The total investment of this cooperation exceeded 5.1 billion! Chengdu High-Tech Industrial Development Zone, Shanghai Pharmaceutical and Westvac Biopharma singed cooperation agreements in the research and development of COVID-19 vaccines.
On November 25, the signing ceremony of the cooperation agreement between Chengdu High-Tech Industrial Development Zone, Shanghai Pharmaceutical and Westvac Biopharma(here in after referred to as “Westvac”) was held in Shanghai. The total investment of this cooperation exceeded 5.1 billion yuan. Under the support of National Key Laboratory of Biotherapy of West China Medical School, the three parties shall study the science of vaccine, such as the COVID-19 vaccine and tumor vaccine; And translates into a vaccine industry. It would boost Tianfu Vaccine Valley to completion, and helps drive Chengdu's biomedical industry’s business.It is reported that the main business of Shanghai Pharmaceutical covers the pharmaceutical industry, distribution and retail, and ranks 473 on the Fortune Global 500 list in 2020. What’s more, Westvac is founded by the team of Academician, Wei Yuquan, director of National Key Laboratory of Biotherapy of West China Medical School. COVID-19 vaccine developed by them is one of the 11 COVID-19 vaccines which approved by Chinese government to enter clinical trials. It is worth mentioning that Westvac COVID-19 vaccine is the first recombinant protein vaccine which produced by insect cells in China.
▲ TIANFU INTERNATIONAL BIO-TOWN IN CHENGDU
BOOST TIANFU VACCINE VALLEY TO COMPLETION
HELPS DRIVE CHENGDU'S BIOMEDICAL INDUSTRY’S BUSINESS OF TIANFU INTERNATIONAL BIOLOGICAL TOWN .In July this year, Westvac was established by both the vaccine research team of Academician Wei Yuquan of West China Medical School, and Tianfu International Bio-Town. The group planed a vaccine product line with an annual output of hundreds of millions of vaccines. What’s more, with insect cell technology now, Westvac also develops rabies vaccines, flu vaccines, and herpes virus vaccines etc. At present, more than 20 innovative immunotherapy products, including a variety of bacterial vaccines and tumor vaccines which deployed by the company, are all accelerating research and development.The spike protein receptor binding domain (S-RBD) of SARS-CoV-2 to produce neutralizing antibodies which Westvac’s COVID-19 vaccine targets at could block the virus from infecting human cells, based on what reporter has learned. As early as July 29, researchers of National Key Laboratory of Biotherapy of West China Medical School published related papers on NATURE. This was also the first paper related coronavirus vaccine which published in NATURE since pandemic of this year. The vaccine introduced the genes of coronavirus into insect cells and then used the cells as a factory to produce high-quality recombinant proteins for purification. Those technology can help to produce large scale vaccines to market quickly, according to a person involved.Until now, the vaccine has successfully launched Phase II clinical trials, and it was expected to enter Phase III clinical trials after completing Phase I and II clinical trials within this year. At the same time, Westvac recently completed round A financing of nearly 300 million RMB which mainly led by Shanghai Pharmaceutical.It is reported that Tianfu International Bio-Town of Chengdu and Westvac will jointly build Tianfu Vaccine Valley. Also they would work together to achieve complementary resource advantages in vaccine research and its development, production and capacity expansion, material storage and supply chain construction. In the next step, around 21 varieties of rabies virus vaccines are expected to realize the industrialization of research and development in Tianfu International Bio-Town, and help Tianfu International Bio-Town to build a highland in development of vaccine research and production.EXPAND COOPERATION INTO MULTIPLE FIELDSTHE ADVANTAGE OF BIOMEDICAL INDUSTRY ECOSYSTEM CONSTRUCTION IS PROMINENTAs signed in the cooperation agreement, Chengdu High-Tech Industrial Development Zone, Shanghai Pharmaceutical and West China Medical School will invest in the establishment of National Precision Medicine Industry Innovation Center to jointly promote breakthroughs in key technologies in the fields of precision diagnosis, precision treatment, and precision evaluation, as well as the transformation and industrialization of independent achievements. Also works in key technology fields such as treatment, tumor-targeted new drugs and vaccine research and development, medical 3D printing and artificial intelligence will reach the domestic leading and international advanced level.According to the relevant person of Tianfu International Bio-Town, Sichuan Precision Medicine Industry Innovation Center will effectively integrate various innovative resources and complete the construction of three key common technology research and development platforms and industrial innovation comprehensive service platforms for precise diagnosis, precise treatment, and precise evaluation. It strives to gather more than 600 industry-university-research cooperative units, obtains more than 1,000 important independent intellectual property rights, and finally provides public technical services to the industry. In addition, Chengdu High-Tech Industrial Development Zone, Shanghai Pharmaceutical and West China Medical School will invest in the establishment of National Precision Medicine Industry Innovation Center and will jointly build a capital international clinical research center for an international standard clinical research service system, providing professional services throughout the clinical research process for the development and transformation of pharmaceutical products, and turn Chengdu into an important global drug and medical device clinical trial center. At the same time, Shanghai Pharmaceuticals Holding Co.,Ltd. also regards Sichuan and Chengdu High-Tech Industrial Development Zone as important strategic bases for domestic deployment, and builds biomedicine professional incubators and supply chain service centers with Chengdu High-Tech Industrial Development Zone. They would build a West science valley, and develops specialization in multiple fields of biomedicine. (According to Chengdu High-Tech Industrial Development Zone)
