Monday, April 19, 2021

Doxycycline shortage in South Korea due to 2019 Jiangsu explosion?

Via a Google Alert, this interesting explanation of a recent medicine shortage in a Korean medicine outlet: 
Korean doctors are finding it difficult to treat patients due to the shortage of doxycycline, an antibiotic, industry sources said. A local drugmaker stopped manufacturing doxycycline-containing medicines in November because it could not import raw materials, they said...

...The shortage of the doxycycline supply is likely to continue. Industry officials said a chemical plant explosion in Chenjiagang Chemical Industry Park in Xiangshui County of Yancheng in Jiangsu Province led to a burndown of a raw material drug factory in 2019. Since then, the Chinese government has been delaying GMP approval for a renewed plant, they said.

Youngpoong Pharmaceutical said it discontinued the manufacturing of Youngpoong Doxycycline Tab. in November last year. It may resume production in May at the earliest, the company said.

“Raw materials come from China, but the Chemical Industry Park in Yancheng in Jiangsu Province had an explosion, which burned down the raw material factory,” an official at Youngpoong Pharmaceutical said. “To make matters worse, the Chinese government put brakes on the resumption of the plant citing environmental issues, which led to approval delay.”

The official had expected that the factory would win the license in March, but the approval was put off longer than anticipated, he added.

It's surprising to me that the Chinese haven't gotten this plant (or this supply chain) back up and running. (This explosion was rather prominent, and has sent all sorts of odd shockwaves through the chemical industry and into the broader economy.) 

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