Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica Honoured by Waters Centers of Innovation Program

Waters Corporation have welcomed the Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica’s (SIMM) Research Center for Modernization of Traditional Chinese Medicine under the direction of Dr De-an Guo into the Waters Centers of Innovation (COI) Program. The Research Center plays a leading role in the effort to develop standardised methods for analysing the authenticity and compositional integrity of traditional medicines and bring them into compliance with quality standards instituted by the China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA).

Yang Ye, Deputy Director of Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, said: “We are pleased to have our TCM Research Center honoured by Waters for the Centers of Innovation Program, the first in China. This is a wonderful opportunity for the Center and Waters to work closely together to tackle the holistic analysis of the complex Chinese herbal system.”

On hand to congratulate Dr Guo and his team was Dr Mike Harrington, VP Asia/Pacific Operations, Waters Division. “We could not be more excited to be working with Dr Guo and his fellow researchers at the Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica,” said Harrington. “The work of the Institute and the Research Center is vital to the efforts to globalise Traditional Chinese Medicine and enlist it in the fight against disease and in the quest to improve human health.”

Eric Fotheringham, Director – Waters Centers of Innovation Program, said: "We are particularly pleased to welcome Dr Guo and his team into the Waters Centers of Innovation Program, as they are the first COI Program partner focused upon the challenges of characterising TCM related raw materials and manufactured products."

Now that the CFDA regulates Traditional Chinese Medicines and related herbal supplements, Dr Guo’s Research Center for Modernization of Tradition Chinese Medicine is tasked with developing standardised quality control test methods for herbal medicines and bringing them into routine use.

Waters officially saluted the work of Dr Guo and the Research Center for TCM Modernization with a ceremony and three-day conference organised in part and sponsored by the Waters Centers of Innovation Program.

Asked what the recognition means to him, Dr Guo said, “It’s really an honour and a privilege for Waters to take so much interest in the work we do. I’m looking at this as an opportunity to deepen our collaboration and working together on quality monographs for Chinese herbal medicines for the Chinese pharmacopoeia and others, such as United States Pharmacopoeia and European Pharmacopoeia.”