China-made HPV vaccine approved in Morocco

A nurse shows human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines developed by Chinese researchers at the Provincial Maternity and Child Healthcare Hospital in Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province, May 18, 2020. (Xinhua/Xiong Qi)

Chinese biopharma company Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy Enterprise Co., Ltd. (Wantai) announced on Wednesday that the Moroccan health authority has approved the bivalent human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine developed by Xiamen Innovax Biotech Co., Ltd. (Innovax), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Wantai, reported China Securities Journal.

This is the first time the vaccine receives overseas approval, according to Wantai, noting that being able to export the product to Morocco will benefit the company's effort to explore global market and increase the global competitiveness of its products.

With a production capacity of 30 million doses each year, Wantai has made a sales revenue of 3.24 billion yuan (about 479.96 million U.S. dollars) out of the HPV vaccine in 2021, accounting for 56.34 percent of the company total in the year.

Since October 2021, Wantai has applied for registration of the bivalent HPV vaccines in other countries including Thailand, Nepal, Kazakhstan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia and Kenya.

As China's first self-developed cervical cancer vaccine, the Innovax-developed vaccine was given a green light in December 2019 by Chinese regulators for the domestic market and was officially available since May 2020.

Other HPV vaccines currently approved in China include the bivalent vaccine by British company GlaxoSmithKline, the four-valent and nine-valent vaccines by U.S. company Merck & Co., as well as the bivalent vaccine by China's Walvax Biotechnology Co., Ltd.