| By Grace Zhang, Pharmaceutical Manufacturing News |
| Wednesday, 07 May 2008 |
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Shandong Lunan Pharmaceutical Group has recently completed the construction of a new 3000-ton 7-ADCA facility, making it the world’s largest 7-ADCA producer. With the opening of the facility, China is expected to dominate the international cephalosporin market with the total production of 7-ADCA breaking the |
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4,000-ton mark this year, overtaking such longstanding market leaders as the US, Italy and the Netherlands.
Due to a variety of factors, the Chinese cephalosporin market developed at a very slow rate during the 1970s, when most of the APIs used to produce cephalosporin drugs were imported.
However, since Harbin Pharmaceutical Group built a facility producing cephalosporin APIs including 6-APA, 7-ACA and 7-ADCA with cephalosporin C semisynthetic technology imported from South Korea in the late 1980s, the market has been growing rapidly and at least one hundred pharmaceutical makers including North China Pharmaceutical |
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and Shandong Lukang Pharmaceutical have begun producing a variety of cephalosporins. In addition, Sichuan Changzheng Pharmaceutical in partnership with Sichuan Indusitrial Intitute of Antibiotics, established a 100-ton 7-ADCA joint venture facility. The annual production of 7-ADCA in China exceeded 1,000 tons in 2006. Chinese cephalosporin makers have for many years failed to meet the demand of the pharmaceutical sector for 7-ADCA as a result of low production volume and high costs as well as immature technology. Over the past 20 years, the production of 7-ACA and 7-ADCA has been monopolized by the three major pharmaceutical manufacturers, namely Italy’s Antibioticos, Austria’s Biochemie and the Netherlands’ DSM. DSM is currently the largest 7-ADCA manufacturer in the world with an annual production capacity of 1,000 tons. The world’s total production of 7-ADCA had surpassed 6,000 tons as of the end of 2006. Major producers and exporters of the product include the Netherlands, Italy, the US, Spain, South Korea and India. |
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Today, in addition to Lunan Pharmaceutical, Shanghai Whyte Asia Pioneer Pharmaceutical, a joint venture of Shanghai Asia Pioneer Pharmaceutical, has also started the production of 7-ADCA for internal use exclusively rather than for sale. Other Chinese pharmaceutical makers that have shown interest in 7-ADCA as well include Zhuhai United Laboratories and Shanxi Weiqida Pharmaceutical. Furthermore, Hunan Nonferrous Chembio Biology Medicine, which completed a 6-APA production line in 2007, may also join the growing roster of 7-ADCA makers.
The 7-ADCA market is facing several uncertainties, including rising prices worldwide and challenges from 7-ACA, although the API is believed to have promising prospects looking forward.
China has become the world’s primary producer of penicillin industrial salt, laying a sound foundation for the further development of the 7-ADCA market. Besides, the 7-ADCA export market should face a bright future if production costs and price for the product can be further lowered. |
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