Huaren Pharma to establish blood purification RD center
Shanghai. July 14. INTERFAX-CHINA - Qingdao Huaren Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., a leading domestic manufacturer of infusions, plans to establish a RMB 68.36 million ($10.57 million) research and development (RD) center for blood purification products, a major growth area for the company, an employee of Huaren Pharma told Interfax July 14.
The center will primarily on focus on peritoneal dialysis (PD) solutions, as well as developing hemofiltration solutions, said Xia Hua, an investor relations representative with the firm, adding that the company plans to expand its 50-member research team once the facility is on-line.
PD uses a patient's peritoneum, part of the abdomen, as a membrane across which fluids and dissolved substances are exchanged from the blood. The technique is much less costly than conventional hemodialysis (HD).
"The cost of a year's PD treatment in China stands at RMB 30,000 ($4,638) to 50,000 to ($7,730) per patient, approximately half the cost of HD therapy. The government is also subsidizing the treatment for low-income patients, especially late-stage kidney disease cases, 90 percent of which go untreated at present," Xia said.
Based in Shandong Province's Qingdao City, Huaren Pharma's first PD solution product debuted on the domestic market earlier this year, and it was recently chosen by the Ministry of Health (MoH) to supply a PD doctor training program. It has a PD production plant with annual production capacity of 30 million units under construction, as previously reported by Interfax.
Baxter Healthcare leads the PD market in China with a share of more than 90 percent. Huaren Pharma hopes to compete with the U.S. drug maker in price and packaging material - its main business is the manufacture of innovative non-PVC soft bag infusions it uses to package the solutions, while its U.S. competitor uses conventional plastics.
"Under the five-year MoH contract, we will supply PD solution at a price 15.6 percent lower than Baxter," Xia added.
Government support is expect to help China's PD solution market reach RMB 10 billion ($1.5 billion) in the next few years, according to a research note by Minsheng Securities.
- MS
