europebetpoker| Domestic bivalent HPV vaccine breaks the "bottom price" again? Watson Biotech offers 63 yuan to grab orders

Chen Xing, a journalist, has many articles per editor.

Domestic bivalent HPV (human papillomavirus) vaccine is constantly refreshing the price floor.

In March this year, Wantai Bio (SH603392, 66%)Europebetpoker.61 yuan per share, with a market capitalization of 844Europebetpoker(.75 billion yuan) bivalent HPV vaccine was quoted at 86 yuan per dose in Jiangsu Province. At the end of April, Watson Biology (SZ300142, with a share price of 14.50 yuan and a market capitalization of 23.307 billion yuan) quoted a unit price of 63 yuan per unit in Hainan Province.

The above price is nearly 80 per cent lower than the unit price of domestic bivalent HPV vaccine, which was over Rmb300 at the beginning of the market.

In the face of the decline in the price of bivalent vaccine, the profitability of two domestic manufacturers Watson Biology and Wantai Biology dropped sharply. In addition to actively winning the bid to maintain domestic market share, the two companies are trying to "go out to sea" to preserve profit margins. According to CITIC Construction Investment and Research report, by the end of 2022, among the 194member states of the World Health Organization, 127member states have incorporated HPV vaccine into national immunization programs, but there are relatively few manufacturers of HPV vaccines. Bringing them into immunization programs in many countries will bring about a relative imbalance between supply and demand, requiring more suppliers to participate.

From 86 yuan to 63 yuan in a month

On March 22 this year, the information of Jiangsu government procurement network showed that Wantai biological bivalent HPV vaccine won the bid at the price of 86 yuan per dose, and a total of nearly 500000 doses were purchased.

Only a month later, bivalent HPV vaccine once again refreshed the price floor.

Yuxi Zerun Biotechnology Co., Ltd., owned by Watson Biology, won the 2024 procurement project of HPV vaccine for school-age girls in Hainan Province, according to an announcement issued by the Hainan Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention on April 28. The total amount of winning bid is 6.741 million yuan, the supply quantity is 107000 pieces, and the unit price is 63 yuan per unit.

In other words, within a month, the winning bid price decreased by nearly 27%. Compared with the price of Wantai bivalent HPV vaccine when it was first launched, the above price fell by nearly 80 per cent.

It is reported that in accordance with the rules of centralized government procurement, subsequent tenders will refer to the previous winning price. Therefore, the purchase price of bivalent HPV vaccine may be further explored on the basis of 63 yuan.

Bivalent vaccine price competition has had a negative impact on two domestic manufacturers Wantai Biological and Watson Biological. In the first quarter of this year, Watson Biological achieved a total revenue of 600 million yuan, down 28.02% from the same period last year.EuropebetpokerThe net profit was 14.1275 million yuan, down 91.79% from the same period last year. In 2023, after six consecutive years of double-digit revenue growth, the company fell 19.12% from a year earlier, and its net profit fell 42.44% from a year earlier.

Wantai Bio achieved operating income of 753 million yuan in the first quarter of this year, down 73.93% from the same period last year, while net profit belonging to shareholders of listed companies was 126 million yuan, down 89.90% from the same period last year. For the whole of last year, the net profit of Wantai Bio, which belongs to shareholders of listed companies, fell 73.65% compared with the same period last year.

"go out to sea" to broaden market share and keep profit space

China is the world's second-largest vaccine market, accounting for 31.7% of the global vaccine market by 2020, according to Frost Sullivan, a consultancy. Driven by the increased accessibility of innovative vaccines, favorable government policies and increased vaccination awareness, the market size is expected to reach 383.5 billion yuan in 2031.

Among them, the second class vaccine (non-immunization planning vaccine) is the main driving force for the growth of China's vaccine market, but in recent years it is difficult to reduce the inclusion price and the coverage rate is stagnant.

Earlier, Ying Xiaohua, a professor at the School of Public Health of Fudan University, told the Daily Economic News: with the acceleration of domestic supply of Class II vaccines in the domestic market and the increase in the number of manufacturers entering the market, their procurement can refer to the practice of centralized procurement of drugs. through governance to correct market failure, and then form effective negotiations and bidding, and finally reduce the price and increase the vaccination rate.EuropebetpokerHe also mentioned that the price reduction effect will be affected by the winning rules, the agreed number of transactions, the number of participating bidders, and so on.

The introduction of bivalent HPV vaccine into local government procurement, and then through unified procurement to reduce the price and protect the quantity, is one of the practices to promote the price reduction and vaccination rate of class II vaccine in the above-mentioned way.

For domestic manufacturers of bivalent vaccines, in addition to constantly offering low prices to keep the share of government procurement, another means to maintain profit margins is to actively "go out to sea."

Watson Biology said in its 2023 annual report that the company continued to promote World Health Organization pre-certification (WHO-PQ) of bivalent HPV vaccines during the reporting period. At an investor event in April, Watson Biology said that the company's bivalent HPV vaccine had completed on-site verification and was expected to be finalized this year. Passing this certification means that Watson biological bivalent vaccine gets a ticket to "go out to sea".

In terms of export, Wantai Bio moved earlier. As early as October 2021, its bivalent HPV vaccine passed the PQ certification pre-certified by the World Health Organization, becoming the first domestic HPV vaccine to be certified. After obtaining permission to be listed in Morocco, Nepal, Thailand, Cambodia and other countries, the company said that last year, bivalent HPV vaccines were vaccinated for women of the right age in Thailand, Nicaragua and other countries.

According to the research report released by CITIC in April this year, by the end of 2022, 127member States of the World Health Organization (WHO) had incorporated HPV vaccine into national immunization programs. While there are relatively few HPV vaccine manufacturers, bringing it into immunization programs in many countries will bring about a relative imbalance between supply and demand, which requires more suppliers to participate.

The research report also believes that, limited by PQ certification and policy restrictions, the current internationalization strategy carried out by Chinese enterprises is mainly to export vaccine products, and the export amount and quantity are relatively small. As enterprises accumulated rich international experience and resources during the COVID-19 epidemic, and paid more attention to internationalization, and in August 2022, WHO announced that China had passed the national vaccine regulatory system (NRA) evaluation after the standard was upgraded. China's vaccine system is further in line with international standards, and the product going out to sea is expected to accelerate in the future.

Source of cover picture: visual China