ZMC-USA

The Woodlands, TX, September 02, 2008 --(PR.com)-- ZMC-USA began March 31, 2006 as a subsidiary to its parent company, Zhejiang Medicine Company Limited Xinchang Pharmaceutical Factory (ZMC) . The purpose of the company was to provide ZMC a direct conduit to the North American nutritional and pharmaceutical market. The greater purpose of ZMC-USA was to provide trust and transparency to ZMC’s customers thereby reinforcing the long term commitments to the marketplace. Additionally, it became this organizations mission to provide direct correspondence and communication from the marketplace to ZMC.

ZMC-USA is the first parent company named US subsidiary of a Chinese raw material ingredient manufacturer. The importance of being a named subsidiary is the openness of sourced material and the implied confidence associated with the name. The typical business model of every other Chinese raw material ingredient manufacturer has been to rely on a network of distributors and brokers to act as a sales channel to its customers. The problem created with the typical model is the ingredient manufacturer is shielded from many of the market dynamics and customer requests. Through the distributor arrangements brandholders are not always assured of consistent suppliers and the opportunity for supply / demand price fluctuations is heightened. Finally, with new GMP requirements, transparency of supply has become a requirement that changes many of the dynamics of the distributor role as material must now be identified by the original manufacturer. Certificates of Analysis and other documents are increasingly being required to be from the original manufacturer and not altered by the distributor as has been previously accepted policy.

This concept is not new to the marketplace as other international suppliers had learned the benefits of a US subsidiary to be an improved flow of information between manufacturer and supplier. Over the past two decades European and Japanese companies both within and outside of the nutritional industry had increasingly learned communication of customer needs, both from a technical and marketing perspective, were best met through a direct managed sales and distribution environment. The subsidiary business management models sometimes relied solely on the US office but sometimes combined direct representation with specifically designated and transparent distributors. The cost differences between the various models have ranged from either favorable to the supplier or negligible as distributors typically receive 8-20% of sales depending on price and volume of the ingredients provided. ZMC has both realized and projected cost savings through its adoption of a direct to market philosophy. This savings has primarily been a result of coordination of information involving market pricing and increased volume through customer transparency and market penetration.

ZMC has been manufacturing pharmaceutical and nutritional ingredients since 1954 and has grown to be recognized for both its quality and reliability. In addition to an array of pharmaceutical ingredients, globally, ZMC is the largest supplier of Biotin, the second largest supplier of synthetic Vitamin E, the third largest supplier of Natural Vitamin E, the second largest supplier of CoQ10. ZMC has created a complete line of Vitamins, Supplements and Carotenoids including Lutein and Beta-Carotene. ZMC is the only supplier which has been granted the USP verification mark under USP’s voluntary Verified Dietary Supplement Ingredients Program for CoQ10 and Beta-Carotene, Natural and synthetic Vitamin E . In addition to this important third party endorsement, ZMC maintains a facility which is both FDA Registered and inspected. Additionally, the ZMC facilities have passed customer audits from every major US manufacturer of nutritional products and many pharmaceutical manufacturers. ZMC completed a new COQ10 facility in 2005 which provided substantial production efficiencies resulting in greatly reduced costs to consumers.

In 2007, ZMC received a patent from the USPTO for Lutein. ZMC has recently introduced two antibiotics, Vancomycin hydrochloride (DMF# 18890)and Miglitol (DMF# 18833). Despite the size and success of ZMC, few outside or inside the industry knew of ZMC directly. ZMC-USA became the conduit to change this fact.

ZMC-USA has worked to provide its customers and its parent organization the respect and knowledge of all parties. While this process began in 2006, the importance of the action became paramount in 2007 when safety concerns arose from products manufactured in China. Executives from large companies were brought before the United States Congress to testify they had been unaware of safety lapses in their sourcing process. It became apparent on a number of levels there were concerns being brought forth from a variety of countries. It became clear that within any industry or country, organizations could choose to be dedicated to profits and rely on the laws of supply and demand to determine levels of quality management and safety. ZMC-USA was quickly recognized for its transparency of operations, single sourced quality provider and US based management. ZMC-USA was already providing top rated communications and US indemnified insurance. Nutritional industry executives became secure with the knowledge the source of the material was represented and insured by a US based company.

Because of the distributor based sales representation, Chinese suppliers were encouraged to focus primarily on price. ZMC has consistently focused on quality and with the addition of information and knowledge of ZMC-USA; they now are participating in other important industry advancement activities typical of industry leaders. These activities include trade show support through sponsorships, trade publication advertising and trade industry associations such as UNPA and DSEA. These activities ultimately promote the exchange of ideas amongst industry members and encourage cooperation within and support for the nutritional industry. ZMC has begun support of clinical trials through donated or discounted product.

It is the belief and goal of ZMC-USA management that the industries of pharmaceutical and nutrition can work more cooperatively to improve the overall care and cure of healthcare consumers. Senior members of ZMC-USA all have a combined background in the pharmaceutical and nutritional industries. It is with this combined source of experience that ZMC-USA looks to effect a change in the landscape of the industries we support. To date, the pharmaceutical and nutritional industries have been fractioned and operated with the belief one was exclusionary or in contrast to the other. ZMC-USA hopes to encourage a dialogue which underscores the potential synergies between the industries.

While ZMC-USA has been an evolution of ideals and merging of cultures, it and its parent company share a common belief that a difference is being made and other quality organizations will follow the example set by this industry leader.

###