Internally-developed vaccines reportedly approved in China

According to a notice released by China’s National Medical Products Administration, a pneumonia vaccine developed by Chinese drugmaker Walvax Biotechnology’s unit has been approved. This offers an alternative to one of Pfizer’s products, Prevnar 13, Reuters has reported.

Approved in China in 2016, Prevnar 13 was the only pneumococcal 13-valent conjugate vaccine available around the world before Walvax’s product, the notice reportedly said. According to the report, Walvax’s pneumococcal 13-valent conjugate vaccine will be mainly used to immunise children from six weeks through to five years from the disease.

The report continued that, with more than 15 million newborn babies in 2018 alone, China has a huge demand for vaccines targeting pneumonia, which is the major cause of death of children under the age of five.

A total of 27 cases of viral pneumonia in the central city of Wuhan were discovered and investigated by Chinese health authorities, local health commission reportedly said.

The report further states that the administration has also said that Cecolin, an HPV vaccine developed by Chinese pharmaceutical firm Innovax, has also received approval for sales.