In 2020, many provinces such as Ningxia, Shaanxi, Jiangsu, and Harbin
issued a list of drugs in short supply for urokinase and documents supporting
the crude urokinase extraction project. Document No. 25 [2020] of
Bianyaozhengfa's "Notice on Printing and Distributing the National List of Drugs
in Shortage", urokinase was included in the national key monitoring list of
clinically necessary and easily in short supply drugs; in 2021, Shandong, Gansu,
Guangdong, Hubei, Jiangxi, Guizhou China, Hainan, Liaoning, and other provinces
have successively issued notices on drug shortage lists and price increases for
urokinase drugs.
The shortage of urokinase has seriously affected the treatment of
cardiovascular and cerebrovascular patients. Urokinase is extracted from urine.
The shortage of urokinase is mainly caused by the lack of raw material—urine.
Seeing this, some people may be puzzled. Urine can be produced every day. There
are 1.4 billion people in the country. One person can also provide a steady
stream of raw materials. How can we say that there is a shortage caused by a
lack of urine?
Although there is a lot of urine, there is not much urine that can be
collected. First of all, with the development of urban civilization, and the
popularity of independent toilets and flush toilets, urine collection can only
be carried out in public toilets such as schools, factories, and service areas.
This requires the non-flush transformation of these public toilets so that less
urine can be collected; secondly, there are so many public toilets in schools
and factories across the country, but the actual collection range is very small.
According to Jiudong Technology Statistics show that the manufacturers of
urokinase are mainly located in Henan, Anhui, and other Central Plains. The
market is mainly for school toilets in these areas to collect urine. In most
provinces and cities across the country, school factories and other public
toilets rarely or even do not collect urine. Many people I don’t know if I don’t
understand this project, no one collects it, and no one does the urokinase
project. The market is facing a big gap, which leads to a shortage of urokinase
and the price rises year after year. However, only more than 100 grams of crude
urokinase can be extracted from one ton of urine, and the crude urokinase can be
refined to obtain the life-saving urokinase injection. This has led to a
shortage of urokinase year after year.