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The news that Chinese regulators have approved clinical trials of three Covid-19 vaccines developed in the country is the culmination of months of efforts by a combination of startups, government-sponsored companies and research institutes.
The three companies receiving the approvals are CanSino Biologics, Sinovac Biotech and the Wuhan Institute for Biological Products, the state news agency said.
However, trial approval is still a big step for a safe and effective vaccine. And while China’s pharmaceutical industry has matured a lot in recent years, overall it is still much better at incremental innovation than at major breakthroughs.
“The number one question is when does China produce best-in-class or first-in-class,” said Judith Li of Shanghai-based Lilly Asian Ventures, who split with drug maker Eli Lilly nearly 10 years ago and since So he has invested more than $ 2.3 billion in 90 start-up companies. “China is still catching up.”
Along with the likes of semiconductors, 5G and nanotechnology, biotechnology is a strategic priority for the government, as set out in its 10-year “Made in China 2025” plan to foster self-sufficiency in high-tech industries. Both central and local governments have made large sums of money available to promising startups and their founders.
China is the second largest pharmaceutical market in the world after the US. USA, with a total expense of $ 137 billion a year. That number is expected to increase substantially as the country expands its social safety net and increases the number of drugs that qualify for reimbursement.
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At $ 3.8 billion, local demand for vaccines is less than a quarter of the $ 16 billion in the US. USA And a small fraction of global usage of $ 43.8 billion, but it is also expected to increase dramatically.
Entrepreneurs and their investors say it is also only a matter of time before China becomes a leader in the original investigation. This optimism is due in part to the national will to create local “champions,” but it also has a lot to do with the large amount of patient data that can be extracted and the availability of funds from government and private sources.
“We still don’t have Jack Ma [the founder of tech behemoth Alibaba] in biotechnology, ”said Lefei Sun, who is in charge of Chinese biotech holdings owned by investment firm General Atlantic. “But in 10 years, biotechnology in China will be comparable to technology in general today.”
Ms. Li, whose firm has endorsed CanSino, which is listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange, is confident that the company has world-class skills.
Working with a military research institute, he has developed and obtained approval for a vaccine to treat Ebola. The risk of that virus has since decreased, so orders delivered by CanSino have been used instead to build a national reserve in case the threat returns.
China also finds it easier to attract citizens who have left to pursue careers abroad. “The United States is mature,” said Li. “Any contribution you make there is like building a small house in a big city. It is much more important to build in China. “
Wang Xiaodong is a good example. He was one of the first of his generation to study in the USA. USA After the Cultural Revolution, he received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. He then taught in the United States for years and became a member of the National Science Foundation. It was also among the first returnees to China.
He is now the director of the National Institute of Biological Sciences in Beijing, a government-funded initiative, is the co-founder of Nasdaq and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange’s BeiGene, and is an investor and board member of Clover, a business of biotechnology founded by his protégé, Liang Peng.
Mr. Liang did his PhD and postdoctoral studies in the United States, taught at Vanderbilt, and returned to China shortly after his mentor to establish Clover, who is also in the race to develop a vaccine.
Both men are part of the rapidly evolving biotech ecosystem in China. In fact, most beginning industry founders studied and worked in the US. And finally they returned to the continent to become angel entrepreneurial models and investors, and introduced practices they first encountered in the West.
Progress can be measured by the fact that multinational companies take people like CanSino and Clover seriously.
Clover recently completed a $ 43 million capital raise and has a partnership with GSK, which provides him with ingredients to make the vaccine he is developing, which is still in the preclinical testing stage, more effective. It also has a research partnership with Dynavax Technologies, listed on Nasdaq and based in California, another company that is developing Covid-19 vaccines.
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However, from outside China in particular, there are questions about certain parts of the industry. Immediate funding generally appeals to those looking to get rich quickly, as well as idealists, while attitudes toward patients and data have raised an underlying concern that processes are not always as robust as they should be to safeguard people’s interests. that they participate in the trials, and that the results are not always what they seem.
“The false data is almost systemic,” said Lu Shan, a professor at the University of Massachusetts. “There is a lot of focus on fast financial returns. When scientists become interested in financial incentives, they become businessmen and have less impact. They move too fast. “
In part, this is the nature of the game. Biotech is a high reward call that also involves high risks. Speed is of the essence: there is a much smaller reward for the product hitting the market second. That is especially the case with the development of virus vaccines. Not only because dozens of rivals are working feverishly to be the first, but because viruses have a way of mutating, meaning that today’s successful formula can only work for a limited time.
For now, however, the biggest challenge for Chinese researchers is to combine their skills with the complementary strengths of the west to try to find a way out of the pandemic. “Science is global,” says Sun. “It shouldn’t be about nations.”
