Vice Minister Qian Liu and Vice Mayor Xiaoming Shen visit  CNCL(Image by CNCL)

In the afternoon of November 9, 2011, Vice Minister of Health, Dr. Qian Liu, Vice Mayor of Shanghai, Dr. Xiaoming Shen, Deputy Secretary General of Shanghai Municipality,  Madam Tiehui Weng, and Director of Science and Education Department of the Ministry of Health, Dr. Wei He, visited the newly established Chinese National Compound Library (CNCL).

Professor Ming-Wei Wang briefly introduced the history, development and prospect of CNCL, and emphasized that CNCL will explore every possibility to expand collaborations while implementing the national mega project on drug discovery, with an ultimate goal of establishing a first-class resource and technology platform for drug innovation in China.

Vice Mayor Xiaoming Shen first highly commended the achievements made by CNCL in terms of facility construction, progress status and innovative concept. He congratulated on the rapid establishment of this key and state-of-the-art R&D infrastructure with the support from Ministry of Health, Ministry of Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Shanghai Municipality. He stressed that CNCL should further invest its efforts to explore suitable operational mechanism and talent recruitment strategy. Emphasis should also be directed towards promotion of resource sharing and provision of high quality services, in order to produce research outcomes of major impact with all speed.

"Construction and development of CNCL thereby establishing China's indigenous resource platform for drug discovery is a strategic initiative that reflects the will of the state. It demonstrates our determination to conduct original innovation and our ability to carry out large-scale projects via mobilizing available resources nationwide", said Vice Minister Qian Liu. He emphasized that the management system as well as the operating mechanism of CNCL are themselves of innovation nature and worth promoting. "As a national resource center not a beneficiary, CNCL offers public services globally both in free and paid modes, under the condition that the interests of various stakeholders are fully respected and protected", he further commented, "this business model not only shows the generosity of Shanghai residents and the courage of Chinese people, but also has far-reaching significance in the search for a drug discovery system with China's characteristics".

At the end of their visit, both Vice Minister Qian Liu and Vice Mayor Xiaoming Shen sincerely encouraged those present at the scene to make persistent efforts and to strive for more successes.