[4] Chen's scientific achievements include drug development of recombinant enzyme replacement therapy for Pompe disease, an enzyme-deficiency disorder that causes muscle damage, cardiorespiratory failure and in its severe infantile form, death by 2 years of age.
[6] The story of a father searching for a treatment for his two children with Pompe disease and the development of this rug has been adapted to a film entitled Extraordinary Measures featured Harrison Ford and Brendan Fraser.
His team identified VKORC1 gene variants to play a major role in determining the warfarin dosage, a widely prescribed anticoagulant.
[10][11] His team also discovered genetic links to the incidence of type 2 diabetes,[12] the strong association of the gene HLA-B*15:02 with carbamazepine,[13] a drug used to treat epilepsy, and that of the gene HLA-B*58:01 with allopurinol,[14] a widely prescribed drug for gout, to induce Stevens–Johnson syndrome (SJS)[15] and toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN).
[20] Eventually, amendments to the Fundamental Act of Science and Technology were passed so that public sector researchers could take some positions at private companies.