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Discovering an antimalarial drug in Mao's China
Chinese scientists discovered artemisinin in 1971 as part of a secret military project that merged Eastern and Western medicine.
Titled “Discovery of Antimalarial Chinese Herbal Medicine Under the Guidance of Mao Zedong’s Thoughts,” her presentation reported the 100 percent efficacy rate of the sample crude ether neutral extract from qinghao in both rodent and simian (primate) malaria experiments. The next year, hoping to receive support from WHO’s experts, Chinese scientists showed TDR (the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases, co-sponsored by WHO, World Bank, UNICEF and UNDP) representatives around factories in multiple cities, only to be disappointed to learn that none met the F.D.A.’s Good Manufacturing Practice standards for drug production. Precipitated by the dire consequences malaria caused to soldiers in a complex war and Mao’s agenda to merge Chinese and Western medicine, or tu and yang sciences, artemisinin traversed through a vast range of actors, geographies, and methodologies.
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