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Wide range: Researcher at the Chinese vaccine manufacturer Sinovac - four domestic vaccines are already on the market in China, and more are about to be launched
Photo: WANG ZHAO / AFP
The Mainz-based pharmaceutical company Biontech has now also agreed to deliver its corona vaccine with China.
The agreement with partner company Fosun Pharma provides for the delivery of 100 million doses in the coming year and is still subject to approval by the Chinese authorities, Biontech announced on Wednesday.
At the same time, it is becoming apparent that Biontech will soon lose its unique position as a western manufacturer of an approved corona vaccine.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released documents on Tuesday and Wednesday confirming the competing drug from US company Moderna as "highly effective".
This means that nothing should stand in the way of approval and the start of vaccination at the weekend.
The shares of Biontech fell on Monday in early trading on the New York Nasdaq by up to 7 percent.
The Chinese manufacturer Fosun, meanwhile, pays Biontech 250 million euros according to the agreement.
A first tranche of 125 million euros is said to be due upon delivery of the first 50 million doses, the second installment should be transferred as soon as the Chinese authorities give the green light for the vaccine.
The heads of Biontech and Fosun Pharma,
Uğur Şahin
(55) and
Wu Yifang
(51), said that the joint work underscores the importance of global collaboration in research.
"Provided that the vaccine is safe and effective, we will actively support the marketing of the vaccine in China," said the Fosun boss.
The two companies had already agreed on a strategic collaboration in March to jointly develop and commercialize a potential Covid-19 vaccine based on Biontech's technology in China - one day before Biontech's alliance with Pfizer for the rest of the world.
Since then, Fosun has also held a direct stake in Biontech shares.
Bet on the wrong candidate
The Shanghai-based company and Biontech began the phase 2 study of the Biontech vaccine candidate BNT162b2 in the Chinese province of Jiangsu on November 24th with the recruitment of 960 healthy volunteers aged 18 to 85 years.
The data collected are intended to support a future application for approval of the vaccine in the People's Republic.
To make things go faster, Fosun is also relying on a bridge study in which the clinical findings from the West are also recognized by China.
Fosun originally planned to market another Biontech candidate, BNT162b1, and registered a clinical trial with the Chinese authorities for it in July - a few days before Biontech and Pfizer decided on the other drug.
Biontech and its US partner Pfizer have signed supply contracts with several countries for the planned production of 1.3 billion vaccine doses by the end of 2021.
In the UK, where the drug received its first emergency approval, more than 130,000 people have already received the first of two doses.
The vaccine is now also approved in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait and Singapore.
The two companies have also signed supply agreements with the EU.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) announced on Tuesday that it would give its opinion on the vaccine on December 21.
The official approval of the EU Commission could then follow on December 23rd - a week earlier than planned.
Politicians such as Federal Health
Minister Jens Spahn
(40, CDU) had expressed their displeasure that Europeans had to wait longer for the funds developed here with state aid than residents of other countries.
A video conference is planned for Thursday by Spahn, Chancellor
Angela Merkel
(66), Research
Minister
Anja Karliczek
(49) and the Biontech top.
In China itself, four different vaccines from domestic production have been in use since early summer.
In contrast to Biontech's vaccine, the final results of the clinical studies are not yet available.
The use was nevertheless approved with a one-year approval due to special medical needs for selected professional groups such as the military or health services as well as for high-risk groups.
Millions of Chinese have already been vaccinated
The majority state-owned company Sinopharm alone - with Fosun as the major shareholder of the listed company - said it had administered its two preparations developed by institutes in Beijing and Wuhan to more than a million people by November.
Mass business is also going on at the private companies Sinovac and Cansino Bio.
In December, the final phase III clinical studies for two further vaccines from Chinese institutes began.
China, where the Sars-Cov-2 coronavirus was identified in January and the genetic information deciphered, started the development of vaccines with a head start.
However, the consistent limitation of infections since the lockdown for Chinese New Year has ensured that the clinical studies in their own country cannot sufficiently prove the effectiveness of the agents.
This is because a large number of subjects in the non-vaccinated control group have to be infected with the virus unintentionally.
The Chinese manufacturers are therefore also testing their vaccines in other countries.
The United Arab Emirates said last week that the Sinovac vaccine had an excellent 86 percent effectiveness in preventing infections with Covid-19 (and not just the outbreak of the disease as claimed by studies by Western funds).
According to "Science", however, details were missing.
The final study in Brazil should provide sufficient data.
The Instituto Butantan there postponed the publication from December 15th to December 23rd.
The "Chinese vaccination" is highly controversial in Brazilian politics.
Fosun is not the only Chinese company that is banking on imports from the West, despite the large domestic supply.
The Shenzhen Kangtai company plans to build a production capacity of 100 million doses of the corona vaccine from Astrazeneca and Oxford University by the end of the year.
However, according to contradicting information on the clinical study, its approval is still a long time coming even in the West.
ak / dpa-afx, AFP, Reuters