At the beginning of his return to China, he was full of enthusiasm and was a disciple of four walls.

The hometown calls, the body shadow jianghu, don't Pan hut.

I returned to Suzhou, looking for a lab, a house in a painting with good water in the park.

Invite the old people to spend time with us, the morning phi moon night around the fire.

Several years of rotation, several times success or failure, the road is dangerous and many divergent paths.

The pearl will appear only when the dust has settled.

                               --Yu Qiang

On August 10, Suzhou Daily featured a story on the "40th anniversary of reform and opening up - my story with the park", which featured Dr. Yu Qiang, the founder and CEO of Centurion, and the Suzhou Industrial Park. A Promise of Tenon and Dovetail".

[Specific page presentation and coverage].

My "Tenon and Mortise Date" with the Park

【Profile】Yu Qiang

Qiang Yu, who studied in the US after graduating from Peking University and received his PhD in organic chemistry from Kansas State University, returned to China in 2010 to start his own business and founded Shengshi TaiTech Biopharmaceutical Technology Co. Over the years, he has led his team to develop a new class 1 hypoglycemic drug that is comparable to the international advanced level, and established a flash-release formulation platform that "melts in the mouth".

When I was a child, I lived in Suzhou with my family for a few years, and I still remember the feeling of running on the stone slabs of the alleys; now that I have settled in Suzhou again and am working on new drug development in Suzhou Industrial Park, I love the same feeling of running on the road of innovation.

During my 18 years in the US, I was involved in drug discovery in the field of chemical small molecules and discovered a lead chemical that could be used to lower blood sugar. I thought, "This is a good idea, China is a big diabetic country, and in our family, except for me, all my family members suffer from diabetes, so I have to continue this research for both public and private reasons. So, I firmly decided to return to China and start my own business.

In 2010, I moved to Suzhou Industrial Park and set up Centurion Biomedical Technologies (Suzhou) Co. In the early stage of the business, the company had a good start: in 2010, we received a start-up fund from the park, and in 2011, we were awarded as one of the park's leading talents in science and technology, and received millions of subsidies for research and development, rent reductions and interest loans. Today, we have received clinical approvals for five of our own drugs, of which Shengliptin, a Class 1.1 hypoglycemic innovation, is about to complete its first clinical phase and is expected to be launched around 2020. Shengliptin not only completely exceeds the technical specifications of similar imported products in the current market, but also does not cause fasting hypoglycaemia when taken orally, which will truly fill the gap in China.

I had actually compared other cities in China before choosing the park, but I was "amazed" by the park's understanding of biopharmaceuticals, their admiration for innovation and willingness to wait. In 2012, our team developed the predecessor of Shengliptin, but its technical specifications were only on par with similar imported products in the market. We came here to innovate, and without R&D results that surpassed the market, we would not be considered a breakthrough, and we were sorry for the support we received from the government at all levels. So, we decided to reverse our original R&D plan until the end of 2016, when a better Shengliptin was finally launched.

In March 2015, the New Drug Founders Club was established in the Park and I was fortunate to be one of the 40-odd founders. "I was fortunate to be one of the more than 40 founders. This is the poem I wrote for the Founders' Club of New Drugs in the Park, "The Promise of Mortise and Tenon". Tenon and mortise are common structural methods used in ancient Chinese architecture, where the projecting tenon and recessed mortise fit together so well that they can be firmly fixed without nails. The biomedical industry in the Park, as I understand it, is also like this, where innovations interact with resources, funding, policies and services to create a symbiotic ecosystem, which is why I am "rooted" here.

"Shengde, innovation, realism, and zeishi", this is my "original intention" with Shengshi Tai Ke. Eight years ago, I lived in a very crowded place and slept on a wooden bed without a mattress; eight years later, the size of the company has doubled five times and more than 80% of the employees have a master's degree. I have witnessed the innovative development of the park, and I am glad to be part of the drive for innovation in the park. Looking ahead, I believe that Centurion will be able to develop more new and good drugs that are affordable to domestic patients here.

And now, I can finally say out loud, "I came to the park to start my own business!"

(Xiaowen Tang/Editorial)