Shi,  Zongmin, Chen

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This paper discusses the background for the integration of R&D with manufacturing and pharmaceutical education in China as well as the measures that have been tentatively taken. The integration arises from the complementarity of mutual needs of the higher pharmaceutical schools and the pharmaceutical enterprises. It promotes the common development of all parties concerned. The pharmaceutical-manufacturing base constructed in China Pharmaceutical University and the Board of Directors of China Pharmaceutical University has become an effective way to ensure successful integration.

BACKGROUND

With the fundamental reform of the economic system in China, there have also been drastic changes in higher education. Under the system of the planned economy, colleges and universities had many kinds of vertical relationships with the governmental departments at all levels. However, they seldom had contacts with staffemploying organizations or other sectors in the society. They were only concerned about the cultivation (or output) of graduates without giving any consideration to the actual demands of the society. They were only responsible to the state and carried out their teaching and scientific research work in a relatively closed environment. With the transformation from a planned economy to a market-oriented economy, enterprises and other staff-employing units have become selective in their choice of personnel so as to ensure their survival in the fierce competition that exists. These units may now turn down the applicants or may rush to those "in great demand." Under this circumstance, universities have to face the reality of the market demands for graduates and try to live up to the requirements of the society. They have had to study the present needs of the society and in the future may have to adjust or even change their teaching and scientific research programs.

Pharmaceutical Enterprises Have to Rely on the Higher Pharmaceutical Schools for Science and Technology Potential

Since the 1950s, the pharmaceutical enterprise in China has followed the Russian model in putting together the R&D work whose interest was primarily in the manufacturing of the developed product. The central government allocated the research projects to the pharmaceutical research academy or research institute according to the national development plan for the pharmaceutical industry in China. The research results were then offered to the pharmaceutical enterprises free of charge. After a product was put into production, the governmental functional authority, at a higher rank, organized the research units to assist the factory to improve the technological levels of the product. This pattern once played a very important role in laying a foundation for the pharmaceutical industry in China and promoting its development. But with the passing of time, some drawbacks with the pattern became obvious. The problem of central significance was that the innovative R&D of the Chinese pharmaceutical industry lagged far behind the requirements for technological advancement and productivity development. The enterprises lacked special talents, funding, and necessary instrumentation and equipment that could meet the needs for technological innovation. Since January 1, 1993, when the drug patent policy was implemented, China has had a difficult time transforming from imitation to creation in developing drugs. This transformation centers on the fact that pharmaceutical enterprises should pay more attention to the R&D of new products, relying primarily on technological innovation and scientific advancement. Presently, an ideal way is to establish a stable cooperative partnership with higher pharmaceutical institutions that have a relatively abundant reserve of special talents and laboratory instruments. This cooperation is built on the basis of volunteerism and mutual benefits, not on a hierarchical division of labor.

Social Service Has Become the Third Function of Higher Pharmaceutical Schools Besides Teaching and Scientific Research

With the advancement of the society, universities, have expanded their functions. Originally, universities were considered to be a place to propagate knowledge and cultivate special talents. Later, universities combined teaching with scientific research, cultivating students as well as providing service for the society with their special expertise. As China progressed through the twentieth century, universities came to play a more important role in influencing the comprehensive national power of the country and enhancing its economic development.

A third finction of universities in serving the society was developed in the macro-background of China's transformation from a planned economy to a market-oriented economy. Prior to that, almost no school offered such a service because there was virtually no demand from the society. As far as the technological power of the higher pharmaceutical schools in China is concerned, they have come to be more qualified to finction as the technological backup force for the pharmaceutical enterprises in China. They have accumulated a great number of new compounds and intermediates which lay a good foundation for the reform of the structure of the clinical drugs for the search of high quality analogs and for the designing of compounds with new structures. They have helped to make it possible to produce drugs of high potency and low toxicity. In addition, China has an abundant source of traditional Chinese drugs that have had a clinical experience of several thousand years. It is likely that we will be able to develop modem Chinese drugs through the analytical studies and structural changes of the active chemical elements, the research on Chinese drug preparation and new form development as well as the pharmacological and clinical studies of the ancient compatibility of medicines.