Blog

　　The blood products industry emerged in the 1940s. After decades of development, it has become a highly significant segment within the biopharmaceutical industry, characterized by stringent regulatory requirements, high product added value, and oligopolistic competition. With the continuous improvement of China’s healthcare policies, changing public attitudes toward blood donation, and an increasing number of clinical indications for blood products, market demand has been steadily growing. In particular, since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) and human albumin—two key blood products—have played crucial roles in both prevention and treatment. As a result, China’s blood products industry is now showing a strong upward trend.

1. Overview of the Blood Products Industry

(1) Definition of Blood Products

　　Blood products primarily refer to biologically active preparations made from the blood of healthy human donors through biotechnological processes or separation and purification techniques. They fall within the category of biological products and mainly include human albumin, human immunoglobulin, and coagulation factors—among which coagulation factors represent the largest subgroup.

　　The raw material for blood products is human plasma, of which 92% to 93% is water and only 7% to 8% is protein. Blood products are made from this portion of protein. Due to limitations in current technological capabilities, only a fraction of the plasma proteins can be utilized at present.

(2) Overview of the Global Blood Products Industry

　　The blood products industry emerged in the 1940s and, after decades of development, has become a highly significant branch within the biopharmaceutical sector. Due to their unique therapeutic functions, human albumin, human immunoglobulin, and coagulation factors—derived from human plasma—are indispensable "life-saving drugs" in the treatment of certain diseases. For instance, in patients with congenital immunodeficiency, obtaining and administering human immunoglobulin annually requires 130 units of plasma (500 to 600 milliliters per donation). Meanwhile, as technology continues to advance, the range of indications for blood products is steadily expanding, serving as a key driver of stable market growth. According to data from Research and Markets, the global market size for plasma-derived blood products reached US$36.7 billion in 2018 and is projected to maintain a steady compound annual growth rate of 2.9%, with the global market expected to exceed US$47.7 billion by 2027.

　　According to data released by MRB, the global blood products industry initially had as many as 102 companies. With mergers and restructuring among these companies, the number of foreign blood products enterprises has dwindled to fewer than 20, including five in the United States and eight in Europe. Several major players—such as CSL Behring, Baxter, Grifols, and Octapharma—now account for between 80% and 85% of the market share. Meanwhile, the plasma collection volumes of these few giants have also reached over 80% of the industry’s total plasma collection volume, reflecting a typical oligopolistic market structure.

2. Overview of China’s Blood Products Industry

　　China’s production of blood products began in the early 1960s. At first, there were only two or three manufacturers. As the profitability of freeze-dried human plasma production significantly improved in the 1980s and the salt precipitation method for separating plasma proteins became widely adopted, local blood centers, blood centers affiliated with military regions, and several research institutions started producing blood products. By that time, the number of domestic manufacturers had grown to about 70. However, after the 1990s, the Ministry of Health issued a clear directive prohibiting the production of freeze-dried human plasma and banning the use of the salt precipitation process, leading most manufacturers to shut down.

　　In 1998, the blood products industry adopted a GMP access system, under which only enterprises that had obtained national pharmaceutical GMP certification were permitted to produce and operate blood products. At that time, a total of 33 enterprises nationwide had received such certification. After 2001, the state stopped approving the establishment of new blood product manufacturing enterprises; as a result, China now has only about 30 licensed blood product manufacturers.

(1) The competitive landscape of the blood products industry is clearly defined.

　　As of the end of December 2021, 31 independently legal entities in 21 provinces (municipalities and autonomous regions) across the country held licenses for the production of blood products. Nationwide, there were 292 plasma collection centers, and seven domestic and international listed companies had entered the industry. Following multiple rounds of mergers and acquisitions, nearly 60% of enterprises with production qualifications and more than 70% of plasma collection centers have been integrated into listed companies. China’s blood products industry has now established an industry structure led by seven listed companies, with four major enterprises—Tiantan Biological (Zhongsheng Group), Shanghai Laishi, Hualan Biological, and Taibang Biological—serving as industry leaders.

(2) Plasma raw materials have been in long-term supply shortage.

　　China has a large population base, and driven by factors such as an aging society and the increasing number of indications for blood products, downstream demand in China’s blood products market continues to rise. Relevant data show that the size of China’s blood products market has rapidly grown from 19 billion yuan in 2017 to 38.2 billion yuan in 2020.

　　In 2021, the total plasma collection volume by blood product enterprises nationwide reached 9,455 tons, representing an increase of approximately 12.83% year-on-year. However, actual demand for plasma exceeded 14,000 tons. As a result, importing albumin has become a key measure to address the significant supply-demand gap in plasma raw materials; in 2020, the proportion of imported albumin batches approved for release reached as high as 62%. Particularly since the COVID-19 pandemic, driven by consumers’ growing demand for immune enhancement and health care, the market size for blood products is expected to continue its rapid growth. Nevertheless, the shortage of plasma raw materials has emerged as a prominent issue that severely hinders the industry’s sustainable development.

3) Low technological innovation capability and low product standards.

　　The blood products industry is a technology-intensive pharmaceutical sector. As blood products undergo continuous innovation and upgrading, blood product companies are placing ever-higher demands on the stability of their production processes and increasingly stringent requirements for comprehensive quality—including product R&D, production technologies, quality control, and quality assurance. However, China’s current technological innovation capabilities still lag significantly behind those of foreign countries.

　　From the perspective of product types, foreign companies such as Grifols and CSL can produce around 22 to 24 different products using plasma, with coagulation factors being the primary products. In contrast, China’s domestic companies with the most comprehensive product lines—Shanghai Laisi and Tiantan Biological—can only produce 12 of these products, and their offerings mainly consist of immunoglobulins, with very few coagulation-factor products.