Competition Heats Up For Beijing’s Vaccine Market
This article was originally published in PharmAsia News
Executive Summary
Beijing, the first city to initiate free hepatitis A vaccination for children under China's nationwide immunity plan, has given the green light to GlaxoSmithKline and local enterprise Sinovac Biotech to provide inactivated hepatitis A vaccine. The two companies will effectively corner the Beijing free hepatitis A vaccine market for three years. According to public information, Sanofi Pasteur, GSK and Merck Sharpe & Dhome supply half of the paid vaccine market in the city. Officials at the China Association of Pharmaceutical Commerce believe foreign corporations will face fierce competitive bidding from domestic companies. Last year, Sanofi Pasteur was the only multinational company out of five pharmaceutical firms who won the tender for supplying Beijing with flu vaccine. (Click here for more - Chinese Language)