The annual review meeting of the Chinese National Compound Library (CNCL) was held on December 21, 2013 in Shanghai. Nineteen representatives from CNCL core facility and six satellite libraries attended the meeting. Associate Professor Jing Zhang, Project Officer of the National Mega Project Management Office ("Mega Project Office"), the National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC) of China was present.

The meeting was chaired by Professor Fajun Nan, Deputy Director of CNCL. On behalf of the Mega Project Office of NHFPC, Associate Professor Jing Zhang endorsed this event and emphasized its significance. While fully commending the achievements made by CNCL since its foundation, she advised CNCL to adopt a "looking forward and backward" approach by highlighting the rich experience of the past, improving the operating system and mechanisms, and continuously providing best quality resource and technical services nationwide. The ultimate goal is to realize China's strategic social development plan and to establish a role model or example of resource sharing in drug discovery via implementation of the newly instituted  "State-driven integrated efforts" policy.

Professor Jingrong Cui (School of Pharmacy, Peking University), Professor Junhai Xiao (Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, PLA Academy of Military Medical Sciences, Beijing), Assistant Professor Feng Wang (Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing), Dr. Sensen Lin (the Drug Screening Center of China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing), Dr. Wanhong Xu (Hangzhou High-throughput Drug Screening Center) and Professor Jianmin Yue (Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences) reported the progresses made this year in their respective organizations.

Following an overall CNCL progress report (core facility plus satellite libraries), Professor Ming-Wei Wang, Director of CNCL, proposed six major tasks for the year of 2014. They include: (i) orderly expanding the number of compounds to be collected; (ii) integration of the stored samples among all the libraries; (iii) setting up all required hardware; (iv) standardizing the information management system; (v) commitment of an full-time staff in each site; and (vi) interconnecting with the screening network. The attendants discussed in detail about the propositions and suggested implementation plans of their own.

As the first assignment for 2014, CNCL will standardize the compound and bioactivity information management system in all seven sites, and an introductory system training was given to relevant personnel of each site by the software vendor after the meeting.