The Future Development of Chinese Vaccines

With the global outbreak of the COVID-19, the vaccine industry was pushed to forefront and knowledge reached the public about vaccination, more than anytime previously in history. As one of the world's largest vaccine producers, China's current status and future development trends have attracted much attention.  At present, the main manufacturers of China's vaccine industry include SinoBiopharmaceutical Limited, Changsheng Bio-technology, Zhejiang Hisun Pharmaceutical, as key examples, and the total annual output of vaccines share is about 60% in the world.

According to the analysis of the "2022-2027 China Vaccine Industry Market Survey and Development Prospects Analysis Report", a research report by Zero Power Intelligence Group, at present, global vaccine production and R&D capabilities are scarce, and European and American manufacturers take up the main manufacturing positions in the vaccine market. COVID-19 has accelerated the development of China's vaccine industry to a certain extent. Domestic manufacturers have expanded the research and development pipeline, built new technology platforms, and strengthened their own research and development competitiveness. However, the sector must admit that the current Chinese vaccine industry is lagging behind in vaccine research and development compared with foreign products.

Qiu Ye, the quality assurance person in charge and pre-certification office of Changchun Institute of Biological Products, believes that from the core of the quality system, there is no big gap between the Chinese vaccine industry and the international manufacturers, but there are still some shortcomings in the construction and operation of the quality system. Among them, the most important problem is that some basic work is inadequate; secondly, the development of the vaccine industry cannot only rely on vaccine manufacturers, but also includes the common development of the upstream and downstream industry chains. For the vaccine industry, it is necessary to improve the quality awareness and quality foundation.

The Chinese vaccine industry has a century of historical accumulation. At the same time, the research and development and production of the COVID-19 vaccine also allows the world to see the research and development capabilities and production capacity of Chinese vaccines. The basic guarantee of vaccine is an important part of supporting the development of China's vaccine industry, such as safe storage and transportation of vaccines. The scientific preservation and transportation of vaccines is an important part of ensuring immunity success. If the temperature stored in vaccine is too high or too low, the effectiveness of the vaccine will be affected. However, what many people do not know is that the best temperatures required for different types of vaccines are different.

Taking the COVID-19 vaccine that everyone knows as an example, the storage temperature required by Moderna vaccine is -20°C；The vaccine developed by Pfizer needs to be stored in -70°C ultra-low temperature freezers；Chinese vaccine CoronaVac can be stored in standard refrigerators of 2 ~ 8°C. The storage conditions are different between different types, and general refrigerators cannot achieve professional preservation purposes. Therefore, in the process of production, storage and transportation of vaccines, the cold chain platform of the entire process must be safe, secure, and reliable – stability and accurate performance is a must to ensure the efficacy of the vaccines.

Regarding this issue, Dr. Chen, R&D Director of Haier Biomedical said that the vaccine cold chain plays an important role in ensuring the potency and safety of the vaccine. Once the vaccine leaves the appropriate temperature, it will cause failure or deterioration. 

"we have a complete set of cold chain solutions, from -80°C to 2-8°C, from preservation to transportation, and last mile, In addition, the IoT and remote temperature monitoring devices were designed to monitor the status in the whole process, and contribute to global health and immunization.” Said Dr. Chen.

Moving forward, and with the rapid development of the Chinese economy and the acceleration of population aging, the Chinese vaccine market will continue to expand, and people's demand for vaccines will continue to increase, which will bring new opportunities to the development of the vaccine industry. China’s” Fourteenth Five-Year Pharmaceutical Industry Development Plan “clearly mentioned that in the future, it will focus on the development of COVID-19 virus vaccines, herpes vaccines, human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccine, multi -price vaccine and other products for the benefit of all. At the same time, the industrialization preparation technology of new biopharmaceuticals such as new reorganized protein vaccines and nucleic acid vaccines, new agents such as vaccine, etc.

In addition to technical updates, Liu Yong, founder, chairman and general manager of Jiangsu Recbio Technology, put forward new development ideas for the Chinese vaccine. He believes that for Chinese vaccines, it is difficult to enter the European and American markets in the internationalization in the short term, but it is feasible for developing countries. Although the business return rate is low, in terms of population, developing countries account for a large proportion of the global population and are also an important market.

The "Vaccine Management Law" added "the state encouraged vaccine manufacturers to produce and export vaccines in accordance with international procurement requirements" last year. This clause is expected to become a policy orientation for Chinese vaccine companies to go abroad. At present, several domestic vaccine products are applying for international certification. It is expected to enter the international procurement list to open new profit points for vaccine manufacturers besides the domestic market.

With the increase of national financial resources, more and more vaccines have been included in the state's immunization planning, and the mass vaccination awareness has gradually strengthened. The phenomenon of diversified vaccine payment methods and vaccine "going to sea" and others have changed the future development path of the vaccine industry. In the post -pandemic era, the vaccine industry will usher in a new round of industry choice diversity, and the vaccine industry chain will be stronger due to this increase in awareness and investment.