| By Liu Yuanyuan, Asia Manufacturing Pharma |
| Wednesday, 12 August 2009 |
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The disease spectrum of a developing
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country makes anti-infective drug the largest clinical one in China, and antibiotics account for 90 percent of the anti-infectives market. The overall antibiotics market in the country was approximately RMB60 billion (US$8.8 billion) in 2007, with an annual average growth rate of approximately 24 percent in the last three years.
This spurs the Chinese pharmaceutical makers to strive to get a larger piece of the pie. North China Pharmaceutical Group, one of the major antibiotics production
bases in China, has been further strengthening its leadership in the active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) arena by cooperating with DSM, a leading pharmaceutical maker based in the Netherlands.
The Chinese pharmaceutical manufacturer produces 15 percent of the country’s antibiotic APIs, with its antibiotics business, consisting of semisynthetic penicillins, penicillins and cephalosporins, contributing 53 percent to the company’s revenues in 2008. A successful roll-out of new products will further optimize the company’s existing product portfolios and minimize the impact of |
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fluctuations in the anti-infective drug business to the company’s results. Guangdong province-based Guangzhou Baiyunshan Pharmaceutical is committed to building itself into the largest oral antibiotics manufacturer in China.
As an established state-owned enterprise, the company possesses comprehensive product lines and good brand awareness. However, its overall profitability remains at a low level.
China’s largest antineoplastics manufacturer Jiangsu Hengrui Medicine is aiming at the high end antibiotics market. In 2008, the anti-infectives business contributed 11 percent to the company’s overall revenues, becoming an important part of its antineoplastics business.
The company posted a year-on-year increase of 21 percent in revenues to RMB2.4 billion (US$348 million) in 2008, with a rise of 6.7 percent in net profits.
Zhejiang Hisun Pharmaceutical, one of the largest manufacturing bases of antibiotics and oncology products, is optimizing its product offering to improve gross profit margin. The anti-infective business, which is mainly engaged in selling amoxycillin capsules, compound cefaclor tablets, tosufloxacin tosilate capsules and |
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isepamicin sulfate injections, contributed 13 percent to the company’s overall revenues. The enrichment and optimization of product lines helped the company achieve a gross profit margin of 32 percent in 2008.
Shenzhen Zhijun Pharmaceutical, a subsidiary of Shenzhen Accord Pharmaceutical, focuses on cephalosporins which contributed 70 percent to the company’s revenues, with sales of over RMB600 million (US$88 million) in 2008.
With the broad distribution channels of Sinopharm Holdings, the largest shareholder of its parent company, Shenzhen Zhijun Pharmaceutical is witnessing fast growth in the cephalosporin segment. Ongoing integration of the upstream and downstream businesses is expected to assure continuation of the fast pace of growth of the company’s cephalosporin business over the next three years.
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