Pharmaceutical chemistry

Tu Youyou: inventions and patents

Tu Youyou, born in Ningbo, China, led a Project 523 research group at the Institute of Chinese Materia Medica from 1969 and discovered artemisinin. She received half of the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for her discoveries concerning a novel therapy against malaria. Her Nobel biography records new drug certificates and a 1982 invention award, but no patent, so this record lists no patent.^1,2

Inventions

• Artemisinin, 1972. Sample 191 of the Qinghao ethyl ether extract showed 100 percent effectiveness against malaria parasites in rodent malaria on 4 October 1971. The first clinical trial was held in Hainan from August to October 1972, and in November 1972 several crystals were isolated, one of which was effective against malaria and was later named artemisinin.¹
• Dihydroartemisinin, 1973. Found in September 1973. A new drug certificate was granted in 1992.¹

Recognition

• 1982 Invention Award, as the first inventor, from the China National Congress for Science and Technology¹
• 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (one half), for her discoveries concerning a novel therapy against malaria²

Sources

1. Nobel Prize Outreach, Tu Youyou, Biographical (accessed 2026-10-27)
2. Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet, Press release: The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2015 (5 October 2015)