Li Xiaokun, president of the Wenzhou Medical University in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province, has been devoted to the research and application of fibroblast growth factor over the past three decades, and has made China the first country in the world to develop the factor into clinical drugs.

Fibroblast growth factor is helpful in treating anabrosis, regenerating damaged tissues and repairing injured skin, said Li, adding that he and his team have developed drugs based on the factor to treat disaster and war injuries.

Three of the drugs have so far been used to treat more than 65 million patients in over 5,500 hospitals in China, and another four drugs have been approved for clinical experiment. Li has obtained 45 national invention patents for his drugs and won first prize in the National Awards for Scientific and Technological Progress.

The growth factor was first discovered in the United States, but Li and his team were the first to develop it into drugs. Li also discovered that the factor can help treat many diabetic complications and also has anti-ageing effects.

Speaking of how he came up with the idea of developing the drugs, Li said he used a fibroblast growth factor spray that was intended for experiments on animals to treat his own facial wounds in 1992 and saw obvious effects, which greatly motivated him.

It took Li 11 years to extract the factor with the help of genetic engineering, before developing the drugs over the following 10 years.

"The bio-pharmaceuticals industry requires high input but generates high returns as well," said Li, adding that Wenzhou Medical University now has research and development bases in Zhuhai, Guangzhou, Shanghai and Hefei, and plan to build a manufacturing base in Wenzhou.