Vol.4, No.01
CHINA HEALTH SCIENCES NEWSLETTER
Vol. 4 , No. 1- January 8, 2003
TOPICS THIS ISSUE: - NEW LAW
- Antisense Human Telomerase Reverses Malignant Character of Gastric Cancer
- China Launches Teaching Program to Preserve Traditional Medicine
- China Plans to Mass-Produce AIDS Drugs
- Predicted 10% Rise in TCM Exports in 2003
- More Money Urged for Public Health; Disparities Still Large
- Project HOPE Launches Healthy Heart Program
- China Launches Diabetes Fight
- EU Favors Chinese Bidders
NEW LAW
Chinese legislators have endorsed revisions to the Criminal Code and an explanation of the crime of malfeasance as referred to in the Criminal Code. The Criminal Law revision, which has immediate effect, tightens penalties for illegally trafficking foreign waste into China, and manufacturing and selling inferior medical facilities and materials.
(Source: China Daily)
Antisense Human Telomerase Reverses Malignant Character of Gastric Cancer
Chinese medical researchers have developed a novel approach of reversing telomerase (i.e. the end of a chromosome) activity and halting growth in gastric cancer cells with antisense RNA.
An antisense gene is one in which the DNA sequence is the exact opposite (according to the rules of base pairing) of the normal form of the gene. Antisense genes are used in molecular biology to block the function of the normal gene. Replication of telomeres is directed by telomerase, an enzyme consisting of RNA and protein that is inactive in normal cells.
The therapy also partially reverses malignant phenotypes in gastric cancer, according to Yang Shi-Ming and coauthors at the Third Military Medical University in Chongqing, China.
"This study provides an exciting approach for cancer therapy by inhibiting telomerase activity using an antisense gene," said Yang.
Key points reported in this study include: - Gastric cancer cells treated with human telomerase RNA become less tumorigenic, and lose cloning and invasive capabilities;
- The cells also lose telomerase activity upon treatment with antisense human telomerase RNA; and
- Antisense human telomerase RNA partially reverses the malignant characteristics of human gastric carcinoma.
(Source: Gene Therapy Weekly)
China Launches Teaching Program to Preserve Traditional Medicine
The Ministry of Health recently announced the allocation of RMB 9 million (US$ 1.1 million) over the next three years to encourage senior traditional Chinese medicine ('TCM') therapists to pass their expertise on to younger generations.
586 senior TCM experts, most of whom are over 70 years old, will instruct 942 medical staff on traditional Chinese medicine, said She Jing, Vice Minister of Health and director of the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine.
To insure the quality of the trainees, strict checks and supervision will occur throughout the learning process.
According to She, the trainees will be required to attend 3 half-day seminars each week over three years.
This is the third time China has launched such expertise teaching and learning programs since the first was launched in the early 1990s.
(Source: Xinhua General News Service)
China Plans to Mass-Produce AIDS Drugs
Next month, China plans to start mass-producing low-cost AIDs drugs.
While it is still unclear which drugs will be mass-produced, the price of such drugs are expected to be 10% of the price of imported drugs. On average, the current cost of an AIDs treatment in China is RMB 30,000 (US$3,600) per person each year. The average annual income per person in China is US$ 700.
According to Health Minister Zhang Wenkang, China is making four types of AIDS drugs. He didn't say whether all four drugs would be mass-produced.
Chinese health officials say 1 million people are infected with the AIDS virus. Health experts say that could rise to 10 million by the end of the decade.
In September, the Health Ministry denied news reports that it was planning to produce AIDS drugs in violation of foreign patents but said it wants deeper discounts on prices of imported drugs.
China has begun treating patients with a domestically produced version of the anti-AIDS drug AZT, for which patents recently expired.
The ministry says 10 more Chinese firms have applied for permission to make generic versions of anti-AIDS drugs with expired patents, and might be producing them by the end of the year.
(Source: Associated Press)
Predicted 10% Rise in TCM Exports in 2003
Chinese experts predict that the export of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) will increase 10% in 2003.
Statistics show that China exported US$ 483 million of TCM products in January-September 2002, up 21.9% year on year and was the largest value of TCM exports since 1996. The export of herbal medicine was valued at US$ 264.4, up 8.9%, that of plant extracted materials reached US$ 136.91, up 68.8%, and that of patent Chinese medicine and health products amounted to US$ 82.04, up 14.4%.
Liu Zhanglin, an official with the China Medicinal and Health Products Import and Export Chamber of Commerce, attributed the good result to improved TCM export conditions, the rise of market demand for plant extracted materials, the international approval and expansion of markets worldwide.
(Source: Xinhua Economic News Service)
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More Money Urged for Public Health; Disparities Still Large China should invest more money in promoting public health to assist the country's macroeconomic development, according to a health expert. Any investment needed in improving the health of the 1.3 billion people in China would be much less than the losses caused by poor health, said Cai Renhua, director of the China National Health Economics Institute based in Beijing. China currently accounts for one-fifth of the world's population. The average life expectancy of the population - a major index of a country's level of health - has increased from 35 years in 1950 to 71 in 1995. However, health indices in China have improved at a much slower rate than the per capita income, especially during the past 20 years, said Professor Hu Angang from Beijing's Tsinghua University. The total health expenditure of the Chinese mainland in 2000 was only 5.3% of its GDP, just 0.3% points higher than the minimum recommended by the WHO. In China, the cost of treating hepatitis B alone in a single year has exceeded RMB 26 billion (US$ 3.1 billion). There are serious disparities in health-care coverage and substantial differences in residents' health both between urban and rural areas, and between coastal and inland provinces. China's more than 800 million rural residents make up about 70% of the total population but only consume about 30% of the country's medical resources. With less than 30% of the total population being covered by China's medical insurance system. Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University in New York, said: "Investments in health, if properly directed, can yield extraordinary results in terms of lives saved and increased economic productivity." (Source: China Daily) Project HOPE Launches Healthy Heart Program US-based Project HOPE recently launched a National Healthy Heart Program in China aims to better treat heart diseases and to raise people's awareness of cardiac problem. The first phase of the program started in mid December in the Beijing Anzhen Hospital where 45 cardiac physicians from across the country will receive 4 days of intensive cardiac training. Heart diseases, coronary heart disease in particular, have become common among Chinese in the past 10 to 15 years due to increasing pressure from work and the environment, said Ministry of Health sources. The Health Ministry warned that the number of coronary heart disease patients would rise four fold in the next 30 years without effective control. Mark Anderson, Project HOPE's senior executive director of Medical Operations for Asia Pacific/Middle East, said more than 2,000 Chinese medical workers will be trained in the coming three years. (Source: Xinhua Economic News Service) China Launches Diabetes Fight China's Ministry of Health recently signed an agreement with Denmark's Novo Nordisk (China) Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd. to jointly launch a diabetes prevention and treatment project in China. The project will cost RMB 20 million (US$ 2.4 million) and aims to establish a diabetes prevention and treatment system in 311 Chinese cities within five years. Thorkil K. Christensen, president of Novo Nordisk China, said the purpose of the project is to spread knowledge about diabetes among medical staff and patients and to enhance prevention of the disease. China has over 40 million diabetes patients, the second largest amount of diabetic patients in the world. The incidence rate has been on the rise, from 0.67% in the early 1980s to 3.21% in the mid-1990s among people between the ages of 15 to 74. The project will also help standardize the prevention and treatment of the chronic disease. (Source: Xinhua Economic News Service) EU Favors Chinese Bidders The European Union (EU) has invited Chinese enterprises to tender for the first round of projects as part of its Sixth Framework Program (FP6). The EU is giving more favorable conditions to Chinese bidders in FP6 than in the past, according to a EU spokesperson. FP6 is a series of projects in the fields of social importance such as biotechnology, sustainable development and food safety. China is one of the few developing countries to have signed scientific and technological cooperation agreements with the EU. As a result of these agreements, the country is entitled to participate in projects in FP6's seven thematic areas as well as specific international cooperation activities. China took part in over 40 projects valued at EUR 40 million last year. Chinese bidders are strong in information technology, materials, biotechnology, life sciences and genomics. (Source: Business Daily Update)
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