Driven by demand growth and technological upgrading, my country has become the largest producer of androstenedione in the world.

Androstenedione, referred to as AD or 4-AD, is a steroid compound with a molecule of C19H26O2. It appears as a white powder with a high boiling point and high flammability. It is a biopharmaceutical intermediate with a wide range of uses. Androstenedione is an important raw material for the production of steroid hormones and an important intermediate for various androgen and anabolic hormone drugs such as testosterone propionate and testosterone acetate.

Androstenedione has no natural products and is mainly produced by chemical synthesis and microbial fermentation. Among them, the chemical synthesis method mainly uses diosgenin as raw material, and then prepares 4-androstenedione through chemical synthesis, while diosgenin is mainly extracted from Chinese herbal plants such as turmeric and earthworm. This type of method has shortcomings such as scarce raw materials and complex production processes, which are not conducive to large-scale production of androstenedione. Microbial fermentation refers to the method of producing androstenedione by converting phytosterols by microorganisms. This method has the advantages of wide sources of raw materials, low production costs, environmental protection and no pollution. It has now become the mainstream method for the industrial production of androstenedione in my country.

In recent years, under the background of the full implementation of the domestic three-child policy, the market demand for steroid hormone drugs has continued to increase, and androstenedione, as a key intermediate for steroid hormone drugs, has seen its market demand continue to increase and its scale continue to expand. . In 2021, the domestic steroid hormone drug market size has reached 89.64 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7.8%. At present, my country has become the largest producer of steroid hormone drugs in the world. In this context, according to the “China Androstenedione Market Feasibility Research Report 2022-2026” released by the Industrial Research Center It shows that the domestic androstenedione market size will reach 1.08 billion yuan in 2021.

At present, there are many companies in the androstenedione market in my country. The main companies include Seto Biotech, Kyodo Pharmaceutical, Jinyao Group, Yongning Pharmaceutical, Hongyuan Pharmaceutical, Huazhong Pharmaceutical, Dongyao Pharmaceutical, Gaoyuan Biochemical, etc. Among them, Saito Biological, Jinyao Group, and Kyodo Pharmaceutical are the leading companies in the domestic androstenedione market. At the same time, Jinyao Group is also a global market leader. In 2021, its share of the global androstenedione market has reached 17%. At this stage, the domestic androstenedione industry has a high degree of concentration, the overall profit level of the industry is high, and the industry has broad development prospects.

Industry analysts said that in recent years, against the background of the continuous increase in the size of my country’s steroid hormone drug market, androstenedione has become one of the The market demand for key pharmaceutical intermediates continues to increase. At the same time, with the continuous optimization and upgrading of production technology of local enterprises, domestic production of androstenedione has been rapidly increased, the market size has continued to expand, and the industry development prospects are good. Currently, driven by the growing demand for steroid hormone drugs, my country has become the largest producer of androstenedione in the world. In the future, as the research and development process of related drugs continues to accelerate, the application fields of androstenedione are expected to continue to expand, and the industry has huge development potential.