Recently, the renowned pharmaceutical market research firm EvaluatePharma released its report “World Preview 2017: Outlook to 2022,” which provides a forecast for the pharmaceutical industry from 2017 to 2022. According to the report’s projections, in the global vaccine market, the four major players—GSK, Merck, Pfizer, and Sanofi—will continue to lead, each capturing roughly 20% of the market share. Their combined sales are expected to reach $5.568 billion, with the market share slightly declining to 19.3% by 2022 and total sales projected at $6.826 billion.

　　Pharmaceutical giants are engaging in frequent mergers and acquisitions and restructuring.

　　In fact, even before the year 2000, most of the pharmaceutical industry held modest expectations for vaccines. Beginning around 2005, major pharmaceutical companies such as GSK, Pfizer, Sanofi, Johnson & Johnson, and Abbott entered the vaccine market through mergers and acquisitions, thereby catalyzing the sector’s rapid growth.

　　At the end of 2014, Merck acquired global commercialization rights to NewLink’s experimental Ebola vaccine. In 2014, Sanofi partnered with South Korea’s SK Chemical to co‑develop a pneumococcal conjugate vaccine. Pfizer subsequently acquired Baxter and Redvax GmbH, gaining access to the meningococcal vaccine NeisVac‑C, the tick-borne encephalitis vaccine Tico, and a CMV vaccine. In June 2015, Pfizer also acquired GSK’s two meningococcal vaccines, Nimenrix and Mencevax, for €115 million. In 2015, GSK completed a $22 billion asset swap with Novartis: GSK divested its oncology business to Novartis and, in return, received Novartis’ vaccine portfolio—excluding influenza vaccines.

　　This year, these pharmaceutical giants have continued to expand their operations. On July 11, Sanofi announced the acquisition of Protein Sciences. Under the agreement, Sanofi will make an upfront payment of $650 million and, upon achieving certain milestones, will also pay additional milestone payments totaling up to $100 million. David Loew, Sanofi’s Executive Vice President and head of its vaccine division, Sanofi Pasteur, stated that acquiring Protein Sciences will enable Sanofi to obtain non‑egg‑based vaccines, thereby expanding its portfolio of influenza vaccines.

　　Protein Sciences is a vaccine biotechnology company headquartered in Meriden, a city in southern Connecticut, USA. The company is dedicated to developing life-saving biologics and vaccines. Its quadrivalent influenza vaccine (QIV), Flublok, received FDA approval in October 2016 and is the only FDA‑approved influenza vaccine based on recombinant protein technology.

　　The new blockbuster vaccine represents a new direction.

　　According to a report by EvaluatePharma, Pfizer’s 13-valent pneumococcal vaccine remains the world’s best-selling vaccine. In 2016, its global sales reached $6.034 billion, accounting for 21.9% of total global vaccine sales; while sales are expected to decline slightly by 2022, they will still exceed $5.7 billion. Closely following is Merck’s HPV vaccine, Gardasil, which generated $2.488 billion in 2016—representing 9.0% of global vaccine sales—and is projected to surpass $2.5 billion by 2022.

　　Globally, the key drivers of future growth in the vaccine market will be novel, high‑impact vaccines. For example, Sanofi’s DTPa‑Hib‑IPV pentavalent vaccine generated $1.654 billion in sales in 2016, accounting for 6.0% of global vaccine revenue, and is projected to reach $2.128 billion by 2022. This combination vaccine not only boosts vaccination coverage and uptake while reducing the number of doses and simplifying administration, but it also minimizes the use of preservatives and adjuvants—substances that are typically required in vaccine production—thereby lowering the incidence of adverse reactions. In recent years, an increasing number of countries have placed greater emphasis on and endorsed such combination vaccines, making this a major trend shaping the future of the vaccine industry.

　　In addition, therapeutic vaccines—primarily intended for diseases currently lacking effective treatments, such as cancers, autoimmune disorders, chronic infections, transplant rejection, and hypersensitivity reactions—though no blockbuster products have yet emerged, represent a major direction for future development. These are natural, synthetically produced, or genetically engineered products or formulations that, in individuals already infected with pathogenic microorganisms or suffering from certain diseases, elicit a specific immune response to treat the condition or prevent its progression.

　　The largest financing deal in China’s vaccine industry in the first half of 2017.

　　From the perspective of regional distribution in the global vaccine market, the United States is the largest, accounting for 34.54%, followed by Europe at 30.34%. Next come Japan, South Africa, and North America excluding the United States. Given the significant disparity between vaccine market shares and local population proportions, populous countries like China and India face relatively large unmet demand, making them among the most promising markets in the vaccine industry.

　　Between 2011 and 2014, China’s vaccine market posted an annual compound growth rate of 8.3%, which was relatively lower than the overall growth rate of the pharmaceutical industry. In 2013, the domestic vaccine market was valued at RMB 11 billion, accounting for only 0.5% of the entire pharmaceutical sector—a significant gap compared to the global average of 2.5%. According to data from Kalorama Information, China’s vaccine market is expected to maintain an annual compound growth rate of over 8% from 2014 to 2017, reaching RMB 15.1 billion by 2017.

　　In the first half of this year, the largest financing round among domestic vaccine companies was secured by CanSino Biologics Inc., which raised RMB 450 million. The round was led by the Advanced Manufacturing Industry Fund managed by SDIC Innovation Investment Management Co., Ltd., with participation from new investors including Gopher Asset, DCM Ventures, and Jinshi Yikang, as well as existing investors such as Eli Lilly Asia Fund and Qiming Venture Partners.

　　CanSino Biologics was founded in 2009 and focuses on the research, development, and manufacturing of next-generation human vaccines. The company has established a robust R&D pipeline comprising more than ten innovative vaccine candidates, targeting a broad range of diseases including pneumonia, tuberculosis, Ebola virus disease, meningitis, diphtheria–tetanus–pertussis, and cervical cancer. To date, four of its novel vaccine products have entered Phase I–III clinical trials in North America, Africa, and China, while three additional candidates are awaiting regulatory approval.

　　The funds raised by CanSino this time will be used to accelerate the development and clinical research of its pipeline vaccine products, introduce new vaccine candidates, enhance production and operations, expand market penetration, and advance management information systems, thereby further strengthening its scientific and technological capabilities, speeding up product supply, and refining its product portfolio.