Dive Brief:
- GSK on Monday said it has partnered with Chinese vaccine company Chongqing Zhifei Biological Products to co-promote its shingles vaccine Shingrix in China for at least the next three years.
- Zhifei, which GSK said is the largest vaccine company in China by revenue, will spend 2.5 billion pounds, or about $3 billion, to buy set volumes of Shingrix over the initial period of the deal. Starting Jan. 1, Zhifei will hold exclusive rights to import and distribute the shot in China.
- The deal will help GSK market its top-selling product in the world’s second-largest pharmaceuticals market by spending. It also gives GSK right of first refusal to be Zhiefi’s partner for co-development and marketing of an respiratory syncytial virus vaccine for older adults in China.
Dive Insight:
GSK envisions the deal expanding Shingrix’s availability in China, where it said Zhifei oversees a network of more than 30,000 vaccination points. To support that distribution, GSK will co-promote the vaccine among doctors and at healthcare centers via awareness campaigns.
Launched in 31 markets worldwide, Shingrix earned GSK sales over 800 million pounds in the second quarter. GSK aims to double annual revenue from the shot by 2026, to more than 4 billion pounds.
The partnership with Zhifei could also help it with its RSV vaccine Arexvy, which is approved in the U.S. but not yet in China.
Partnership with Zhifei could help speed Arexvy’s availability in China, should the shot win regulatory clearance there. GSK recently announced positive data from a study of Shingrix in Chinese adults aged 50 or older.
Analysts predict the global RSV market will eventually reach billions of dollars in sales. Pfizer has also won approval of an RSV vaccine in the U.S., and Moderna is in the late stages of developing another.
Other Western drugmakers are continuing to expand in China. In April, for example, AstraZeneca said it would build a factory in China making inhalers to treat “smoker’s lung.”