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ABOUT USSSY Group Limited is a large high-tech pharmaceutical enterprise with coordinated development of R&D and industrialization in multiple fields such as new drugs, generic drugs, characteristic APIs
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INNOVATIONSSY Group Limited has built a relatively perfect scientific research and innovation system with the development mode of “production, learning, research, and application” of multi-disciplinary integration and multi-directional combination.
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RECRUITIt has established high-level innovation platforms such as engineering laboratory and technology research center jointly with Chinese Academy of Sciences, and now has nearly 400 high-level talents in drug research, analysis and clinical research.
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SUBSIDIARIESThe company has a diversified business development pattern of R&D, production and export of new drugs, generic drugs, characteristic APIs, advanced finished pharmaceutical products, biological preparations and pharmaceutical packaging materials.
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CONTACTWe will continue to strengthen innovation-driven development, will vigorously encourage the integration of production and research, strengthen and improve the five domains: new drugs, biological drugs, traditional Chinese medicine, generic drugs and APIs
Shijiazhuang Daily | How Much Productivity Can “AI + Pharmaceuticals” Unleash?
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发布时间：2024-07-15
【概要描述】
With the rapid advancement of AI—artificial intelligence—technology, AI is increasingly integrating into our work and daily lives, empowering industries across the board to unlock new realms of possibility through the “magic wand” of AI.
Recently, a reporter visited Shijiazhuang Sihua Pharmaceutical Group, a leading pharmaceutical company in Shijiazhuang, to get up close and personal with the “superpowers” demonstrated by the fusion of AI and drug development.
With the rapid advancement of AI—artificial intelligence—technology, AI is increasingly integrating into our work and daily lives, while industries across the board are leveraging AI’s “magic wand” to unlock greater possibilities and expand the boundaries of what’s imaginable.
Recently, a reporter visited Shijiazhuang Sihua Pharmaceutical Group, a leading pharmaceutical company in Shijiazhuang, to get a firsthand look at the “superpowers” enabled by AI-driven drug development.
As soon as the reporter entered the Pharmaceutical Research Institute of Shijiazhuang Sihua Pharmaceutical Group, a palpable sense of innovation immediately enveloped them.
In the AI-plus-new-drug-discovery studio, the “star” is not high-end instruments, test tubes, or reagents—it’s a few seemingly ordinary computers. Dr. Li Yuan, Deputy Director of the Innovation Department at the Pharmaceutical Research Institute of Shijiazhuang Sihua Pharmaceutical Group, is seated at her computer, reviewing the latest AI-driven drug-screening data.
Li Yuan told reporters that the computers here are connected to the server in the main control room on the first floor, and during high-throughput virtual screening, all 96 central processing units work in tandem. “Drug screening is like looking for a needle in a haystack; AI technology helps us quickly pinpoint the general area where the ‘needle’ might be, allowing us to conduct targeted, step-by-step validation, which significantly accelerates and enhances the precision of new drug development,” she said.
In 2022, with strong support from the company, Li Yuan and her colleagues established an AI-assisted drug-screening platform, which in the past two years has successfully developed screening technologies based on receptors, ligands, and pharmacophores. “With the help of this platform, we were able to screen more than 100 novel compounds from a compound library containing hundreds of millions of entries in just over a month—something that would have taken at least two to three years, or even longer, in the past,” Li Yuan said excitedly.
AI has not only become a powerful assistant for R&D personnel but is also demonstrating remarkable capabilities in the manufacturing sector.
In the digital and intelligent upright flexible-packaging infusion production workshop, which has been in operation for only six months, bottle-making, drug filling, and packaging processes flow seamlessly along a continuous conveyor system, with robotic arms dynamically maneuvering and repositioning at various stations. A “digital brain” orchestrates production in an orderly manner, while driverless automated guided vehicles (AGVs) shuttle back and forth—creating a vibrant scene of smart manufacturing.
This workshop has a daily production capacity of 2 million bottles, which means a massive amount of data needs to be collected, recorded, and stored.
Chen Na is a records clerk in the workshop’s packaging department, holding a small tablet in her hand. “In the past, we recorded data by hand—six record sheets per batch. By the end of a shift, I had to fill out 30 sheets for five batches, plus perform calculations and obtain signatures from the relevant staff, which would take about two hours. It was exhausting—my hands, my legs, my mind, and especially my eyes,” she said with deep feeling.
“These days, Chen Na’s job is much easier, because paper records have been replaced by electronic ones. ‘Look, this system shows the production status in real time. As soon as a batch is packaged, I just click ‘Confirm’ and upload the data—no more manual calculations required. It’s so quick and accurate!’” she said happily, her fingers flying across the screen.
Wu Ling, General Manager of the Second Manufacturing Center of Shijiazhuang Sihua Pharmaceutical Group, told reporters with pride: “Since the commissioning of our digital and intelligent workshop, we have seen clear advantages in ensuring drug quality, boosting production efficiency, and reducing production and logistics costs, truly achieving a leap from traditional manufacturing to smart manufacturing.”
Moreover, the reporter learned that Shijiazhuang Sihua Pharmaceutical Group’s automated warehouse is also powered by AI technology. With 24 aisles and 60,000 storage locations in a single facility, intelligent stacker cranes can effortlessly handle order picking, inbound logistics, and outbound shipments.
At this company, examples of “AI + pharmaceuticals” are countless.
Recently, Shijiazhuang Sihua Pharmaceutical Group has also launched AI-powered intelligent collaboration systems for production, supply, and sales, as well as an order management system, thereby achieving deep integration of information technology with the company’s R&D, manufacturing, marketing, and management processes and breaking down numerous information silos.
“AI + pharmaceuticals” is demonstrating “superpowers,” vividly embodying new-quality productive forces.
In recent years, Shijiazhuang Sihua Pharmaceutical Group has leveraged new technologies, particularly AI, to focus on breakthroughs in critical “bottleneck” technologies, resulting in a substantial increase in R&D efficiency and a marked acceleration in the industrialization of intelligent solutions. This has effectively propelled the company’s transformation, upgrading, and innovative development.
Currently, Shijiazhuang Sihua Pharmaceutical Group has more than 200 products in development. In 2023, the company secured a total of 88 manufacturing approvals, placing it at the forefront of the industry in both the number of approvals obtained and applications submitted. As of mid-July this year, the company has cumulatively received approval for 52 new products. Today, the integration of AI into pharmaceutical R&D is infusing this traditionally strong enterprise with renewed vitality, transforming its innovation capabilities into a key market and growth advantage.
“AI is unleashing the limitless potential of innovation in biopharmaceuticals,” said Wu Hengyao, President of Shijiazhuang Sihua Pharmaceutical Group. He emphasized that the company places great importance on the application of new technologies and advanced equipment, with AI at the forefront. Looking ahead, the company will continue to harness the parallel drive of intelligence and innovation to cultivate new forms of productive forces, further accelerate the pace of new industrialization, and propel the transformation from “pharmaceutical manufacturing” to “intelligent pharmaceuticals.”
Reporter’s Notes
AI Empowers and Opens Up More “Room for Imagination”
Innovation and transformation are perennial themes. The development of new-quality productive forces is likewise inseparable from innovation and transformation.
Shijiazhuang Fourth Pharmaceutical’s proactive efforts in “AI + pharmaceuticals” represent an innovative move to cultivate new-quality productive forces, marking a transformative shift from “pharmaceutical manufacturing” to “intelligent pharmaceuticals.”
As the saying goes, “To do a good job, one must first sharpen one’s tools.”
Leveraging new technologies and equipment, with AI as the prime example, is the general trend.
Currently, our city is focusing on the innovative application of digital technologies and vigorously promoting the deep integration of informatization and industrialization, leveraging smart manufacturing to drive enterprise transformation and upgrading and achieve high-quality development.
Looking ahead, we hope that more enterprises—like Shijiazhuang Sihua Pharmaceutical—will leverage advanced information technologies such as AI to continuously drive the transformation of various industries toward greater intelligence, efficiency, sustainability, and safety, thereby unlocking new possibilities in the era of new-style industrialization. Through persistent innovation and transformation, we aim to cultivate new forms of productive forces and make fresh contributions to the high-quality development of the city’s industrial economy.
(Reprinted from Shijiazhuang Daily)
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