During its 30^th anniversary last 16 March 2012, the Philippine Council for Health Research and Development of the Department of Science and Technology (PCHRD-DOST) awarded the Mindanao State Universityâ Iligan Institute of Technology (MSU-IIT) as the first Tuklas Lunas Center under the Councilâs Natural Substance Research Program.

Tuklas Lunas refers to the drug discovery and development program, initiated by DOST-PCHRD, in a bid to provide solutions to the countriesâ  medical needs. Through the program, PCHRD aims to establish a Drug Discovery Database which will store information on all researches conducted on natural products. This will serve as a tool in guiding researchers as to which species have the potential for further studies leading to the discovery of new drugs. Alongside the development of the database, three Tuklas Lunas Centers will be set up in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

For Mindanao, the PCHRD-NSRC Selection Board chose MSU-IIT to host the DOST-PCHRD Natural Substance Research Center. As a Tuklas Lunas Center, MSU-IIT is expected to generate cooperation among the nearby universities and research institutions towards collaborative researches in discovering potential drug sources in endemic terrestrial and marine species in Mindanao.

This awarding is just the start of an effort to harness the natural resources of our country in a bid to strengthen the drug discovery and development campaign of PCHRD.  Towards 2016, PCHRD along with the chosen Natural Substance Research Centers will continuously push boundaries to develop new drugs that will benefit the Filipino people in the long run, said Dr. Antonio D. Ligsay, Chief of the Research and Development Management Division of PCHRD.