1. What are medical excipients?

Medical excipients refer to medical materials used to cover sores, wounds, or other injuries. Injuries such as epidermal trauma, abscesses, and ulcers can cause bacterial infections, excessive loss of water and protein, endocrine and immune dysfunction, and in severe cases, can be life-threatening. Therefore, after epidermal injury, it is usually necessary to use medical excipients instead of epidermis to protect the wound, prevent wound infection and severe dehydration, provide a moist environment conducive to wound healing, and promote wound healing.

2. Classification of medical excipients

The 2005 Royal Pressure Ulcer Care Guidelines in the UK classified excipients into five categories: contact excipients, active excipients, passive excipients, interactive excipients, and antibacterial excipients.

Contact materials mainly include natural gauze and synthetic fiber materials.

Active excipients mainly include: (1) excipients containing active ingredients, such as excipients containing growth factors, collagen, and hyaluronic acid; (2) Epidermal transplantation, such as human or animal epidermis; (3) Tissue engineering items, such as keratinocyte membranes and dermal substitutes.

Passive bandaging can create a local environment that is conducive to healing, but it will not change the physiological state of the area and will not produce interactions. This auxiliary material is usually used to control exudation, prevent pollution, or control odor. Such excipients include films, sponges and hydrogels.

Interactive excipients that change the physiological state of the wound by contacting the wound exudate, usually form a gel like covering on the wound surface to promote healing. The excipients include hydrogel, alginate and hydrophilic fiber excipients. Antibacterial excipients, which contain some antibacterial ingredients and have a certain local antibacterial effect.

3. History of changes in medical excipients

The medical excipient industry in China has gone through four stages.

The initial stage began in the mid-1980s, with a relatively single supply of goods in the industry, mainly consisting of raw gauze;

In the 1990s, companies began to purchase a large amount of raw materials for deep processing, and then transported items to Europe, North America and other regions for packaging. During this stage, the supply of raw materials and diversification of enterprises have led to the gradual prosperity and growth of the industry;

The third stage began in the early 21st century, with industrial progress moving towards deep processing and packaging production. At this stage, the industry has enjoyed the market and population dividends of China, and many enterprises have begun to transform and upgrade, from producing primary raw materials to integrating the design of goods, equipment, and factories. The products are more refined, and costs are almost controlled to the extreme, pushing industry progress to a climax and achieving a number of leading medical accessory enterprises.

The fourth stage is the current stage, where the original population and market dividends are decreasing, and industrial development is facing pressure from six aspects: order pressure, raw material prices, enterprise funds, labor costs, environmental responsibility, and risk control. The industry has gradually shifted from traditional medical excipients with low added value to new types of medical excipients with high added value.