On March 24, Nanjing Red Sun Co. Ltd.
(Nanjing Red Sun) announced that on March 23, the company signed an “Investment
Framework Agreement” with Hainan Kunning Biotechnology Ltd. (Hainan Kunning).
With this agreement, Nanjing Red Sun plans
to invest RMB 26.4 million (USD 3.8
million) in Hainan Kunning and gain a majority holding in the company. After
the investment, the company’s total assets will increase to RMB 30.3 million
(USD 4.4 million), of which Nanjing Red Sun will own RMB 20.3 million (USD 2.9
million), an overall share of 67%. Hainan Kunning is a company that specializes
in using advanced technology for the research of antidotes against pyridine
pesticides such as paraquat, performing optimization research, animal tests,
clinical trials, and biochemical production. Furthermore, Hainan Kunning signed
an agreement with the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences for the
development and production of an antidote against paraquat, as well as an
agreement to transfer patent rights for this antidote to Hainan Kunning.
Hainan Kunning has already small and medium
scale clinical trials and is awaiting permission from China’s State Food and
Drug Administration to begin production of an antidote formula and to introduce
this formula to the market. Hainan Kunning’s antidote formula has been shown to
be safe in animal trials and will likely become an important medicine for
humans. Nanjing Red Sun and Hainan Kunniung have established a friendly
cooperative relationship in order to expeditiously develop an effective
antidote against paraquat.
In
spite of the wide use of paraquat, an antidote has remained out of reach
Paraquat is the second most widely used
herbicide in the world. Due to paraquat’s ability to kill weeds without harming
plant roots, avoid affecting land arability, avoid runoff, lose toxicity after
reaching soil, avoid polluting the water below farmland, as well as its fast
effect and ability to remain effective through rain, paraquat is used widely to
kill weeds and protect crops.
Despite its wide use throughout recent
decades, if a human or animal accidentally ingests paraquat, there is no known
antidote that may be used to treat paraquat’s negative side effects. This has
led to a number of countries, including China, temporarily banning the use of
paraquat. However, throughout most of the world, paraquat is still used due to
its irreplaceable nature as an effective herbicide.
Patent
requested for new potential paraquat antidote formula
A possible antidote against paraquat has
been the subject of much research by experts and scholars throughout the years,
but until recently, no research breakthrough occured. However, Chinese experts
and professors using a combination of biological and chemical technologies may
have recently succeeded in developing the world’s first paraquat antidote
formula, for which a patent has already been requested, which includes a method
for producing the antidote and a medicinal formula for providing emergency
treatment after paraquat ingestion. The patent also gives rights to all
products or formulas that may arise as a direct result of this new
formula.
For more information on China’s herbicide
market, please check our Herbicides
China News.