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| Beijing
- China, which began making AIDS medicine less than two years
ago, has become a major exporter of cheap raw material for AIDS drugs and
is gearing up to export finished drugs to Third World countries.
The move could see the country -
fast becoming the world's factory for almost every product imaginable -
driving down the worldwide price for the medicine.
But international experts caution that quality must be assured.In response to a mushrooming HIV/AIDS epidemic that has seen many poor farmers affected, the Chinese government in December 2002 approved several domestic pharmaceutical firms to make generic versions of Western drugs whose patents had run out, to try to lower the cost of treatment.So far, four Chinese companies are producing the anti-AIDS medicine, and in a short period of time they have made China one of the main exporters of raw material for AIDS drugs. One company, Shanghai-based Desano Biopharma, is exporting seven kinds of raw materials to India, Thailand and Brazil, the Xinhua news agency said. Total export figures were not provided, but the largest annual export of any one kind of material reached 12 tons for Desano, the largest company, according to Ai Lianghua, Desano's general manager. The other three pharmaceutical companies are also playing a more important role in the global AIDS medicine market. Last September, Xiamen Mchem Pharma Group signed a five-year contract with the Brazilian government to become the third manufacturer designated to make anti-AIDS drug components for Brazil, according to Xinhua. The Zhejiang Huahai Pharmaceutical
and the Northeast Pharmaceutical Group also saw a large amount of their
raw material for anti-AIDS medicine exported to pharmaceutical companies
in Africa, Latin America and Asia, including South Korea and India, Xinhua
said.
Next on the agenda for these companies is to export finished anti-AIDS medicine."This year we will likely export completed medicine to India and some African countries as soon as we get final approval from these countries," Desano spokeswoman Qian Hongya told AFP, indicating he did not expect any problems.Xiamen Mchem Pharma Group meanwhile has gained authorization from 13 countries in Africa to export anti-AIDS drugs there. "Technological lags in many African countries retarded the processing of medicine material, so our move to export finished products to these countries will make anti-AIDS drugs available to more people suffering from AIDS," said Zhang Wenhua, Xiamen Mchem's marketing manager. And according to Desano's Ai, Desano's partner in South Africa successfully reduced the annual medicine fee for an AIDS patient from more than $10 000 (R66 500) to $3 000 (R19 950) after using Desano's materials to make drugs. However, international experts said China's AIDS drugs have not passed standards set by the World Health Organization (WHO). "Lots of efforts are needed for the improvement of quality," Zhao Pengfei, the WHO's HIV/AIDS coordinator in China, told AFP. Currently, some 7 000 AIDS patients in China are taking the Chinese anti-retroviral cocktail treatment under a pilot program, but health officials have said about 20 percent of them stopped due to severe side effects. Desano's Qian, however, argued the drugs were up to standard and were approved by countries like Brazil with wide experience in treating AIDS patients. Efforts were also underway to have the WHO inspect the drugs, he said. Despite China's initial hiccups, health experts said they supported having more AIDS drug producers if the quality can be controlled. "At the price of Western produced
drugs, it's not possible for developing countries to have massive treatment
so that's where China could really contribute," Peter Piot, executive director
of UNAIDS, said. - AFP
Published on the web by Business Report on May 25, 2004.© Business Report 2004. All rights reserved. |
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