China’s Fosun Will Take on Pfizer with Pneumoccocal Vaccine Bet

(Bloomberg) -- Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group Co. acquired a majority stake in a Chinese biotechnology company that’s developing a rival to Pfizer Inc.’s Prevnar, the highest-grossing immunization on the market before Covid vaccines were launched. 

Fosun bought 32.52% of Chengdu Antejin Biotech Co. for 1.11 billion yuan ($173.9 million) from its existing shareholders, then agreed to fold in its vaccine unit -- Dalian Aleph Biomedical Co. -- at a value of 2.9 billion yuan ($454.2 million), the company said in a Hong Kong Stock Exchange statement. Fosun will hold about 73% of the enlarged company once the deal is complete. 

The move is the latest inroad into the vaccine business by the Chinese drugmaker that has been a serial licenser of breakthrough medical treatments, including Gilead Sciences Inc’s cancer cell therapy Yescarta and the highly effective mRNA Covid vaccine from Germany’s BioNTech SE. China has not yet approved the Covid shot, which studies show is more than 95% effective. 

Antejin is focused on vaccines against bacterial infections. The Chengdu-based company is in early-stage tests for a vaccine against 13 types of pneumonia-causing germs that would compete directly against Pfizer’s Prevnar 13. Prevnar was the leading vaccine globally and Pfizer’s biggest seller, generating $5.8 billion in 2020, before Covid shots were mass deployed around the world. 

Antejin joins a slew of Chinese drugmakers challenging the global dominance of Prevnar, which is given mainly to infants and toddlers to prevent bacterial infections that cause pneumonia, blood infections and meningitis. There is growing competition in China, where a rival shot also targeting 13 common serotypes of the bacteria from Walvax Biotechnology Co. was approved at the end of 2019. Pfizer’s share of that market fell to less than 60% in 2020, after holding all of it in the previous years. 

China approved another similar pneumococcal shot from Shenzhen Kangtai Biological Products Co. in August, while many other domestic companies are also looking to get a slice of the market with similar products in the pipeline.

Fosun has the option to increase its stake in Antejin to 92% if the 13-valent pneumococcal vaccine succeeds in late-stage trials and another 24-valent candidate survives early stage testing, according to the statement. 

Fosun’s licensed an mRNA vaccine against Covid from BioNTech in early 2020 for use in the greater China market that includes Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. The delay in its approval for mainland China has significantly hampered Fosun’s plan to cash in on the shot that’s expected to generate $26 billion in sales for BioNTech and Pfizer, which jointly developed and sells its outside of China. 

Fosun’s third quarter revenue grew to 1.08 billion yuan from 764.3 million yuan the same period a year ago, with most of the gains coming from BioNTech shots sold to Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. 

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With assistance from Bloomberg