Zhou Yiqing

Zhou Yiqing
周义清
Born1929 (age 94–95)
NationalityChinese
CitizenshipPeople's Republic of China
EducationPLA Second Military Medical University
Known forInvention of Coartem
AwardsEuropean Inventor Award (2009)
Scientific career
FieldsMedicine
InstitutionsEighth Route Army
Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology of the People's Liberation Army Academy of Military Medical Sciences
In this Chinese name, the family name is Zhou.

Zhou Yiqing (born 1929) is a professor of medicine at the Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology of the People's Liberation Army Academy of Military Medical Sciences.[1] He was one of the scientists who participated in the Project 523 of the Chinese Government under Chairman Mao Zedong. The project resulted in the discovery of artemisinins, a class of antimalarial drugs, from the medicinal plant Artemisia annua.[2][3]

Zhou specifically worked on artemether, one of the derivatives of artemisinin. In 1985 he combined artemether with another drug lumefantrine into a single tablet, which he successfully used for the treatment of severe malaria. With the support of Novartis, the drug was produced in 1991 under the brand name Coartem, and it became the first artemisinin-based combination therapy.[4] For this invention he and his team were awarded the European Inventor Award of 2009 in the category "Non-European countries".[5]

  1. ^ Cui, Weiyuan (2009). "Ancient Chinese anti-fever cure becomes panacea for malaria". Bulletin of the World Health Organization. 87 (10): 743–744. doi:10.2471/BLT.09.051009. PMC 2755319. PMID 19876540.
  2. ^ Hsu, Elisabeth (2006). "The history of qing hao in the Chinese materia medica". Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. 100 (6): 505–508. doi:10.1016/j.trstmh.2005.09.020. PMID 16566952.
  3. ^ Klayman, D. (1985). "Qinghao su (artemisinin): an antimalarial drug from China". Science. 228 (4703): 1049–1055. Bibcode:1985Sci...228.1049K. doi:10.1126/science.3887571. PMID 3887571.
  4. ^ Premji, Zulfiqarali G (2009). "Coartem®: the journey to the clinic". Malaria Journal. 8 (Suppl 1): S3. doi:10.1186/1475-2875-8-S1-S3. PMC 2760238. PMID 19818170.
  5. ^ "European Inventor Award: An Ancient Cure for Malaria". European Patent Office. Retrieved 23 April 2015.