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China's exports of captopril and similar pharmaceuticals soars
With 11% of China's population suffering from hypertension, the country's antihypertension drug market has been growing rapidly in recent years. Statistics show that sales of these types of drugs rose from US$700 million to approx. US$2 billion between 2003 and 2006, with sales for 2007 expected to exceed approx. US$2.2 billion.
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Currently, nifedipine, nimodipine, nitrendipine and amlodipine are the most popular among the antihypertension drugs available in the country thanks to their low prices and targeted effectiveness. However, captopril (capoten) and similar drugs, including enalapril, benazepril, quinapril, lisinopril, fosinopril, perindopril, cilazapril, ramipril and imidapril, have also seen rapid growth in both domestic sales and exports. The exports of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) for captopril and similar drugs is expected to exceed 350 metric tons this year, up 50 percent year-on-year, despite average price declines ranging from 10 to 15 percent. The declines are mainly due to competition among exporters of these APIs. With China now exporting ten such products, the country has become a major exporter of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor API. As a result, China holds advantages in pricing for captopril, Enalapril and ramipril.
At present, China's Big Three captopril API manufacturers are Zhejiang Huahai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Jiangsu Changzhou Pharmaceutical Factory and Shandong Weifang Pharmaceutical Factory Co., Ltd., with their combined production volume accounting for more than 80 percent of the total of the whole country. During 2005, 280 tons of captopril were produced in China (of which 190 tons were exported), accounting for one third of the world's production. Captopril exports are expected to rise further this year to some 220 tons.
In addition, enalapril, a second ACE inhibitor, is becoming popular in China as well, as it does not cause coughing, facial flushing or some other side effects. The major Chinese enalapril manufacturers are Zhejiang Huahai Pharmaceutical, Jiangsu Changzhou Pharmaceutical Factory and Hebei Shijiazhuang Pharmaceutical Group Co., Ltd., with an annual production capacity of six tons, three tons and two tons, respectively. Total production capacity of enalapril API in the country is estimated to be between 12 to 16 tons per year. Upbeat about the future of enalapril exports, Zhejiang Huahai Pharmaceutical plans to expand its production to between 12 and 20 tons, while a few other pharmaceutical makers are also setting up new enalapril production lines.
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