CHINA HEALTH SCIENCES NEWSLETTER
Vol. 4 , No. 15 - September 4, 2003
TOPICS THIS ISSUE:
- Prominent Chinese AIDS Campaigner Faces Defamation Lawsuit
- China To Hold Its First Medicine & Health Industries Fair
- Top 24 Drug Companies in China Post 62% Profit Increase for January-July 2003
- BASF In Talks For Vitamin C Production Joint Venture
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Prominent Chinese AIDS Campaigner Faces Defamation Lawsuit
China's best-known AIDS activist, an elderly doctor who volunteers her time and resources to care for farmers stricken with the disease, is recently facing trial on accusations of defamation. Gao Yaojie, 76, has been ordered to appear in court in Zhengzhou city, the capital of central China's Henan province, on September 16.
The retired doctor is being sued by a man in neighboring Hubei province who claims Gao harmed his reputation when she wrote in her newsletter about AIDS that there were unscrupulous people trying to cash in on the outbreak by selling patients useless medicine. Gao said that the case has no merit as she did not name the plaintiff or anyone in her article.
She suspects the court accepted the case because the government wants to use it to punish her. Officials in Henan have been frustrated with Gao for publicizing the outbreak which stemmed from a government approved blood trade beginning in the mid-1980s and most recently for leading two Chinese reporters to a village where blood sales were still occurring even after a government ban.
Gao's article ran in April last year. The plaintiff, Li Demin, filed the lawsuit this March, but the court did not set a date for the trial until mid-July, about a month after Gao took two Shanghai reporters to witness the illegal blood sales. Li claimed Sunday he has a legitimate case and that the court had decided to accept it shortly after he filed the lawsuit in March. Li claims Gao's article had a big impact on his work as many people had read the article.
Court officials could not be reached for comment. Up to a million poor farmers in Henan province are believed to have been infected with the HIV virus after selling blood from the mid-1980s to mid-1990s at unsafe blood collection stations.
(Source: Agence France Presse)
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China To Hold Its First Medicine & Health Industries Fair
The first China Medicine and Health Industries Exposition is scheduled for Sept. 26-28 in Changzhou, the capital of northeast China's Jilin Province.
According to Zhu Xun, secretary-general of the organizing committee, the exposition will offer 1,000 exhibition booths, covering a total area of 15,000 square meters and featuring items like new medicine, pharmaceutical machinery, packaging materials, disinfectants, new medical technologies and local specialties. During the exposition, a number of activities will be staged, such as trade talks, medicine and machinery procurement fairs, discussions between leaders of hospitals and enterprises, marketing forums and on-the-spot diagnoses by famous doctors from across the country.
Zhu said that hundreds of leading Chinese pharmacies and Sino- foreign medical enterprises have registered to take part, and 800 booths have already been booked. With the approval of the Ministry of Health, the exposition is sponsored by the Chinese Preventive Medical Association, the State Drug Administration, the Changchun Municipal Government, and other national medical organizations and provincial government departments.
(Source: Xinhua News Agency)
Top 24 Drug Companies in China Post 62% Profit Increase for January-July 2003
China's top 24 pharmaceutical companies recorded combined profits of RMB3.79bn (US$457.89m) in the first seven months of 2003, up 62.4% on the same period last year. According to a report from the state-owned Xinhua news agency, 23 out of the 24 companies made a profit, with combined core revenue increasing by 16.5% to RMB55.41bn (US$6.69bn). The figures were reported on the website of the Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC).
The pharmaceutical sector in China is in the middle of a major shake-up, as it adjusts to the impact of the country's entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) in December 2001. The government is keen to establish a few top domestic pharmaceutical companies, which will eventually be able to compete on the world stage. However, these companies are likely to struggle for domestic market share, as multinational companies - which are set to benefit from the improved regulatory environment in the country - release more of their most innovative, research-based drugs in the country.
(Source: World Markets Research Center)
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BASF Group said it is still in talks with Northeast Pharmaceutical Group Co Ltd on a possible vitamin C production partnership. The two parties have yet to decide on the investment size and the specific stakes each side will take in the project. But BASF declined to comment on why both companies have failed to finalize the deal despite more than two years of discussions.
State media reported earlier that BASF and Northeast Pharmaceutical have been in negotiations since 2001 to invest a total of 200 mln usd into the proposed joint venture, which will churn out 50,000 tons of vitamin C products a year. BASF is the world's second biggest vitamin producer, while Northeast Pharmaceutical ranks number one in China.
BASF and Northeast Pharmaceutical have been engaged in a joint venture that makes Vitamins A, B, D and E since 1995, in which BASF has increased its stake to 98 pct from 70 pct. BASF currently operates 10 wholly-owned subsidiaries and seven joint ventures in the Greater China region, including a 2.9 bln usd cracker joint venture with China Petroleum & Chemical Corp (Sinopec) (SH A 600028; HK 0386; NYSE SNP).
