Jean François Tremblay

HIV DRUGS Indian manufacturers will adjust to new WHO guidelines

India’s largest manufacturers of antiretroviral drugs used to treat HIV/AIDS say they will adapt to new World Health Organization guidelines that call for the phaseout of stavudine, one of the cheapest drugs for treating AIDS. On World AIDS Day on Dec. 1, WHO recommended that stavudine be progressively replaced by less toxic drugs not as likely to cause irreversible side effects. About 4 million AIDS sufferers in developing countries were treated with antiretrovirals in 2008, according to WHO. Roughly three-quarters of them live in Africa. Indian producers of generic drugs, including Cipla, Aurobindo Pharma, and Ranbaxy Laboratories, are the largest suppliers of antiretroviral drugs in Africa. The drugs are mostly sold through tenders from national governments or international organizations. Cipla Chairman Yusuf K. Hamied tells C&EN that the cost of treating a patient with antiretrovirals has been coming down steadily and now stands at about

Chemical Plant Blast Kills 22 People In China

60 per year. Because of their low cost, stavudine-containing tr...

FROM RAGS TO RICHES IN CHINA

A July 28 explosion at a chemical plant in Jiangsu, China, killed 22 people and injured 29 others. The facility was in the process of starting up production of fluorobenzene, an explosive material used in pharmaceutical and agrochemical production. The accident occurred in Linhai County, Sheyang Township, in the eastern province of Jiangsu, at a facility owned by Jiangsu Yancheng Fuyuan Chemical Co. News reports have described Fuyuan as a Sino- German joint venture, but there is no mention of a German partner on the companys website, where the firm calls itself a Chinese entity founded in 1958 and privatized in 1998. Fuyuan says it has secured both ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 certifications. Sun Hua Shan, vice director of Chinas State Administration of Work Safety, visited the scene of the accident and promised a thorough investigation. He said a top priority was to control contaminated water left at the ...

ROCHE RAISES OUTPUT OF BIRD FLU DRUG

ALONG WITH THE MIDDLE EAST, China is where the action is in the petrochemical industry these days. Conglomerates, like China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. (Sinopec) and PetroChina, will spend billions of dollars in coming years to build large new plants that will pump products into the fast-growing Chinese market. Unfortunately for international bankers, Chinese companies will look no further than their own bank accounts to find the money they need for these large projects. Not long ago, prospects for the Chinese petrochemical industrys ability to raise cash were bleak. In 1998, China Petrochemical Corp.—the parent company of Sinopec—declared a major loss on its operations. The same year—as a financial crisis hit Asia, Russia, and South America— Sinopec and other Chinese oil and petrochemical companies were forced to postpone plans to list themselves on international markets to raise funds. What a difference a fewyears make. These days, Sinopec is not only profitable, it generates more cash ...