pharmaceutical · input
Viscosity agent for dry-eye drops and OVDs (ophthalmic viscosurgical devices for cataract surgery). Lifecore Biomedical (Chaska, MN) is the only US-based pharmaceutical-injectable-grade source. Japanese producers (Kewpie, Shiseido) hold FDA DMFs.
3
Source countries
3
Companies
1
Goods affected
0
Claims on record
What depends on it
1 essential American goods rely on ophthalmic-grade sodium hyaluronate (ha) somewhere upstream in their supply chain.
Where it comes from
Share of global supply, by country.
| Country | Share of supply |
|---|---|
| USUnited States | 40% |
| JPJapan | 35% |
| CNChina | 15% |
Who makes it
3 companies produce ophthalmic-grade sodium hyaluronate (ha).
US pharmaceutical-grade sodium hyaluronate manufacturer and CDMO; only US-based producer of injectable-grade HA via microbial fermentation; >20 commercially approved HA products including ophthalmic OVDs; producing since 1994.
Japanese food and chemical company known for mayonnaise; also a major global supplier of pharmaceutical-grade sodium hyaluronate via Streptococcus fermentation at Torii plant — a classic dual-use supplier.
Japanese cosmetics and personal care company (TYO: 4911, HQ Minato, Tokyo; ~¥1.1T revenue; world's 5th-largest cosmetics company); Shiseido Professional Business Division produces pharmaceutical-grade hyaluronic acid with FDA Drug Master File documentation for ophthalmic and injectable applications. Shiseido (founded 1872 — originally as Japan's first Western-style pharmacy in the Ginza district of Tokyo) is primarily known as a premium cosmetics brand (Clé de Peau Beauté, NARS, Drunk Elephant), but its pharmaceutical-grade HA is a critical supply component for ophthalmic surgery. The same Shiseido that makes luxury skincare creams sold at $200 at Sephora also makes the pharmaceutical HA that surgeons inject into the eye during cataract operations to protect the corneal endothelium. Shiseido's 1872 founding makes it older than the Japanese Meiji Constitution (1889) and contemporary with the opening of Japan to Western trade — the original Tokyo pharmacy that became a global beauty empire also supplies ingredients for eye surgery.
