The program "My Family, My Country" exclusively interviewed Wang Yiguang, the inventor of China's first biogenetic engineering antibiotic innovative drug carithromycin and a researcher at the Institute of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences. At 21:30 today, "My Family and My Country", listen to Wang Yiguang's life story of dealing with antibiotics with a smile.
· She once responded to the call of the Party Central Committee to "march towards science", went to study in the Soviet Union at the age of 19, and won five years of excellent results as the only Chinese student majoring in antibiotics;
· She has devoted herself to the field of antibiotic research for 64 years, and participated in the development of a variety of antibiotics such as griseofulvin, medisomycin, and carithromycin, which once rewrote the history of antibiotic development in mainland China.
· At the age of 42, she chose to study abroad again, just to break the original tradition of making generic drugs and take "researching Chinese's own medicine" as her lifelong mission.
Before retiring, she was a researcher at the Institute of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, and she participated in the development of a variety of antibiotics such as griseofulvin, medisomycin, and carithromycin, which once rewrote the history of antibiotic development in the mainland.
Reporter: When you went to study antibiotics, did you know what kind of subject it was?
Wang Yiguang: There were seven or eight classmates who went, and I was the only one assigned to the antibiotic major. It is an expectation of the country, and I feel that I should study hard, and when I go to the Soviet Union, I must go all out and study well, no matter what major I study.
In order to let the reporter have a better understanding of the principle of antibiotics, Wang Yiguang took the reporter to the place where she has worked for most of her life, the Institute of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences.
Wang Yiguang: Can you smell it?
Reporter: There is a little bit of indescribable smell, mushroom smell, is there a way for us to see what it will be like to be in a really good state?
Wang Yiguang: Look at this bottle, you can see this bottle, after shaking it like this, its mycelium will hang on the wall, and these fungi will stick to this like snowflakes.
Reporter: What stage is this in the mature stage?
Wang Yiguang: This should be the best stage for the production of antibiotics.
In 1963, the Chinese's own griseofulvin fell to the ground and was officially put into production. Subsequently, Wang Yiguang continued to conduct research on madisomycin and acetylspiramycin, and in 1978, the development of griseofulvin and madisomycin won the National Science Conference Award, and it was at that time that Wang Yiguang chose to study in the United States, that year, she was 42 years old.
Reporter: Why did you choose to study abroad when you were in your forties?
Wang Yiguang: As far as I was concerned, I still had some considerations in my mind at that time, that is, it was not a way to keep copying like this.
Reporter: It stands to reason that we have found a shortcut to this road through so much hard work.
Wang Yiguang: As such a big country, how can China not have a little innovation on its own? Moreover, China's diseases are not necessarily the same as those in the world, so studying Chinese's own medicine, anyway, I have been this mission all my life, and this is also the thing in my mind.
In 1988, Wang Yiguang returned to his motherland, and after obtaining the approval of the National 863 Program, she was ready to use a new method to develop a new antibiotic: carithromycin. In the early spring of 2001, Wang Yiguang got the test drug of carithromycin, and according to the requirements, they needed to find the person who tested the drug and take it at one time according to the maximum dose to verify the safety of the drug.
Wang Yiguang: I said that I can only come, and I said that if it doesn't work, I can call 120 at most.
Reporter: Aren't you scared?
Wang Yiguang: I wasn't afraid, nothing else, I just felt a little nauseous, and I didn't vomit. So after I did this test, I wrote on the instructions that I recommend taking it after a meal, because I was a little nauseous after eating.
In June 2019, carithromycin, as a drug mainly used for the treatment of respiratory tract infections, passed the review of the China Drug Evaluation Center and was officially approved for marketing, which is the first anti-infective drug successfully developed by synthetic biology technology in mainland China. From the age of 52 when the project was established in 1988 to the review at the age of 83 in 2019, Wang Yiguang has gone through 31 years.
Reporter: It's a difficult road, but you've been smiling and talking to me about it, and you've been laughing.
Wang Yiguang: Yes, I think I have done one thing in my life, and I have done my best, worthy of my conscience, and worthy of myself.
Serious, dedicated, persistent, happy. - Wang Yiguang
Source: CCTV news client