Shortly after the outbreak of H7N9 avian flu in China in 2013, two of
the country's biotechnology companies were quick to develop vaccines, put them
through clinical trials and apply to get them on the market.
Hualan Biological Engineering Inc and Sinovac Biotech
Ltd both submitted their applications before the end of January this year for
vaccines for different strains of avian influenza, commonly known as "bird
flu".
Two months earlier, researchers from five different
institutions in China had developed the country's first vaccine strain for
avian flu in what Li Lanjuan, a professor at the Zhejiang University School of
Medicine, calls "a breakthrough".
"China didn't have the ability to develop our own
vaccine strains in the past. We used to import from abroad and then put it into
manufacture," Li says.
These developments were barely noted in the press but
were significant as they marked the continuation of a global trend in the
industry.
This trend could see Asian companies emerge as more
globally important makers of biologic drugs, which many see as key to future
medical advancements.
Much of the future of biologic medicine, from drugs to
cure disease to the deals that will help economic growth, is now focused on
Asia.
Biologics or "big molecule" drugs, as
opposed to chemical formulations, are made from living organisms.
They are manufactured inside living systems like
microorganisms or inside the cells of plants or animals.
Biologic drugs are the next great frontier of
healthcare. Global pharmaceutical companies are looking to biologic drugs as
key to solving some of the most complex healthcare riddles of our time, from
curing cancer to bringing back the elderly from the abyss of Alzheimer's
disease.
Alfred Romann
Business & Investment Opportunities
Saigon Business Corporation Pte Ltd (SBC) is incorporated
in Singapore since 1994.
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