National Science and Technology Awards 2020 announced, with multiple awards in the field of cardiovascular research.

On November 3, the 2020 National Science and Technology Award Conference was held in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. 91-year-old academician Gu Zunfen, a master of aircraft design in New China and the founder of aerodynamic design for aircraft, and 86-year-old academician Wang Dazhong, an internationally renowned strategic scientist in nuclear energy, were awarded the highest National Science and Technology Award.

Since the inauguration of the National Science and Technology Award in 2000, 35 people have been awarded this prize. It can be said that these great scientists are the backbone of the nation that has driven the scientific and technological endeavours of the new China to great heights!

There are five National Science and Technology Awards, namely the National Top Science and Technology Award, the National Natural Science Award, the National Technology Invention Award, the National Science and Technology Progress Award, and the International Science and Technology Cooperation Award.

Official reports show that a total of 264 projects, 10 science and technology experts and one international organisation were selected for the 2020 National Science and Technology Awards announced on November 3. Among them, there were 2 persons for the State Supreme Science and Technology Award; 46 National Natural Science Awards, including 2 first-class awards and 44 second-class awards; 61 National Technical Invention Awards, including 3 first-class awards and 58 second-class awards; 157 National Science and Technology Progress Awards, including 2 special awards, 18 first-class awards and 137 second-class awards; and 8 foreign experts and 1 international organisation were awarded the People’s Republic of China International Science and Technology Cooperation Award.

01 Several projects in the field of cardiovascular diseases won the National Science and Technology Progress Award.

The list of winners of this year’s National Science and Technology Awards continues to be rich in medical-related projects, with several projects in the field of cardiovascular disease research also winning the National Science and Technology Progress Awards.

According to incomplete statistics, the following projects are related to the field of cardiovascular disease research in the National Science and Technology Progress Award for 2020, which has just been relaunched.

▪ The project “Creation and application of a new technology system of hypoxia and ischemia adaptation for the prevention and treatment of ischemic stroke”, with Capital Medical University as the main completer.

▪ Establish and apply critical technologies and systems for quality improvement in cerebrovascular diseases by Beijing Tiantan Hospital of Capital Medical University as the central completion unit.

▪ The Tenth People’s Hospital of Tongji University, Shandong University, Nanjing University, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Shandong Medical Device Product Quality Inspection Center, Shandong Baiduoan Medical Devices, and Zhuhai Medical Kai Electronic Technology are the central completion units for the project “Establishment of Key Technology System of Vascular Access Digital Diagnosis and its Clinical Application.”

▪ “Key technological innovation and clinical translation of cell therapy for ischemic heart disease” by the First Hospital of Soochow University, Fu Wai Hospital of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Shanghai Institutes for Life Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the First Hospital of Hebei Medical University and the Institute of Biophysics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences as the central accomplishing units; and

▪ “Establishment and application of a cardiovascular injury prevention system in the military operating environment”, a project jointly completed by Jiuqiang Bio and the General Hospital of the People’s Liberation Army

02 Increasing prevalence of cardiovascular disease

The incidence of cardiovascular disease in China has indeed been increasing in recent years, and the situation is becoming more critical, as it is worldwide.

One reason for this is that cardiovascular disease is one of the more significant age-related diseases, and the last decade has seen an ageing population sweeping the world. According to a report by Frost & Sullivan, the proportion of people aged over 65 is expected to reach nearly 11% of the world’s population by 2030.

China has now entered an ageing society in China, implementing the “family planning policy”, which was introduced at various stages in response to the times’ demands and the increase in life expectancy.

Data shows that China’s population is ageing rapidly between 2016 and 2020, with the population aged 65 and overgrowing at a compound rate of 5.4%. According to the National Bureau of Statistics of China (NBC), the population aged 65+ will be 185.4 million in 2020 and is expected to grow in the future.

As mentioned earlier, most vascular diseases are age-related and naturally increase in prevalence in the elderly population. The frequency of cardiovascular disease is predicted to climb in the future as the world’s population ages, particularly in China. It will provide significant opportunities for the market for cardiovascular disease therapeutics and related medical devices.

Stroke is one of the most common cardiovascular diseases in China, after hypertension. Stroke is an acute cerebrovascular disease, mainly including ischaemic stroke and haemorrhagic stroke. It is a group of diseases that cause damage to brain tissue due to sudden rupture of blood vessels in the brain or blockage of blood vessels, resulting in high morbidity, high mortality and high disability.

Stroke is currently dominated by acute ischaemic stroke (AIS), accounting for approximately 70.2% of stroke cases. 2019 saw approximately 719,500 deaths from acute ischaemic stroke in China. Meanwhile, studies have shown that the death/disability rate of hospitalised acute ischaemic stroke patients within one year of symptom detection ranges from 33.4% to 33.8%.

03 Current developments in thrombolytic therapy in the treatment of cardiovascular disease

According to the Chinese Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Acute Ischemic Stroke, acute ischemic stroke’s primary treatment is currently thrombolysis.

The time window for treating acute ischaemic stroke is critical because of the lack of blood supply to the brain and the resulting brain damage after acute ischaemic stroke, leading to functional impairment.

In 2019 only about 16% of all acute ischaemic stroke patients treated in China had access to treatment within 4.5 hours of onset and about 58% between 4.5 and 6 hours after onset.

Despite the increasing awareness of acute ischaemic stroke and the availability of medical resources, it is still difficult for many acute ischaemic stroke patients to reach the hospital within a short time of the onset of the disease.

In 2019, the number of patients with acute ischaemic stroke who could receive thrombolytic therapy in China was about 1,307,700, and the number of patients who could be suitable for thrombolytic drug treatment within 6 hours of onset was about 967,700, of whom about 758,500 could receive thrombolytic therapy between 4.5 hours and 6 hours.

The number of patients with acute ischaemic stroke who can be treated with thrombolysis within six hours is expected to grow to 1,249,600 in 2024, driven by favourable policies such as the future increase in medical resources and the construction of stroke centres.

04 Bacterial vector product YB1 applied to the development of innovative thrombolytic drugs.

With the increasing popularity of thrombolytic therapy in the clinical treatment of cardiovascular diseases, thrombolytic drugs have also become one of the fastest-growing market branches in recent years. Currently, the commonly used thrombolytic drugs in clinical practice include urokinase (UK), streptokinase (SK), alteplase (rt-PA), Pro-UK, alteplase (r-PA) and tenecteplase (TNK-Tpa).

Among them, urokinase and streptokinase are first-generation thrombolytic agents. They are fibrin non-specific fibrinogen activators and can directly activate blood fibrinogen, but are not fibrin specific and can lead to systemic fibrin degradation, which can easily cause bleeding complications.

The second-generation thrombolytic agents are fibrin-specific fibrinogen activators, represented by Puyuk and alteplase, which have a specific affinity for fibrin and therefore can selectively activate fibrinogen in the thrombus have a substantial local thrombolytic effect.

In addition to the marketed thrombolytic drugs, many emerging biotechnology companies have also started to layout the thrombosis treatment track market, the next generation of thrombolytic drugs has become the focus of the industry market, and the innovative research and development of antithrombotic drugs such as thrombolytic are in urgent need of stepping up.

Our core product, YB1, is a large-molecule drug delivery vehicle that can be combined with various thrombolytic drugs to treat various thrombotic diseases. The YB1 thrombolytic bacterial cardiovascular disease treatment technology uses the world’s first thrombus-targeting technology to release thrombolytic agents at the thrombus to achieve the precise thrombolytic effect.

With the progress of academic research and technology and the introduction of more and more new participants in the area of cardiovascular diseases, such as antithrombotic treatment, the field of cardiovascular diseases is becoming increasingly competitive. We hope that more innovative drugs like YB1 will be available soon and that we will do our best to dispel the clouds hanging over people’s minds from the increasing prevalence of cardiovascular diseases and protect human health together.