May-Jul 2021 “Hong Kong Industrialist”

NASK is different from ordinary surgical masks in the market. It is designed according to the standards of N95 "Respirator", requiring them to be able to block external viruses or contaminants for the user. The technical requirements and testing standards are much more demanding than typical surgical masks. The N95 respirators currently on the market are mainly used by medical care workers or in construction sites, which offers high level of protection but is extremely uncomfortable. With the application of nanofiber materials, NASK is the only N95 respirator product that can be comfortable, breathable and highly protective at the same time. With a lot of enthusiasm, Profit Royal Pharmaceutical made up its mind to put NASK into production in 2015. While manufacturing plants have been fading out in Hong Kong for decades, one can imagine the challenges the company face in establishing a new production line. "Fortunately, we have a GMP factory for the manufacture of proprietary Chinese medicines where we can install our first NASK production line. This at least solved the space issue for us first." Sarinda continued saying that there was basically no suitable machine for producing NASK on the market at that time. Even in the Mainland China, there were no more than five manufacturers of the same kind that can serve as their reference. In the early days, the company purchased a mask assembly machine with design faults, which had never been able to function properly despite back-and-forth maintenance and adjustments for nearly a year. Later when the company managed to purchase the right machinery for production, they still need the supplier to send technicians from the Mainland China all the time for adjustments and repairments, while the local team worked on the side to learn and accumulate experience. While Hong Kong does not have a strong advanced manufacturing industry, there’s merely any technical producer services providers locally that can support the development of Profit Royal Pharmaceutical. Sarinda pointed out that NASK’s goal is to obtain the highest level of N95 respirator certification from the U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), proving that its effectiveness is comparable to the traditional N95 used by medical care workers. However, there isn’t any professional consultant in this area in Hong Kong at that time; the team can only explore the requirements of U.S. and European standards on their own and invite personnel from foreign institutions to inspect their manufacturing sites and certify products in Hong Kong. NASK與坊間一般口罩不同，它是根據 N95「呼吸器(Respirator)」標準設計，須能 夠為使用者阻隔外部的病毒或污染物，技術 要求和檢測標準比一般口罩嚴格許多。現時 市面上的N95呼吸器主要為醫護或建築行業 使用，保護性高但極不舒適。NASK應用了 納米纖維技術，是唯一一個能夠做到舒服透 氣而且保護性高的N95產品。 憑著一腔熱血，盈宗製藥在2015年落 實將NASK投產。在工廠式微的香港，要 重新設立一條生產線談何容易，「幸好公司 本身設有製造中成藥的GMP廠房，我們在 裡面加設口罩生產線，起碼先解決了土地 問題。」郭姮菁續指，當時市面上並沒有適 用於生產NASK的機器，即使在內地亦不 多過五間同類型的生產商，他們只能靠自 己摸索。舉例說，公司早期曾購置有設計 失誤的口罩機，修理近一年仍未能投入生 產；到後來購到機器，亦常須請供應商特 意由內地到港作調整，團隊則在旁邊做邊 學、累積經驗。 香港的高端製造業不多，基本上沒有 能為盈宗製藥提供所需的生產性服務的機 構。郭姮菁指，NASK的目標是獲得美國 職業安全健康局(NIOSH)的最高級別N95 呼吸器認證，證明其效能可以媲美醫護平 時用的傳統N95呼吸器；但香港並沒有這 方面的專業顧問，團隊只能自行理解如何 符合美國、歐盟等最高級別標準，為取得 相關認證，須特別請外國機構人員到香港 審核廠房和產品。 5-7/2021 | 23