| By Liu Yuanyuan, Asia Manufacturing Pharma |
| Wednesday, 24 June 2009 |
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Zhejiang Hisun Pharmaceutical, a leading Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) manufacturer in China announced recently that the
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National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) of China has approved its emergency medicine expansion project to produce an Oseltamivir intermediate, in an effort to ensure the supply of A/H1N1 (swine) influenza medicine.
The green light is expected to give a boost to the company’s results. However, quality and costs of new products are subject to some uncertainties. Oseltamivir, an antiviral drug produced by Roche under the trade name Tamiflu, is marketed by Shanghai Sunve Pharmaceutical and Yichang Changjiang Pharmaceutical, a wholly-owned subsidiary of HEC Pharm, in China.
Although the key anti-flu drugs currently available in the Chinese market include Arbidol hydrochloride, Tamiflu, Ribavirin, Amantadine hydrochloride and Rimantadine, Tamiflu is proven to be the most effective drug against the ongoing A/H1N1 flu outbreak.
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As a leading APIs manufacturer and one of the largest manufacturing bases for antibiotics and oncology products in the country, over 80 percent of Hisun Pharma’s chemical APIs were exported to developed markets in Europe and the United States.
The company is also aggressively exploring market opportunities in the Middle East, Southeast Asia and South America.
Last year, Hisun Pharma’s antitumor APIs, a core business that contributes to about 18 percent of its main business revenues, posted sales of RMB570 million (approx. US$83.4 million), up 8.8 percent from the previous year.
With continuous growth in exports of antitumor drugs and expanded preparation production capacity after the start of operation of its new manufacturing facility for antitumor preparation, jointly set up by the manufacturer and Spain-based Farmaprojects S.A in Fuyang, Zhejiang province, the company’s leading position in antitumor drugs market will be further strengthened.
In addition to APIs, Hisun Pharma produces a series of oncology, cardiovascular, anti-infection, anti-parasite, endocrine regulation, immunosuppressant and antidepressant medicines.
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The company attaches great importance to research and development of new products and spends over 8 percent of its sales revenue annually in R&D. In 2008, Hisun Pharma’s R&D investment reached RMB138 million (approx. US$20 million), representing 9.5 percent of its total sales revenue for the year.
Besides the maintenance of high product quality, Hisun Pharma also has good co-operative relationships with many renowned research institutes across the world. For the first quarter of 2009, the drug manufacturer reported a year-on-year rise of 9.5 percent in business revenues to RMB851 million (approx. US$125 million), with net profits of RMB49.4 million (approx. US$7.2 million), up 10.9 percent from a year earlier.
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