澳洲企業欲成爲中國最大血漿採集商

Biotech group CSL has bought a blood collection company to fix its supply problems in China, as part of its ambition to be the country’s biggest plasma collector.

生物科技集團CSL收購了一家血液採集公司來解決它在中國的供應問題，這是該集團成爲中國最大的血漿採集商的雄心的一部分。

The Australian company gathers plasma from US donors, and exports a protein found within it to China, where a spate of liver diseases has left local companies unable to keep up with demand.

這家澳大利亞企業從美國獻血者採集血漿，並向中國出口血漿所含的一種蛋白質。由於肝病病例突然增多，中國本土企業無法滿足國內市場對這種蛋白質的需求。

But restrictions on the kinds of plasma proteins that can be exported to China have prompted CSL, one of Australia’s largest companies with a $47.5bn market capitalisation, to buy a Chinese company, giving it the capacity to collect plasma in China.

但中國限制可以進口的血漿蛋白質種類，這促使CSL收購了一家中國公司，以得到在中國採集血漿的能力。CSL市值475億美元，是澳大利亞最大企業之一。

At stake is the $1.9bn in sales seen annually for the human serum albumin, which is derived from plasma and used to treat conditions such as hepatitis. The product was a big part of why CSL was able to increase its China sales by 35 per cent last fiscal year.

此舉涉及人血清白蛋白(HSA)每年19億美元的銷售額。這種蛋白質從血漿中提取而來，用於治療肝炎等疾病。該產品是CSL能夠在上個財年增加中國銷售額35%的一大原因。

The group’s total revenues for fiscal 2017 were $6.9bn.

該集團2017年財年總收入爲69億美元。

The company’s core business is extracting another protein, immunoglobulin, from US donors and selling it globally to treat a range of diseases.

該公司的核心業務是從美國獻血者提取另外一種蛋白質——免疫球蛋白(Ig)，並在全球出售這種可以治療一系列疾病的蛋白質。

China banned immunoglobulin imports in the 1980s, leaving CSL without access to the world’s fastest-growing market for this product until August, when it acquired an 80 per cent stake in Chinese plasma company Wuhan Ruide for $352m.

上世紀80年代，中國禁止進口免疫球蛋白，使得CSL無法進入該產品的世界增長最快市場——直到今年8月該公司以3.52億美元收購了中國血漿公司武漢中原瑞德生物製品公司(Wuhan Zhongyuan Ruide Biologics) 80%的股權。

“The reason for the acquisition goes back to the regulations. It’s just you can’t access the market unless you have a company here,” said Paul Perreault, CSL’s chief executive, in Shanghai.

“收購的原因還是監管。你就是無法進入該市場，除非你在這裏有公司，”CSL首席執行官保羅?佩羅(Paul Perreault)在上海表示。

Ruide is a small player in China’s plasma market, with just a handful of collection centres in the backwater province of Hubei. CSL wants to import techniques from its US centres to boost efficiency, and connect Ruide to the 1,000 Chinese hospitals to which CSL already sells.

瑞德是中國血漿市場上的一個小型參與者，只在較爲落後的湖北省擁有幾個採集中心。CSL希望從其美國中心引進技術以提高效率，並把瑞德介紹給已經是CSL客戶的1000家中國醫院。

“I want to be the largest plasma collector in China and it’s going to take about eight to 10 years to get there,” said Mr Perrault.

“我想成爲中國最大的血漿採集公司，這將需要8至10年才能實現，”佩羅表示。

He cited continued social stigma about plasma donation stemming from deadly scandals in the 1990s — when thousands of HIV-infected people in China gave blood — and traditional beliefs that see blood as a vehicle for the mystical life force known as chi, which CSL wants to counter with education campaigns.

他提到了社會對於捐贈血漿持續存在的成見——源自上世紀90年代的致命醜聞，當時中國數以千計的艾滋病毒感染者賣血——以及把血液視爲“氣”的神祕生命力量的載體的傳統觀念——CSL希望開展教育活動來破除這種觀念。

“Only the poor will sell their chi, sell their blood. There is a lot of education to be done,” said Mr Perrault.

佩羅表示，“只有窮人會賣氣，賣血。需要做大量教育工作。”

CSL’s image as a foreign company could make that easier. “They’ve got an opportunity to come in and show how clean and efficient collection can be, which has great potential to change consumer perceptions of the blood collection business,” said George Baeder, a drug industry consultant.

CSL身爲外國企業的形象可能使這項任務變得容易一些。“他們已經獲得了進入市場、並展示採集血漿可以做到多麼清潔和高效率的機會，有很大可能去改變消費者對於血液採集業務的認知，”醫藥行業諮詢顧問喬治?貝德(George Baeder)表示。