Vinsce Bio-Pharm (Suzhou) Co Ltd in Zhangjiagang, a county-level city in Suzhou, East China's Jiangsu province, is a leading global supplier of artemisinin raw materials and the only company in the world with a complete industrial chain for artemisinin raw materials and drugs.
Artemisinin is an effective treatment for malaria, a major global public health concern. Despite China's abundant sweet wormwood plants, from which artemisinin is derived, the domestic artemisinin industry had struggled to develop due to outdated technology.
A man works at Vinsce Bio-Pharm's laboratory in Zhangjiagang. [Photo/zjgonline.com.cn]
Vinsce Bio-Pharm has been focusing on research on the breeding and cultivation of sweet wormwood, extraction of artemisinin, and production of active pharmaceutical ingredient (API), according to Peng Xuedong, director of R&D at the company.
The company has cooperated with domestic universities and research institutes, including the Institute of Modern Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, to cultivate new species of sweet wormwood.
Vinsce now produces a wide range of products, including artemisinin, dihydroartemisinin, APIs and vincamine. The vincamine it produced can be substituted for imported drugs. The company's artemisinin synthesis efficiency exceeds that of India by 8 to 10 percent
By growing sweet wormwood in Xinjiang and Henan, Vinsce has also helped increase the incomes of local farmers.