WestVac BioPharma Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "WestVac BioPharma") is an innovative biopharmaceutical enterprise integrating vaccine R&D, production and sales. The company’s registered capital is 1.242 billion yuan. With the continuous investment and support of many powerful shareholders -- CICC Capital, Haier Biomedical, Shanghai Pharma, Sichuan Development Holding, China Taiping and so on, WestVac BioPharma has been successfully selected into the list of unicorn companies in 2021.
In terms of production, quality, operations management, etc., WestVac Biopharma has introduced advanced talents from well-known domestic and international vaccine companies, established a complete production and quality management system, has more than 300 employees to ensure large scale production of vaccines can proceed smoothly.
Currently, WestVac Biopharma has a mature insect cell expression platform, mRNA vaccine platform, novel adjuvant platform, bacterial vaccine platform, tumor vaccine and immunotherapy platform, with more than 30 pipelines including COVID-19 vaccine, multivalent influenza vaccine, herpes virus vaccine, acne vaccine, tumor immunity preparations.
Phase III clinical trials of the first generation Recombinant COVID-19 Vaccine (Sf9 cells)-Coviccine, a second-generation recombinant protein COVID-19 vaccine, have been conducted globally in multiple countries, with nearly 40,000 subjects enrolled and vaccinated, and completed clinical trials in Japan for marketing purposes. It is the first Chinese COVID-19 vaccine that entered clinical trials in a developed country. Study results show that the vaccine has good safety and immunogenicity, and can obviously induce neutralizing antibodies against COVID-19 virus prototype strain and variant strains, which fully embodies the advantages and characteristics of recombinant protein vaccine technology route.
Meanwhile, the second generation Recombinant Variant COVID-19 Vaccine (Sf9 cells) developed by WestVac BioPharma with a high titer neutralizing antibody has achieved significant progresses against COVID-19 mutant strains including Omicron and Delta. The vaccine belongs to the latest fifth generation vaccine technology (fully synthetic vaccine), targeting the S-RBD protein of the COVID-19 mutant strain, the subunit vaccine antigen is precisely designed based on the structure, which can self-assemble into stable protein particles. The large-scale production of vaccines adopts internationally advanced insect cell production technology and combined with oil-in-water emulsion adjuvant WGa01(MF59-like adjuvant) that induces a stronger immune response. It is one of the first COVID-19 vaccines announced internationally that has high titers of neutralizing antibodies against the Omicron mutant strain. The application materials have been submitted to the National Medical Products Administration in August, 2021, and it is expected to officially enter clinical trials in the middle of 2022.
In addition, WestVac BioPharma is also developing a nasal spray version of COVID-19 vaccine, new oral anti-COVID-19 drug, and mRNA COVID-19 vaccine. The current research results show that the three products have good in vivo safety and activity.
WestVac Biopharma has built a production base with an annual production capacity of 1 billion doses in Chengdu Tianfu International Bio-town, has completed the construction and verification of GMP production workshop, and obtained the "Drug Manufacturing License". Three separate product pipelines can be used to produce a variety of recombinant protein vaccines expressed by insect cells, including COVID-19 vaccine, influenza vaccine, herpes vaccine, etc. In addition, Guangzhou production base with an annual capacity of 1 billion doses is also under construction. WestVac Biopharma has also established a good communication with many international organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO), Gates Foundation, PATH, The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and so on.
In the future, WestVac Biopharma will continue to persist in the corporate philosophy of "We Initiate Science & Technology Value, Always for Caring". Bring innovative vaccines and immunotherapies from China to the world for the benefit of mankind.
