Pharmaceutical giants pay attention to promote the rapid development of the vaccine industry

According to the datamonitor data, the business club reported on December 10th that it is expected that the growth rate of the vaccine industry will reach 14% by 2014, and the growth rate of the second-ranked anti-tumor drug sector will be 11%. The global vaccine market will also grow from $16 billion in 2007 to $35 billion in 2014. The annual growth rate of the entire pharmaceutical industry is only 4.4%. It can be seen that after experiencing a golden age of rapid growth, the global pharmaceutical industry began to be a bit uncomfortable. As a result, the huge potential vaccine market has attracted the global pharmaceutical giants to make heavy bets.

Pfizer acquired Wyeth's status as a Top one in its vaccine field. Prevnar from Wyeth and Gardasil from Merck & Co. are benchmarks in the vaccine industry. Their sales in 2008 reached $2.7 billion and $1.4 billion respectively. In the “bombshell” can be met with unreserved today, pharmaceutical giants have poured into the vaccine industry, and strive to obtain this market cake, which brings the rapid growth of the entire vaccine, coupled with the raging H1N1, according to Boston Globe According to the data, orders for H1N1 vaccine alone reached US$7 billion in 2009; sales of pediatric vaccines are also expected to increase from US$4.3 billion in 2006 to US$16 billion in 2016. In future paediatric vaccines, Wyeth may be due to its phase III clinical pneumococcal and meningococcal vaccines, and will continue to be an important part of the market in 2016. At the same time, the meningococcal vaccine being developed by Novartis is also favored by the industry. It will bring great returns to Novartis in 2016.

The development of the vaccine industry does not happen overnight. From the 1980s to the golden age, generation after generation of vaccine researchers have devoted numerous hardships and efforts.

The history of modern vaccine development

In the long history, people generally believe that the mid-18th century is the beginning of modern vaccinology. British smallpox was popular at the time, but rural doctor Jenner observed that there were few rashes caused by smallpox infection on the face of the milkmaid. On the contrary, their hands often have pimple skin infections after the healing of vaccinia, which he boldly speculated: Perhaps these female workers are due to infection with cowpox and cause resistance to smallpox. So he tried to inoculate people with vaccinia and then used smallpox to infect people who had been vaccinated. He found that those who had been inoculated with vaccinia did have resistance to smallpox infection. The concept that vaccination can prevent infectious diseases arises from this.

In the late 1880s, the discovery of antigens and antibodies began the study of humoral immunity (the immune cells producing specific antibodies against microbial antigens). At the same time, E. Metchnikoff (E. Metchnikoff) found that phagocytic cells in chicken blood engulf the role of Bacillus anthracis and propose the theory of cellular immunity (the role of immune cells in phagocytosis of microorganisms), but the real development of cellular immunity is After the discovery of T lymphocytes and B lymphocytes in the middle of the 20th century. In addition to humoral immunity and cellular immunity (both of which are acquired), the immune system also includes innate immunity, ie innate immunity. Innate immunity is an immune mechanism formed in evolution. In the aspect of human invasion against microorganisms, the innate immunity strategy recognizes the pathogen-associated molecular pattern of microorganisms through pattern recognition of receptors. For more than a decade, the discovery of Toll protein-like receptors and C-type lectin receptors, and the study of antigen-presenting cells and natural killer cells have given rise to a deeper understanding of innate immunity. Toll protein-like receptors are a family of cell membrane or intracellular receptors that have been discovered in many organisms in recent years to mediate innate immunity. They act by activating a series of immune-related gene expressions. All of these immunological studies provide a good theoretical basis for the development of vaccinology in the future.

Systematic and rational development

Systematic and rational vaccine development is based on a thorough understanding of the immune response during infection, identifying the most appropriate target for antigens, and further development and application of new adjuvants, immunogen design, and vaccination. Ways to optimize the production of safe and effective vaccines.

According to the degree of immunity of the immune system against pathogens, vaccine development has the following three levels: First, if the body can produce an effective immune protection response to a pathogen infection, then the immune response induced by the vaccine in the body The natural immune response process should be simulated; second, if the body does not produce sufficient immune protection, then the vaccine should produce immunoprotective effects that cannot be achieved by the natural immune response process; third, if the body can not produce any immune protection If so, the vaccine should produce an immune protective effect that is not found in the natural infection process.

In fact, all the vaccines listed today belong to the first level, namely the infectious diseases that these vaccines prevent. In most infected people, the body can eventually heal itself through the defense of the immune system. Some infectious diseases that the autoimmune system cannot effectively resist, such as AIDS, have been considered by vaccine developers and immunologists.

Prospects of China's vaccine industry

In 2009, there were 18.7 million newborn babies in China. By 2019, the birth rate of newborns will drop to 18 million. At present, the main vaccine varieties in the Chinese market include BCG, DTP, DPV, measles vaccine and Hepatitis B vaccine. Major domestic vaccine manufacturers include China Biotechnology Group Corporation, Beijing Kexing Biological Products Co., Ltd., Changchun Changsheng Biotechnology Co., Ltd., and Shenzhen Haiwang Biological Products Co., Ltd., and major foreign manufacturers include GSK, Wyeth, and Merck. And Novartis.

The future target indications for the Chinese vaccine market include mainly hepatitis A and B vaccines, influenza B vaccines, chickenpox vaccines, MMR vaccines, dengue vaccines, pneumococcal vaccines, and rotavirus vaccines. The monopoly of local companies, especially the products for EPI projects, the differences in culture and language, and the differences in management regulations and regulations, pose a challenge for foreign companies to enter the Chinese vaccine market.

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A few days ago, Fujian Yidong Lixin Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. and Austrian company CELL MED Research GmbH reached a cooperation agreement on a therapeutic anti-tumor vaccine project. This agreement has been approved by the CELLME board of directors.

The force-o-cooperative therapeutic anti-tumor vaccine (individualized cancer antigens based on dendritic cell-based tumors) is more internationally advanced than similar products and has been granted a European patent (PROCURE®).

It uses the expression of two universal antigens hTERT and Survivin on most tumors, synergizes the short- and long-term cellular and humoral immune responses of the body, and therefore can be used for almost all malignancy treatments and can exert long-lasting killing. Tumor cell effect.

The "Li-Ou cooperation" project has created a new milestone in the treatment of cancer biology, which will help improve the high-tech content of the Hercynian pharmacy and promote Lijiexun's pharmaceutical industry to a new level in the field of biotherapy research and development.