CHINA HEALTH SCIENCES NEWSLETTER
Vol. 4 , No. 10 - June 17, 2003
TOPICS THIS ISSUE:
- China's Guangdong Province To Ban Eating, Trading and Raising of Wildlife
- China's First Sars Insurance Payout
- Chinese drug makers merge to survive
- China broadens usage of i-STAT system
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China's Guangdong Province To Ban Eating, Trading and Raising of Wildlife
China's southern Guangdong province, which has traced SARS to civet cats, has decided to ban the consumption and trading of wild animals in an effort to stop the spread of the disease. In a move that goes against centuries of culinary tradition, the provincial government speedily drafted a law to ban people from eating wild animals, so as to nurture "civilized and hygienic eating habits." Other provinces in the country will likely adopt laws similar to Guangdong, which is awaiting almost certain approval in the provincial rubber-stamp legislature. Each area in China is taking its own measures in this regard.
The new regulations came on the heels of joint research from China and Hong Kong that concluded civet cats and raccoon dogs carried a form of the coronavirus responsible for SARS that was almost identical to the virus that infected humans. The findings are the strongest proof of longheld suspicions that the pneumonia-like respiratory illness jumped from animals to humans -- likely due to the entrenched habit in southern China of eating wildlife, which is considered good for the body.
Wildlife dealers in Guangdong were diagnosed as carriers of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome virus. Effective immediately, the notice requires travelling animal circuses, farms as well as restaurants and hotels that serve wildlife to halt the use of the animals. Inspection teams will fan out across the province to scour such places as well as markets, train stations, ports and airports for wildlife. Only zoos, wildlife animal parks and circuses with fixed performance locations are exempt.
Previous efforts to rid filthy wildlife markets of endangered species have largely failed as much money can be made in Guangdong from people's increased appetites for exotic foods, fueled by their growing economic prosperity. The regulation does not say the markets will be closed, as the selling of dogs and cats for consumption, also conducted at the markets, will continue to be allowed.
(Source: Yahoo! News)
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China's First Sars Insurance Payout
The family of a man who contracted SARS while visiting a friend in hospital and later died of the disease has received 30,000 yuan (S$6,200) in one of the first SARS-related insurance payouts in China. His life insurance policy with the People's Insurance Company of China dates back to 1998.
The China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) has demanded prompt payment of claims to SARS victims and their beneficiaries. Although SARS is not included in insurance contracts because it is a new disease, CIRC in April issued a circular saying beneficiaries may file claims for losses resulting from the disease.
Meanwhile, all patients in six of Beijing's SARS-designated hospitals have been discharged, paving the way for the admission of non-SARS patients, reported China Daily.
(Source: The Straits Times)
Chinese drug makers merge to survive
The China Medicine Material Group merges with SinoPharm to face competitions from multinationals. The move would be a prelude to a larger-scale wave of mergers and acquisitions in the fragmented industry. Because of the fragmentation of the industry pharmaceutics in China cannot cope with the competition from multinationals.
Creating big pharmaceutical groups would reinforce the sector and keep up competition with foreign giants that will get more access to the Chinese market under the regime of the WTO. The larger American and European pharmaceuticals have seen a process of consolidation to be able to put enough funding in the R&D for new medicines. The State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, that supervises State-owned enterprises on behalf of the State, gave its approval to the China Medicine Material Group (CMM), traditional Chinese medicine producer to merge with China National Pharmaceutical Group Corp (SinoPharm). The latter is specialized in the production and distribution of Western medicine and medical equipment.
The two companies intend the merger to be market-driven and will form a comprehensive conglomerate. The CMM is the country's top player in the production and distribution of traditional Chinese medicine. The company intends to modernise its traditional medicine production and the promotion of traditional medicine exports.
A reshuffle of the industry is just taking shape. Insiders said the merger is part of a State plan to stimulate national pharmaceutical products. The government's 10th Five-Year Plan (2001-05) for the medical industry foresees the set up of ten conglomerates, each with annual sales of more than 5 billion Yuan (US$ 604 million).
The State also plans to form 40 regional medicine circulation groups, each with annual sales of more than 2 billion yuan (US$242 million) by 2005. According to Wang Jinxia, secretary-general of the China Commercial Medicine Association, the State also plans to form 40 regional medicine circulation groups, each with annual sales of more than 2 billion yuan (US$242 million) by 2005.
(Source: Chinabiz)
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STAT Corporation (STAT), a manufacturer of point-of-care diagnostic systems for blood analysis, announced it is making stepped-up shipments of the i-STAT System to China. The shipments are part of an emergency order for 395 i-STAT Portable Clinical Analyzers augmenting existing i-STAT analyzers being used in China to monitor critical pulmonary function changes (i.e. acute respiratory failure) in ICU patients.
With the onset of SARS, hospitals in China have been using the i-STAT System to monitor patients who may be progressing toward acute respiratory failure. SARS patients may experience rapid deterioration in lung function and often require mechanical ventilation. Frequent and rapid blood gas analysis is critical in monitoring such patients that are in acute respiratory distress. The i-STAT System, because of its speed, accuracy and reliability, is an important tool for hospital intensive care units when monitoring and treating all patients in pulmonary distress.
Following the introduction of the i-STAT System in China in 1997, China has become i-STAT's largest and fastest growing international market. Well before the SARS epidemic, hundreds of hospitals and other institutions were already using the i-STAT System in China.
