CBI member, GlaxoSmithKline has announced that it has partnered with Xiamen University and China’s YangShengTang Pharmaceuticals Group to develop a next generation vaccination against human papillomavirus.
The vaccination will combine medical research that until the signing of the agreement was being pursued independently by Xiamen University and GSK, combining an innovative antigen detection method that had been developed by the university with GSK’s proprietary adjuvant AS04 treatment, a substance which enhances the body’s response to antigens.
This agreement reportedly marks the first time that a Chinese vaccine manufacturer has entered into a partnership with a foreign partner to leverage Chinese indigenously developed technology to develop and ultimately commercialise an important vaccine globally.
GSK said the partnership with Xiamen University and YangShengTang Pharmaceuticals will accelerate the development of the next generation of its cervical cancer vaccine.
Under the agreement, YangShengTang Pharmaceuticals will develop a vaccine production line in Xiamen that will comply with Chinese, US and European regulations. This production line will provide to GSK various different HPV vaccine antigens, which will then be combined with GSK’s technologies and sold into the European Union and United States as a final product under GSK branding.
Cervical cancer is the third most common cancer in women. It is estimated that there are over 300,000 cases of the disease amongst women annually, with one woman dying every two minutes as a result. Almost all cases of cervical cancer are caused by the human papillomavirus, with over 100 variants of the virus known to scientists at present.
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