Global pharmaceutical and health product manufacturing giant Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. has said it will soon launch a new hepatitis B drug in China.

The company also plans to set up a factory in Shanghai to manufacture the new drug, Chief Executive Peter Dolan said during a visit to mark 20-year founding anniversary of the company's Shanghai branch.

He said the Shanghai factory will be the only facility outside the United States to produce the hepatitis B drug, a new product that has just debuted in the US market and proven effective.

Hepatitis B is one of the most infectious diseases in China. Ministry of Health figures say the country has 130 million HBV virus carriers and 30 million chronic patients. Medical spending on HBV therapy amounts to 30 billion to 50 billion yuan (US$3.7 million to 6.2 million) a year in China.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. has a history of 118 years and the company landed in Shanghai in 1985.

(Xinhua News Agency October 27, 2005)