Will the mRNA technology targeted by domestic traditional pharmaceutical companies become a "bet"?

The rise of mRNA technology is not a sudden emergence, but more like a long-term accumulation

The successful application of the new crown vaccine pushed this technology from behind the scenes to the front, and inspired the development of mRNA technology in other fields

Up to now, major multinational companies such as Pfizer, BioNTech, Moderna, Sanofi, GSK, AZ, etc.

According to the mRNA Vaccines and Therapeutics Market Trends report, the mRNA drug market is expected to grow from 2028 to reach $23 billion in 2035 as other preventive and therapeutic vaccine products are launched

In China, as of now, no new crown mRNA vaccine has been approved for marketing

Will the mRNA technology targeted by domestic traditional pharmaceutical companies become a "bet" to support its future development?

No domestic mRNA vaccine has been approved yet, will this be the next market "blue ocean"?

mRNA technology has become popular due to the new crown vaccine, but its source development, application and market space have long exceeded the "new crown concept"

From the perspective of the development process of mRNA technology, its development began in 1961

Compared with other types of vaccines, mRNA vaccines have inherent advantages, such as short development cycle, simple production process, strong immunogenicity, and high safety

According to the disclosed 180 products under development of 31 mRNA companies, there are 76 preventive vaccines, 32 therapeutic vaccines, and 72 mRNA therapeutic drugs

Among them, mRNA drug research and development is mainly in clinical phase I and preclinical development stage; for mRNA therapeutic vaccines and therapeutic drugs, there are currently no approved products in the world; for the most clinical tumor indications, mRNA drugs are the fastest It is still in clinical phase II

In contrast, in the field of new crown vaccines, two drugs that have been approved for marketing or obtained emergency use rights (EUA) have achieved impressive market performance

Relevant research institutions have predicted in 2021 that the market size of mRNA infectious disease vaccines will reach US$14 billion in 2030

However, returning to the field of new crown mRNA vaccines, where competition is becoming increasingly fierce, no domestic mRNA new crown vaccines have been approved for marketing so far

This huge incremental market has attracted domestic traditional pharmaceutical companies seeking to transform and develop

Increasing investment in research and development, the mRNA "ambition" of domestic traditional pharmaceutical companies

Although the mRNA track is hot, some analysts pointed out that the innovation and transformation capabilities of domestic mRNA companies still need to be improved

According to the announcement of listed companies, Junshi Bio, Hengrui Medicine, CanSino and many other domestic listed companies have also carried out mRNA vaccine drugs and related industrial chain layout through independent/cooperative research and development, covering areas including new coronavirus, herpes zoster , rabies, influenza, tuberculosis, tumor and other fields of vaccines and drugs

According to incomplete statistics, there are 18 new coronavirus mRNA vaccine products and more than 40 non-new coronavirus mRNA vaccine products
.
It can be seen that in order to avoid problems such as involution and homogeneity in development, domestic pharmaceutical companies urgently need to enrich their product lines
.
In addition to the research and development of new crown vaccines, it is necessary to increase investment in research and development of drugs in other major disease areas, strive to fill clinical needs, and deploy next-generation product clusters with huge commercial potential
.

Since the beginning of this year, CSPC, CanSino Bio and Yunnan Watson Bio have made great progress in mRNA vaccines, striving to achieve "zero breakthrough"
.
In addition, China Resources Pharma is an independent company that actively cooperates with Genting Xinyao to develop and commercialize mRNA vaccines
.

On April 3, 2022, CSPC announced that the new coronavirus mRNA vaccine SYS6006 has been approved by the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) for clinical trial research
.

YS6006 is an mRNA vaccine independently developed by CSPC for the mutant strain of the new coronavirus
.
The product is designed with targeted antigenic mutations according to the prevalence of the strain.
Preclinical studies have shown that the product has good immune protection efficacy against the current mainstream mutant strains including Omicron and Delta
.

CSPC has achieved internalized production and localized substitution of key production raw materials and excipients in mRNA technology, which can meet the demand for large-scale production capacity supply
.
In addition, in Jushi Biotechnology Industrial Park, where the mRNA vaccine industrialization project of CSPC is located, in addition to the new crown vaccine, various vaccines such as human rabies vaccine, respiratory syncytial virus vaccine, and influenza virus vaccine can also be produced.
The total production capacity will reach One billion pieces per year, it is expected to achieve an annual sales income of more than 100 billion yuan, and annual profits and taxes of more than 10 billion yuan
.

On April 7, Genting Xinyao announced that it signed a memorandum of cooperation with China Resources Pharmaceutical Group Co.
, Ltd.
to establish an independent company focusing on the discovery, development and commercialization of mRNA vaccines.
Corona vaccine
.
In addition, China Resources Pharmaceutical Group plans to make a strategic equity investment in the mRNA technology platform of Genting Xinyao, and the two parties plan to cooperate in the development of mRNA new crown vaccine and the development of other potential areas using the mRNA technology platform
.

Sino Biological has established a joint venture with Fu Nuo Jian Bio, and plans to develop mRNA vaccine products in the joint venture company, improve Sino Bio’s important layout in the mRNA field, and seize the technological frontier of future vaccine research and development
.
On December 9, 2021, Sinopharm Group stated that Zhongsheng Funuojian has launched the research and development of the Omicron strain vaccine on the basis of the research and development of the "Delta+" (Delta+) variant mRNA vaccine, and plans to complete the intermediate test and research work as soon as possible.

.

In addition, as a domestic monomer, it has the largest number of vaccine varieties on the market, and the traditional vaccine company that exclusively owns two of the world's best-selling vaccine varieties - Yunnan Watson Bio's high investment in mRNA technology is enough to see that it is striving to transform into a high-tech vaccine company.
The determination of technological barriers to innovate pharmaceutical companies
.

According to Watson Bio's 2021 annual report, Watson Bio's research and development expenses during the reporting period reached 621 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 252.
13%.
The main research and development investment is concentrated in the research and development of mRNA new coronary pneumonia vaccine domestic and foreign projects and clinical trials
.

In June 2020, the new crown vaccine (ARCoV) jointly developed by Watson Bio, Aibo Bio and the Academy of Military Sciences became the first mRNA vaccine approved for clinical trials in China
.
At present, the Phase III clinical trial of the above vaccine has completed the first subject enrollment in Indonesia, and it is worth looking forward to when it will be approved in China
.
The new coronavirus variant mRNA vaccine (protein chimera) RQ3013 developed by Watson and Blue Magpie Bio is already in the preclinical research stage and is applying for clinical trials
.