CHINA HEALTH SCIENCES NEWSLETTER
Vol. 4 , No. 13 - August 1, 2003
TOPICS THIS ISSUE:
- Mycobacterial Heat Shock Protein Hsp16.3 Helps Scavenge Reactive Species
- SARS: Higher public health awareness could be 'silver lining' of outbreaks
- Japan Drug-makers Stepping Up Investment in China
- Pharmaceutical Industry to Benefit from Recent Hong Kong-China Free Trade Agreement
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Mycobacterial Heat Shock Protein Hsp16.3 Helps Scavenge Reactive Species
The function of a key mycobacterial protein has been determined. According to recent research from Peoples R China, "Mycobacterium tuberculosis (TB) small heat shock protein Hsp16.3 was found to be a major membrane protein that is most predominantly expressed under oxidative stress and is localized to the thickened cell envelope."
"Gene knock-out studies indicate that the Hsp16.3 protein is required for TB to grow in its host macrophage cells," although "the physiological function of Hsp16.3 has not yet been revealed," explained A. Abulimiti and coauthors at Tsing Hua University in Beijing.
They conducted a series of analyses using "mass spectrometry, conformation-dependent trypsin digestion, nondenaturing pore gradient electrophoresis, ANS-binding fluorescence measurements, and circular dichroism", which revealed that "only the three methionine residues (cysteine and tryptophan residues, which can also be readily oxidized by such oxidant as H2O2, are absent in Hsp16.3) can be readily sulfoxidized with H2O2 treatment in vitro, and the methionine sulfoxide can be effectively reduced back to the methionine form."
The researchers concluded that "reversible sulfoxidation/desulfoxidation of methionine residues may occur in Hsp16.3, which serves as a way to scavenger reactive oxygen or nitrogen species abundantly present in macrophage cells, thus protecting the plasma membrane and other components of M. tuberculosis and allowing their survival in such bacteriocidal hosts."
(Source: Drug Week)
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SARS: Higher public health awareness could be 'silver lining' of outbreaks
As the mysterious disease spread through China's Guangdong province, frightened people began boiling vinegar as a disinfectant. Many people in Hong Kong laughed, figuring their mainland neighbors were being superstitious. But within weeks, hundreds of thousands of Hong Kong people were hiding their faces behind surgical masks, terrified they would catch SARS.
The crisis has ended, at least for now, after sickening more than 8400 people worldwide and killing at least 812. About 80% of the victims were in mainland China, where SARS originated in November, and Hong Kong, where it infected people who then carried it across continents in airplanes. The World Health Organization has removed the last SARS hot spot, Taiwan, from its global list of affected areas. Still, there are lingering fears the virus could come back. And a vaccine could take years to develop.
Whether or not SARS returns, experts said the lessons learned from the crisis - the importance of greater vigilance on health and hygiene, and of openly sharing medical information - will help in any future outbreak of infectious disease.
With more people living in congested cities and a steady rise in air travel making the world a smaller place, where diseases can jump from country to country in hours, the world's defenses will undoubtedly be tested again - and officials hope they're better prepared.
"The silver lining in this is the greater awareness," said Peter Cordingley, a WHO spokesman at the U.N. health agency's regional office in Manila. "First-world health systems like Toronto's and developing world health systems like China's were all found wanting."
In Hong Kong, where the disease was initially dubbed "atypical pneumonia," about 3000 people die each year from various forms of pneumonia - compared with about 300 who died from SARS during the 3-month outbreak. Most patients recovered from SARS, though there's no known cure.
The WHO insists it acted properly in issuing SARS warnings, which angered many in SARS-hit places that depend heavily on tourism. Although the masks are nearly gone, SARS has changed attitudes and some aspects of daily life in places that were badly hit. It's still unclear whether better health awareness will remain as memories of SARS fade, but officials are urging people to stay vigilant. One of the keys to preventing SARS was simple hygiene.
SARS was a political phenomenon as well as a medical crisis. The crisis broke as China was installing new leaders under President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao, who built political strength with their response to the outbreak.
(Source: TB & Outbreaks Week)
Japan Drug-makers Stepping Up Investment in China
Japanese drug makers are stepping up their investments in China in a bid to beef up production bases and sales in the burgeoning market. The current size of China's medicine market is estimated at some one trillion yen, about one-sixth of Japan's, but Japanese makers expect robust demand for drugs in the country.
Eisai Co. plans to beef up its production capacity at a plant in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, to make drugs for Alzheimer's disease. By fiscal 2006, it will raise its number of medical representatives in China to some 250 and double the cities they cover to 100. Sankyo Co. is to start production of drugs for hyperlipidemia by March 2004 at a new plant in Shanghai. Sumitomo Pharmaceuticals Co. plans to set up a company in China for product packaging in fiscal 2004. It has started production of the Pocari Sweat supplement drink in Tianjin.
But further investment in China by Japanese drug makers may be hampered by China's slow moves to improve its medical insurance system.
(Source: Jiji Press Ticker Service)
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Foreign pharmaceutical companies are set to take advantage of the free trade agreement (FTA) signed between Hong Kong and China on June 30, 2003 by boosting their presence in the territory. The landmark agreement, the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA), will enable Hong Kong to export all of its locally-made goods to mainland China free of import tariff by 2006. Although a number of key issues regarding the treaty have yet to be resolved - including, crucially, the definition of "goods of Hong Kong origin" - CEPA is likely to encourage investment in Hong Kong from more high-value industries, such as pharmaceuticals. While multinational pharmaceutical companies remain excited by the prospects and potential of the Chinese market, companies have so far been reluctant to release their most innovative products in the country, because of the poor protection given to intellectual property.
As part of China's World Trade Organization (WTO) agreement, the country agreed to lower its import tariff on pharmaceutical products from 9.6% to 4.2%. As part of the CEPA, tariffs on pharmaceuticals imported from Hong Kong will be reduced to zero. The extent to which foreign companies are able to benefit from the treaty will depend on the definition of "goods of Hong Kong origin". Government officials are due to clarify the exact definition of the term in October, and if it is widened to include multinational pharmaceutical companies with operations in Hong Kong, this will open another channel of access to the Chinese market.
