Lecheng hospital starts clinical use of imported nutrition formula for Crohn’s disease

Ruijin Hainan Hospital in Boao Lecheng issued a prescription for the imported medical nutrition product Modulen on February 11, 2025. A seven-year-old child with Crohn’s disease then began exclusive enteral nutrition under this temporary-import arrangement, according to a July 5 report on the Hainan government website.

A clinical nutrition prescription in Lecheng

Xiaoxiao, a pseudonym, was from Hunan. She had experienced fever, diarrhoea, abdominal pain and weight loss over a year and a half before Crohn’s disease was diagnosed in January 2025. Her family described difficulty meeting her nutritional needs because many foods could not be tolerated.

At the Hainan branch of Ruijin Hospital, affiliated with Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, the clinical nutrition team arranged treatment with Modulen. The product is manufactured by Nestlé in the Netherlands and designed for Crohn’s disease patients over five years old. At the time, it had not been registered for sale in China.

After a period of nutritional treatment, Xiaoxiao’s mother reported that her abdominal pain had largely subsided on returning from Hainan.

From application to clinical use

Modulen’s review application was accepted on January 2, 2025, and approval followed on January 24. The provincial account gives the review period as 17 working days. The first clinical use took place on February 11 at Ruijin Hainan Hospital.

The route followed Hainan’s authorization in June 2024 to approve temporary imports of overseas special foods. Review, approval and traceability arrangements were established to regulate their use. This permitted approved use within Lecheng; it was separate from national registration for general sale.

Seven special foods approved by June

By the end of June 2025, Hainan’s market regulator had accepted applications for 12 overseas special foods from medical institutions in Lecheng. Seven had received provincial approval for use there, including Modulen.

The applications covered a range of special foods from Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Spain and Australia, among other countries and regions.