Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences evolved from the Institute of Materia Medica of Peking Academy of Sciences founded in 1932.  Currently, it is located in the heart of Zhang Jiang Hi-Tech Park, Pudong New District.　
SIMM's mission is to provide a comprehensive solution in drug discovery and development. By combining basic and applied research efforts and through cross-fostering between chemistry and biology, scientists at SIMM carry out studies toward the elucidation of the structural basis of bioactive substances, discovery of new targets or mechanisms of action, comprehensive pre-clinical evaluation of drug candidates, and promotion of commercialization, thereby playing an indispensable role in building China's drug innovation capabilities.　
SIMM consists of the following functional divisions: Department of Natural Products Chemistry, Department of Medicinal Chemistry, Department of Analytical Chemistry, Departments of Pharmacology I, II and III , State Key Laboratory of Drug Research, the National Center for Drug Screening, Drug Discovery and Design Center, Center for Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics Research, Center for Drug Safety Evaluation and Research, Center for Pharmaceutics Research and Research Center for Modernization of Traditional Chinese Medicine. The supporting and logistic units include a library, a vivarium and a herbarium. Two English journals, namely, Acta Pharmacologica Sinica and Asian Journal of Andrology, and one Chinese journal Family Medicines are published by SIMM.　
Through several generations of effort, SIMM has become one of the leading interdisciplinary research centers in China . It is recognized worldwide by its outstanding achievements in both basic and applied research fields.