Bloomberg
How China abandoned a vaccine opportunity and fell behind
(Bloomberg) – The call comes early in the Covid-19 pandemic. Drew Weissman, a professor of infectious diseases at the University of Pennsylvania and an expert in messenger RNA, received a question from a Chinese company interested in using the new technology to make a vaccine against the coronavirus .mRNA, which effectively turns the body’s cells into small ones. vaccine factories have since become the breakthrough of the Covid era, giving the shots of Moderna Inc. and support the Pfizer Inc./BioNTech SE partnership, which is most effective in fighting the disease. Before Covid struck, however, experimental science had to approve use against any disease – let alone the mysterious respiratory infection. “They wanted to develop my technology in their business in China,” said Weissman, a leader in the field as a result of his work with research partner Katalin Karikó on discovering mRNA’s disease-fighting potential. “I told them I was interested.” Then nothing happened. “I never heard from them again,” Weissman said. It was one of the missed opportunities that hurt the country’s Covid vaccine push and caused Chinese companies to catch up. a technological range to change everything from flu shots to oncological drugs. As the coronavirus spread worldwide last year, Pfizer in New York partnered with German BioNTech, an mRNA precursor that appointed Kariko as senior vice president. The Massachusetts-based Moderna has meanwhile funded $ 2.5 billion to the US government. China Setback In contrast, several Chinese companies focused on older technologies that were far less powerful. At a conference on April 10, the head of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, George Fu Gao, said that Chinese vaccines do not have very high protection rates, local media reported. , Gao retorted, telling the Communist Party-backed Global Times newspaper that he was only referring to ways to improve vaccine effectiveness. No harm reduction can disguise the fact that no mRNA vaccines have yet been approved in Made-in-China. Read more: Are China’s Covid Shots Less Effective? Experts enlarge Sinovac This is a setback for President Xi Jinping’s ambition to make the country a powerhouse for healthcare innovation. The efficacy of mRNA with Covid vaccines offers a new frontier for the technology, with researchers exploring ways to use it to fight cancer, tuberculosis and many other diseases, according to Surbhi Gupta, a health and life sciences analyst with advice Frost & Sullivan. “MRNA technology could be a game changer,” she said. For decades, vaccines have been made with inactive versions of viruses, but mRNA shots use genetic material to instruct the body to create the protein that the coronavirus uses to enter cells. . It trains the body again to fight potential infections. Old-school Covid vaccines manufactured by Chinese are now used by Sinovac Biotech Ltd. and China National Biotec Group Co., rely on inactivated virus particles and have much lower protection rates than mRNA vaccines. “more than 90% efficacy in preventing infections. Sinovac’s vaccine has an efficacy rate of just over 50% in the protection against symptomatic Covid-19, according to studies conducted in Brazil, which only meet the minimum threshold required for required by global drug regulators.China National Biotec, a unit of Sinopharm Group Co., said its two inactivated vaccines are 73% and 79% effective in preventing Covid symptomatically, but did not publish data to support the claim. Sinopharm’s shares listed in Hong Kong jumped on Thursday, a day after the company said there were no serious side effects associated with the vaccines for inactivated viruses. Meanwhile, Chinese CanSino Biologics Inc. ‘ produced a virus-vector vaccine which, like those made by AstraZeneca Plcs and Johnson & Johnson, uses a genetically modified virus to fight infection. Tianjin-based reported a 66% efficacy in preventing symptomatic Covid-19 in its final phase trial. and biotechnological power. It has allowed controversial stem cell treatments and gene therapy, despite concerns elsewhere about safety and efficacy. Yet China has not made mRNA vaccines a priority. “Before Covid, many people still had reservations about the technology,” said Lusong Luo, senior vice president at BeiGene Ltd., a biotech pioneer in Beijing and a leading producer of oncology. drugs. “It’s new, it’s at the forefront.” When Sinovac started working on a vaccine, it focused on a well-known method of getting a chance quickly, after attempts to explore other alternatives did not yield promising results. “Strategy is to use the more mature platform and technology to solve the problem,” CEO Yin Weidong said in an interview with Bloomberg News last May. With the success that Pfizer and Moderna have seen, Chinese companies are jumping into the fray – but their efforts will take time to bear fruit. According to Feng Duojia, president of the Chinese Vaccine Association, China Global Television Network first contacted Mr. Feng Duojia, president of the Chinese Vaccine Association, only had an mRNA vaccine on April 11th. January announced an agreement to partner with Strand Therapeutics Inc. of Cambridge, Massachusetts on a crop mRNA treatment. “Now people realize that mRNA vaccines really work, it will be much easier,” Luo said. China’s Walvax Biotechnology Co. began building a facility to make mRNA vaccines in December, while CanSino entered into an agreement with Vancouver in May last year. based on Precision NanoSystems Inc. to develop an mRNA vaccine. The contract manufacturer WuXi Biologics Cayman Inc. said he spent more than $ 100 million on mRNA-related vaccines, discovery, development and manufacturing of biological agents. While China largely contains the spread of the coronavirus within its borders, more effective vaccinations and a wider use; among the population, it would enable the country to reopen sooner, reducing the need for quarantines and closures. China could lose the lead by eliminating the virus if its vaccination is less effective than places where mRNA shots are the backbone of rolling out. In Israel, where nearly 60% of the population has received the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine, Covid cases, hospitalizations and deaths are declining. As more adults make their shots in the U.S., which also relies heavily on mRNA vaccines, President Joe Biden predicted that Americans will once again celebrate July 4 with roast beef in the garden. The best and worst places to be as global vaccinations take off China is not the only country that has missed the boat with mRNA. While companies in Japan, India and Australia play key players in fighting diseases such as flu and polio, no company in the Asia-Pacific is now making mRNA shots. “Essentially, mRNA has been put in the ‘too hard’ basket for years,” said Nigel McMillan, program director for infectious diseases and immunology at Griffith University in Southport, Australia. In March this year, Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., Moderna’s local partner for Japanese trials with its Covid vaccine, signed an agreement with Anima Biotech, based in New Jersey, on mRNA treatments for Huntington’s and other neurological diseases.Another major Japanese drug manufacturer, Daiichi Sankyo Co., at 22 March announced the start of an earlier trial of its own mRNA Covid vaccine, in Thailand Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok used Penn’s pioneer Weissman’s mRNA to help him develop mRNA ability, while trying to catch up. Chinese developers and others in Asia are taking advantage of lower barriers to access to mRNA vaccine and drug development, and in addition to market leaders Moderna and BioNTech, there are other Western companies gs that have invested in mRNA and are ready to license their technology. The production of mRNA vaccines and drugs also does not require large capital expenditures on expensive bioreactors and other equipment, Archa Fox said. An Associate Professor at the University of Western Australia’s School of the Humanities and the School of Molecular Sciences. This is a prelude to China’s ability to recover if they do not focus on mRNA earlier, according to Weissman. “They are going to hire the best scientists they can find,” he said. “Anyone can take part in the game if they have good people and money.” (Updates with additional details) Visit us at bloomberg.com for more articles like this. Sign up now to stay ahead of the most trusted business news source. © 2021 Bloomberg LP