To meet the strong market demand and to grow its business in China, Germany's Bayer AG will expand its Beijing plant and introduce its anti-impotence drug, a senior executive said on Saturday.

"We will pour in around 25 million yuan (US$3.01 million) to 30 million yuan to expand our plant in Beijing to meet the strong market demand," said Hans-Joachim Raubach, deputy general manager of Bayer's Beijing subsidiary, Bayer Healthcare Co Ltd.

The money will be used to buy more equipment and hire more staff to mainly produce tablets to treat diabetes and heart diseases, its bread and butter, Raubach said without giving figures about its expansion.

The company's anti-diabetes drug has already taken one-third of the market share, according to Wu Xiaobing, general manager of Bayer Healthcare Co Ltd.

"We expect our sales in 2003 to soar by 42 percent to stand at 600 million yuan compared with the year-ago level," said Wu.

Meanwhile, the company is also planning to bring Levitra, its drug to treat erectile dysfunction, into the Chinese market as early as the end of next year.

"The anti-impotence drug has been under clinical trials in hospitals in China's big cities, including Shanghai, since last year," said Wu.

But he declined to com-ment more on the issue such as the Chinese version of the drug's name and its price.

While focusing on the Chinese market, the company also plans to export its products overseas next year.

The arrival of China-made drugs in developed countries such as Japan will help boost Bayer's Chinese plant's image in the world market.

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