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Cornea product to enter market

By WANG XIAODONG (chinadaily.com.cn) Updated: 2015-05-30 14:19

A new cornea product produced through biological engineering is expected to appear in the market by the end of July and bring hope to those waiting for cornea donations.

Aixintong, made from pig corneas, has been approved by China Food and Drug Administration and clinical tests showed performs very close to donated human corneas in clinical tests, according to Zhang Aibing, a senior manager with China Regenerative Medicine International Co, developer of the product.

Clinical tests conducted by the company and several eye hospitals between 2010 and 2013, which involved 115 people, showed the product proved effective in repairing corneas in more than 94 percent of patients, he said.

Aixintong is made from pig corneas, which are more biologically consistent with human corneas. Pigs also can be raised on a large scale, which can ensure the quantity and quality of the products, Zhang said.

The number of people blinded by cornea diseases in China is estimated to be 3 million, but only about 5,000 cornea transplant surgeries are performed every year due to lack of donations.

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