(Yicai Global) June 17 -- A Chinese research team has found new uses for a metabolite of artemisinin, which may boost sales of the antimalarial drug in China, its slowing home market. Stock prices of producers are already up.

The team of Tu Youyou, a Chinese scientist who originally discovered artemisinin as an effective treatment against malaria, has found out that dihydroartemisinin can also treat systemic lupus erythematosus, an autoimmune disease, the research team announced today. 

Share prices of artemisinin-related firms soared today. That of KPC Pharmaceuticals [SH:600422], which will carry out clinical trials of the lupus drug, rose by the daily limit of 10 percent to CNY9.70 (USD1.40).

The new breakthrough in research can expand the sales of new artemisinin drugs across the world, secretary of the board of directors at KPC told Yicai Global. The firm will need from seven to eight years to bring the new medicine into the market. 

Sales of artemisinin have been in decline in China and global drug giants, such as Switzerland's Novartis Group and France's Sanofi, have taken over foreign markets. Chinese producers' global market share is less than 10 percent.

The China Food and Drug Administration has given permits for 20 companies to produce active pharmaceutical ingredients for artemisinin and KPC has most of these licenses. However, revenue from the firm's antimalarial products fell 36 percent last year to CNY693 million (USD100 million), its earnings report shows. The reason was that the incidence rate of malaria in the company's sales region decreased, said the board secretary. 

Other Chinese producers are struggling too. The operating income of Artepharm fell 11 percent to CNY98.6 million last year, its earnings report shows. The Meizhou-based firm said that the international trade situation and the reducing exports of antimalarial drugs caused the slowdown in sales.

"Our market is mainly abroad," an insider at Artepharm told Yicai Global. The occurrence of malaria is closely related to poor sanitation, and China eliminated malaria as early as in the 1980s and 1990s, the person said, adding that China sells the drug to some economically underdeveloped regions.

Editor: Liao Shumin, Emmi Laine