People's Pharmaceuticals (600079) acquires Mano Bio
On May 23, Jiang Jian, general manager of Beijing Mano Bio-Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. confirmed, "People's Pharmaceuticals has completed the acquisition of Mano Bio, through which it enters into the rapid HIV testing market."
Manuo Bio is the first domestic manufacturer of HIV saliva test strips, the product was registered by the State Drug Administration in 2008, and the market is basically unexplored.
People's Health Pharmaceuticals (600079.sh) chose to step into the field of in vitro diagnostic reagents in a low-profile manner, and has not yet fully grasp the profitability. Wang Xuehai, chairman of Renfo Pharmaceuticals, said: "We are seeing the growth of Mano Bio, and will give this brand new product a certain amount of time. There will also be a process of market acceptance."
Currently, Renfo Pharma has invested 7 million yuan in the acquisition of equity. Wang Xuehai said, "This amount belongs to the investment within the authority of the management, so there is no announcement."
"Improvement of test accessibility"
People's Health Pharmaceuticals completed the above acquisition at the end of 2010. Wang Xuehai said, "Renfo will realize a phased investment in Mano, the total investment will be close to 30 million yuan, and when the investment is completed will certainly be announced to investors."
AIDS saliva testing technology is among the more cutting-edge technologies. The U.S. Department of Health first approved a rapid saliva test in 2004, and China has long been in a state of blankness in this area. The common method is to draw blood for testing, which needs to be done in a laboratory and takes a long time to produce results. The saliva test takes only half an hour to complete, and those who test positive can receive immediate treatment.
More critically, the blood test increases the risk of HIV infection for health care workers, who must be trained to perform the test. Saliva testing, on the other hand, can be performed by doctors.
On Dec. 31, 2010, the State Council issued a notice on further strengthening the prevention and treatment of AIDS, which made it clear that the next step would be to "expand the coverage of monitoring and testing, and maximize the discovery of HIV-infected patients. One of the important means is to promote the use of rapid and simple testing methods to improve accessibility.
At present, the state provides free intervention and treatment for AIDS patients, with an annual investment of more than 2 billion yuan. The cost of HIV testing is not listed separately, but Mano estimates that the annual investment is at least 500 million yuan.
However, this part of the investment is completely by all levels of CDC departments through government procurement to complete, there is no direct consumer-oriented diagnostic products on the market. Industry insiders: "After all, this kind of product to achieve open sales have difficulty."
This is the biggest bottleneck in the development of HIV rapid test technology. In addition to working with the National Center for Disease Control and Prevention for small-scale promotion, Mano has not been able to obtain large purchase orders. Jiang Jian said: "Now we have been carrying out small-scale pilot use in five or six provinces. We are also trying to promote its entry into the national procurement catalog, so that we can quickly expand the scope of testing."
Previously Mano Bio's foreign shareholders also chose to bring in Renfo Pharma as a major shareholder precisely because of the difficulty in breaking through in the Chinese market.
AIDS ranks first among China's legally-reported infectious diseases, with the Ministry of Health's epidemic report released on May 17 showing that 15,982 cases of the disease were reported nationwide in 2010, and according to data released by the U.N. agency in China, there are currently about 840,000 people infected with the AIDS virus in China. HIV saliva test strips sold on the market are generally priced at about 100 yuan, and the diagnostic market will bring huge demand once it is liberalized.
Market size of 8.5 billion in 2015