A Chinese herbal compound that can be used as a pain killer for cancer patients was the big winner in China's first auction of high-tech medical products in Beijing on Thursday.

The property rights holder of the medicine sold 10 per cent of its future stock shares at a price of 36 million yuan (US$4.3 million) to a health products company. The price was 6 million yuan (US$722,000) more than the opening bid.

Guishen Pain-killer, whose major ingredients include cassia bark, white peony root and opium poppy, attracted great interest before the auction because the property rights holder intended to sell the rights at a price of 300 million yuan (US$36 million), which was described as "unimaginable" by the media.

But no buyers responded at the auction, so the auctioneer changed the lot into stock shares at the request of the property rights holder. The buyer was identified as Jingzang Health Co Ltd by yesterday's Beijing Daily.

This auction, the first of its kind in China, was organized by the Pharmaceutical and Health Technology Development and Research Centre under the Ministry of Health, to "pave the way to market scientific study results."

China's pharmaceutical industry has been troubled by the fact that research results could not be put into production immediately due to a lack of proper channels.

Rui Guozhong, an official with the centre, said the auction was very successful because the potential value of the products, most of which have not been put into production, was recognized through the activity.

Of the 14 other auction lots, four were sold at a total price of 31.8 million yuan (US$3.8 million). The products included a liquefied herbal medicine for the treatment of heart failure and a traditional Chinese medicine capsule targeting senile vertigo.

(From Chinadaily)